a good new point looking at this - devoicing

Definition of devoicing:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-DEVOICING.html
DEVOICING. In PHONETICS, the process by which SPEECH sounds that are normally voiced are made voiceless immediately after a voiceless obstruent: for example, the /r/ in cream /kriːm/ and the /w/ in twin /twɪn/.

Hot discusstion (exerpt):
http://ask.antimoon.com/questions/4493/final-devoicing-in-english
Other speakers seem to almost consistently devoice word-final consonants, especially in casual or fast speech. With those speakers the z in zoo is still a clear [z], but the [z] in eyes is so devoiced that it sounds more like [s] to my ears (the vowel length is still longer than with "ice", though). This is more dominant with female voices.
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I've already asked native speakers about that and many told me that I was wrong and a native speaker would never fully devoice.
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In careful speech, devoicing is avoided. ... I haven't really noticed generalized final devoicing in Hollywood movies (maybe because most actors are accent-coached). It wouldn't come as a surprise this devoicing being regionally or socially limited, for example, more common in young white males from suburbs of Midwestern towns than in black old woman in California.

I'd say that CONSISTENT devoicing is marked, and most people would consider it like having an accent, if you devoice it occasionally it will go unnoticed, but consistent devoicing is highly indicative of having an accent.

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• billnet真认真啊！ -非文学青年- ♀ (140 bytes) () 04/06/2011 postreply 06:18:13