äänistetty

The Finnish word "äänistetty" translates to "voiced" in English, specifically in the context of phonetics and phonology. It refers to speech sounds that are produced with vibration of the vocal cords. When the vocal cords are vibrating, the sound is considered voiced. This contrasts with voiceless sounds, where the vocal cords are not vibrating.

Many consonants in Finnish, as well as in other languages, exist in voiced-voiceless pairs. For example, the sound represented by the letter 'b' is the voiced counterpart to the voiceless sound represented by 'p'. Similarly, 'd' is voiced, corresponding to the voiceless 't', and 'g' is voiced, corresponding to the voiceless 'k'. The presence or absence of vocal cord vibration can distinguish words in some languages, though this is less common in Finnish compared to languages like English where minimal pairs often rely on voicing differences.

Vowels are always voiced. Therefore, when referring to vowels in Finnish, they are inherently considered "äänistetty". The concept of "äänistetty" is crucial for understanding the phonetic inventory of a language and how sounds are articulated. It is a fundamental concept in the study of speech sounds and their production.