[v]→[f]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5

Voiced labiodental fricative to Voiceless labiodental fricative

Final-obstruent devoicing is a phonetic process where voiced fricatives, such as the labiodental [v], lose their voicing at the end of a word or syllable. This shift is a characteristic feature of several language families, including Germanic and Slavic.

Phonetic Effects

Devoicing, Neutralization

Language Examples

German Germanic

aktiv [v] (underlying)→[f]— Word-final devoicing of [v] to [f] in German.

Motiv→[motiːf]— Final [v] in loanwords is regularly devoiced.

Dutch Germanic

leef [v] (underlying)→[f]— Dutch final devoicing: 'ik leef' (I live) is pronounced with [f].

Polish / Russian Slavic

staw [stav] (Polish)→[staf]— Final-obstruent devoicing: 'staw' (pond) is pronounced with [f].

ostrov [ostrəv] (Russian)→[ostrəf]— Final-obstruent devoicing in Russian (island).

Related Transformations

Inverse: Voicing Parallel: Sibilant devoicing

More Germanic Shifts

[a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction [æ] → [ɛ] — Vowel Raising

Sources & References

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