Re: Allophone Problem
| From: | Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, June 8, 2007, 12:22 |
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Hallo!
On Fri, 8 Jun 2007 03:46:20 -0400, John Vertical wrote:
> I actually recall reading that the final devoicing of stops in German is
> only a
> near-merger - that there's some slight phonetic cue that's basically
> impossible
> to hear, but appears regularly when recordings are examined rigorously.
It is - at least in my idiolect - like this:
Voiceless stops are not only voiceless, they are also aspirated (except
in clusters). In word-final position, voiced stops are devoiced, but
unlike voiceless stops they are not aspirated. So you have
_Rat_ [Ra:t_h] vs. _Rad_ [Ra:t]
This is indeed an audible difference, although only a slight one.
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