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:
“The English are crooked as a nation and honest as individuals. The contrary is true of the French, who are honest as a nation and crooked as individuals.”
—Edmond De Goncourt (1822–1896)
“The difference is wide that the sheets will not decide.”
—English proverb, collected in John Ray, English Proverbs (1670)
“But it was alway yet the trick of our English nation, if they
have a good thing, to make it too common.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)