Re: possesives in -s

Nik Taylor wrote:

> "Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> > Are you pronouncing it in isolation, or in an arbitrary intrasentential
> > context?  When I do the former, there is marked half-voicing on the
> > final <s>;  when I do the latter, there is full voicing, even when the following
> > segment is voiceless, as in <Ross's plays>.
>
> I was pronouncing it in isolation.  It's hard to tell when not in
> isolation, but I think I have the same as you, i.e., fully voiced in
> that situation.  Interesting, I hadn't thought about it being different
> in such a situation.
Well, long(er) pauses generally occur at the ends of sentences, which
means also that the final segment is lengthened somewhat.  Part of that
segment may thus devoice to assimilate to the following silence.  (This
is more or less textbook final devoicing -- but on the scale of a sentence.)

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Tom Wier   |     "Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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