The typology of voicing and devoicing

This article provides empirical evidence against the claims that [voice] is a privative feature and that word-internal devoicing can occur in a language without word-final devoicing. The study of voice patterns in a number of languages shows that the feature value [ - voice] although it is the unmarked value of the laryngeal feature [voice], can be active phonologically in a fashion parallel to the marked value [ - voice]. Across languages, voice assimilation may occur independently of devoicing and, although it normally affects both [ + voice] and [ - voice], it may affect only one value in some languages.