Consonant devoicing

In Irish-settled areas of Newfoundland, non-word-initial fricatives may be devoiced, as in live, choose, and pleasure. While the same tendency occurs in conservative speech throughout the province in some plural lexical items, including reflexives (e.g. ourselfs, theirselfs, wifes, lifes), these cases probably result from analogy with the singular rather than from an inherited phonological tendency, at least elsewhere than the Irish Avalon. Recessive devoicing is also found occasionally in fricative + oral stop sequences, as in roused pronounced with syllable-coda [st] and shoved with [ft]. Throughout the province, likewise, conservative speakers may exhibit variable post-sonorant /d/ devoicing (cf. Hickey 2002: 301) after /n/ and /l/, as in hold [(h)o:lt] (got holt to ‘em) and killed [k^hɪlt].