1134: Devoicing of [ɹ] Jan 16, 2018

It has been discussed here how when [t] comes before [ɹ] as a syllable's onset, it is produced as [t͡ʃ], (consider 'tip' and 'trip'), but this is not the only change that happens. Normally, [ɹ] is voiced, which is to say that the air passes through the vocal tract while the vocal cords vibrate. However, after [t͡ʃ] (as in the consonant in 'chai') as an onset, [ɹ] becomes devoiced, and is written as [ɹ̥]. If this is hard to imagine, or you don't sense a difference, say the word 'rain' and then 'train' while you hold your hand gently against your throat; in the first you should feel a vibration when saying [ɹ], but this should not happen with 'train'. It should be noted, however, that these two sounds are not distinguishable in English exactly, since there is no word where alternating between the two would either change the meaning nor remove meaning altogether. Therefore, these are allophones in English. You can now support Word Facts on Patreon for new things and to help make the content better: https://www.patreon.com/wordfacts.