Word-final obstruent devoicing is a phonological process which occurs in many languages. Though it does not occur in English, English obstruents are partly devoiced when word final. Languages with word-final obstruent devoicing neutralize the contrast between voiced and voiceless obstruents.
Languages with word-final obstruent devoicing include Afrikaans, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, Dutch, German, Maltese, Polish, Russian, and Slovak. Though common in the Slavic languages, it does not exist in Croatian, Serbian or Ukrainian. Among the Germanic languages, it is not found in Danish, English, Norwegian or Swedish.
Languages with word-final obstruent devoicing often have homophones. For example, the Dutch words hard (hard) and hart (heart) are pronounced identically. The same is true for the German pairs Rad (wheel) and Rat (advice).
Word-final obstruent devoicing is common in many languages. Many languages with word-final obstruent devoicing also have syllable-final devoicing, but in certain cases only if the following obstruent is voiceless. Catalan is unique among Romance languages because it exhibits word-final obstruent devoicing.
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