English
English does not have phonological final-obstruent devoicing of the type that neutralizes phonemic contrasts; thus pairs like bad and bat are distinct in all major accents of English. Nevertheless voiced obstruents are devoiced to some extent in final position in English, especially when phrase-final or when followed by a voiceless consonant (for example, bad cat ).
Read more about this topic: Final-obstruent Devoicing
Famous quotes containing the word english:
“Civilisation—a heap of rubble scavenged by scrawny English Lit. vultures.”
—Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990)
“O friend unseen, unborn, unknown,
Student of our sweet English tongue,
Read out my words at night, alone:
I was a poet, I was young.”
—James Elroy Flecker (1884–1919)
“My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the obscurity of a learned language.”
—Edward Gibbon (1737–1794)