The Robustness of Incomplete Neutralization in German

“Incomplete neutralization” (IN) refers to the finding that subphonemic differences distinguish segments in a neutralizing context. Previous findings on IN have often been called into question because of methodological problems. We conducted a production and a perception study to address these previous concerns and to investigate the robustness of IN in German final stop devoicing. Underlying voiced stops were produced with significantly longer vowels preceding the stops, as well as with lower burst intensities than voiceless stops in word final position. The perception study confirmed that these differences are audible. The experiments extend previous work by showing that (1) IN effects occur even in completely non-orthographic experimental designs and (2) IN effects in perception occur even when listeners are subjected to many different voices.