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Re: Phonology and Questions

From:DOUGLAS KOLLER <laokou@...>
Date:Tuesday, May 9, 2000, 2:27
From: "Marcus Smith"

> >> All native and non-native speakers I've had contact with > >> agree that they seem to appear predictably between unvoiced > >> consonants, or in final position after an unvoiced consonant. > >> > >Do they become voiceless even if they're stressed? > > The standard treatment say devoicing only applies to /i/ and /u/, but I've > heard it used with /a/ as well. They devoice when they are not next to a > voiced sound. They do not devoice if they are word initial or accented.
Some
> dialects delete the vowels rather than devoice them.
I don't recall having heard it with /a/, but /o/ occurred in the name Kyoto (pronounced "Kyot'") (rarely). Kou