Obstruent devoicing and voice assimilation in Slovene

Abstract

This paper examines final obstruent devoicing in Slovene within the framework of Government Phonology and argues that devoicing is loss of melodic material in unlicensed positions, typically at the end of words belonging to major categories (i.e. nouns, verbs or adjectives) which represent phonological domains on their own. Also discussed is voice assimilation in Slovene, whose effects can sometimes obscure the effects of obstruent devoicing.