Re: phones and phonemes

--- In phoNet@yahoogroups.com, "Jean-Paul G. POTET" <potetjp@w...>
wrote:

> "[...] the assimilation in 'width' and 'breadth' consists of

devoicing,

> though I think there's a lot of variation in what
> happens. For examples, the 'Oxford Etymological Dictionary' by

Onions gives

> final [dT] and [tT] for both of them." Richard WORDINGHAM, ENGLAND
>
> LOL. I can articulate [wIdT]; I have some difficulty articulating

[wItT]. I

> suppose this is due to the proximity of [t] and [T]. So we could

have the

> following stages.
> 1) <wide > wid- + -th> : [wIdT] : [d] is devoiced because [T] is

unvoiced.

> The result [wItT] can be uttered by a certain number of speakers.
> 2) [tT] presents difficulties for other speakers, or may sound

wrong to

> language-conscious speakers, so they dissimilate [t] and [T] by

revoicing

> [t] into [d] : [widT].

I'd have attributed the [d] to morphological awareness (or
spelling!). 'Eighth' is not, so far as I am aware, pronounced
**[eIdT]. There's been a lot of variation in this word -
equivalents of [eIt] "eight", [eItT] and [eIT] are all evidenced.

Richard.