Prosodically-conditioned variation in the realization of domain-final stops and voicing assimilation of domain-initial fricatives in German

This study investigates the realization of stop-fricative sequences across prosodic boundaries in German. According to phonological descriptions of German, voiced fricatives following voiceless obstruents undergo assimilatory devoicing. Results from acoustic analysis show that this process is gradient rather than categorical, and sensitive to prosodic structure, showing a larger extent of assimilation across smaller boundaries. In addition, also in the temporal patterns of these sequences, evidence of prosodic structure was found, with both the domain-final stop and the domain-initial fricatives being longer at larger boundaries.