Every language has consonants. Some are voiced and some are unvoiced. That means some use the vocal cords and some don’t. I’ve found some interesting ways in which the similarities have been used.

First, a quick refresher. Unvoiced consonants are those like P, T, and S, which make their sound without use of the vocal cords. Which means even someone who is mute could make the sounds. When you use the voice, they come out like B, D, and Z. You can’t use the ‘B’ sound without using the vocal cords.

J.R.R. Tolkien, who was a linguist first and a writer second, used this concept when developing his dwarvish and elvish systems of writing. Voiced and unvoiced consonants of the same “sound” were similar, but voiced consonants had and extra part or stem added on to the runes or letters, indicating they were voiced. The Cirth alphabet is a prime example.

Here’s a quick chart that compares the two types of consonants:

Voiced Unvoiced
B P
D T
V F
G K
Z S
J CH
ZH SH

This semester I’m singing with the Butler University Chorale and one of their warmups is an interesting exercise that uses the consonants this way. To warm up everyone’s articulation, they’ll do a rhythmic pattern like this: F-F-F-F-F-F-F-F, V-V-V-V-V-V-V-V, F-V-F-V-F-V-F-V, V-F-V-F-V-F-V-F, and then move on to the next consonant, given them by the director right as the last set ends. It will usually consist of a mixture of four or five of them. So every time I do that particular warmup, I end up thinking of Tolkien’s Cirth alphabet. Kinda funny.