Re: [tied] More nonsense: Is English /d/ truely voiced?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Glen Gordon" <glengordon01@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 5:32 PM
Subject: [tied] More nonsense: Is English /d/ truely voiced?


<snip>

> A link to my own university can clear this up:
>
> http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/138/sec3/timing.htm
>
> It states: "Voiced stops in French are typically fully voiced.
> English voiced stops are often fully voiced between vowels, but
> usually only partially voiced (and sometimes even voiceless
> unaspirated)."
>
> So, yes, English voiced stops are _voiced_, unless you're talking
> about seldom occasions. All I know is that, as a native speaker
> of English, I honestly can't think of any examples of a voiceless
> /d/ except perhaps at the end of a word, as in "skid". Otherwise,
> I certainly voice English /d/.

[PCR]
All this is mixing apples with oranges.

The confusion arises because no attention is being paid to clearly written "FULLY" and "PARTIALLY".

In English and French, a voiced stop either initial or medial usually has voicing bracketing the closure: V-Cl-V-vowel, etc. This is here termed "full" voicing.

A final voiced stop in English has the second voicing only in emphatic speech. Normally, "cad" is [k-h-a-V-t]. Thus, in final position has "partial" voicing. Similarly, the final voiceless stop is unaspirated unless

emphatic, "cat" [k-h-a-t]. The sequence [V-Stop(-V)] is what we interpret as a 'voiced' stop.

I do not claim to be an expert in French but I did take it for four years. My understanding based on the teaching of a native French speaker was the final French voiced stop was "fully" voiced, i.e. (always?) had a secondary voicing unlike English.

Pat

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