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I've heard words whose endings contain voiced consonants such as год (and others that I cannot remember off the top of my head), and these consonants are pronounced unvoiced (e.g., "гот").

Another letter I've heard is Б as П.

Perhaps this applies to all words/letters or most (>¾)?

Sorry that I could not think of more than one example.

casey
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    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final-obstruent_devoicing – Quassnoi Mar 29 '16 at 07:40
  • I'd add that it's not always so. Sometimes in some words the consonants can still be pronounced as voiced or half-voiced-half-unvoiced, it depends on the manner of speech of the speaker. However, simply trying to force them being voiced explicitly is an awkward way to talk signifying maybe rancor or another alerted emotional state. So don't be surprised if you encounter any of these IRL from time to time. – noncom Mar 29 '16 at 11:28
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    @noncom: this is called "incomplete neutralization"; I found a paper on it here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095447014000175 – sumelic Mar 29 '16 at 15:55
  • @sumelic indeed, I've read the summary on the paper - it's pretty much that. Good find :) – noncom Mar 30 '16 at 18:13

2 Answers2

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This is the picture every Russian learns in 1st grade (7 years old) This is the picture every Russian learns in 1st grade (7 years old)

Each consonant from the top row is pronunced unvoiced (substituted by letter from bottom row), if it's located at the end of closed syllable* (such as the consonant end of the word). We never say a voiced consonant in the word ending, and for children it's hard to write a word "год", because it does sound "гот". So we use another word form to check. For "год" it's "годы". For "гот", it's "готы". In open syllable, there are no doubts, each consonant is written as it sounds.

Here are some samples:

http://te.zavantag.com/tw_files2/urls_4/6/d-5436/5436_html_6b06cc3b.png

http://900igr.net/datas/russkij-jazyk/Bukvy-i-zvuki-russkogo-jazyka/0009-009-B-p-sugro-d-t-obe-g-k-utju-v-f-koroka-z-s-ukaka-zh-sh.jpg

Furthermore, unvoicing consonants is so natural for Russians, that we have significant difficulties when learning to pronounce English "dog", "red" and etc. "Dok" and "ret" is the default option, hard to overcome for the beginners.

*Note: general "end of closed syllable" rule is good only for the beginners. Actually, not every closed syllable has the final consonant devoiced, if the next consonant is voiced there occurs no devoicing, like in "годный", "грабли", "бодрый", etc. The devoicing doesn't always occur even at the end of the word, e.g. "год и один месяц" – here "год" is pronounced as "год", not like "гот", the rule is: the devoicing occurs before a pause or before a voiceless consonant.

Nadia Solovyeva
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  • I would like to add, that usually to verify is taken the plural of the same word. For example: "поезд"-"поезда", "раб"-"рабы" etc. – Ken Bekov Mar 29 '16 at 04:14
  • Agreed, we used to do so, in the 1st grade. – Nadia Solovyeva Mar 29 '16 at 04:27
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    "Located at the end of closed syllable" - you should rewrite that, not every closed syllable has the final consonant devoiced, if the next consonant is voiced there occurs no devoicing, like in годный, грабли, бодрый, etc. The devoicing doesn't always occur even at the end of the word, e.g. год и один месяц – here год is pronounced as год, not like гот, the rule is: the devoicing occurs before a pause. – Yellow Sky Mar 29 '16 at 10:36
  • Agreed, please suggest your correction. – Nadia Solovyeva Mar 29 '16 at 10:39
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    The rule is: the devoicing occurs before a pause or before a voiceless consonant. – Yellow Sky Mar 29 '16 at 10:40
  • OK. I did try to say it loud. "го-ти-а-дин-ме-сяц". Then "го-ди-а-дин-ме-сяц". Probably, both versions are acceptable. – Nadia Solovyeva Mar 29 '16 at 10:53
  • You now, even if you pronounce every Russian consonant as voiceless, you will still find the whole text "acceptable", as you call it, because every person on earth is ready to understand her own language with every consonant devoiced, ко-ты-а-тит-пе-сяц is also acceptable, becausе that is exactly what happens when you whisper, while whispering all the voiced are devoiced and all the nasals become oral. ;) – Yellow Sky Mar 29 '16 at 11:26
  • I think I've heard that an opposite process of voicing unvoiced coda consonants occurs when they come directly before voiced consonants--is this right? – sumelic Mar 29 '16 at 15:57
  • @sumelic I believe it is, yes. – casey Mar 30 '16 at 18:43
  • @Надежда Тарашкевич Many thanks for your table! Makes me think that I attended the wrong school for this is the first time I see it (the table). Perhaps it was wrong time :-) – Alex Sep 07 '16 at 18:12
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It's worth keeping in mind that unlike most other consonants in Russian, м, н, л, and р generally remain voiced before a pause, or before a voiceless consonant.

Curt
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