Voicing in plurals
Do you pronounce a different final consonant in the plural forms of these words?
* knife - knives * Yes
* leaf - leaves * Yes
* self - selves * Yes
* shelf - shelves * Yes
* wharf - wharves * Yes
* wife - wives * Yes
* wolf - wolves * Yes
* bath - baths * No
* mouth - mouths * Yes
* oath - oaths * No
* path - paths * No
* youth - youths * No
* house - houses * No
* knife - knives YES
* leaf - leaves YES
* self - selves YES
* shelf - shelves YES
* wharf - wharves YES
* wife - wives YES
* wolf - wolves YES
* bath - baths NO
* mouth - mouths NO
* oath - oaths NO
* path - paths NO
* youth - youths NO
* house - houses /see here:
house [haus]
houses [haus@z] /
I'd agree with "Josh Lalonde *" on this one (US English)
* knife - knives * Yes
* leaf - leaves * Yes
* self - selves * Yes
* shelf - shelves * Yes
* wharf - wharves * lol never actually said it out loud
* wife - wives * Yes
* wolf - wolves * Yes
* bath - baths * No
* mouth - mouths * Yes
* oath - oaths * No
* path - paths * No
* youth - youths * No
* house - houses * Yes
* knife - knives YES
* leaf - leaves YES
* self - selves YES
* shelf - shelves YES
* wharf - wharves YES
* wife - wives YES
* wolf - wolves YES
* bath - baths YES
* mouth - mouths YES
* oath - oaths NO
* path - paths YES
* youth - youths NO
* house - houses YES
My distribution is identical to Josh's.
For me at least, in most of these words the salient difference is in vowel length rather than in voicing. Actually, the only word with any significant voicing difference is "house"/"houses" due to the consonant being voiced not being in the final coda (which is devoiced as a whole here, as opposed to only the final consonant being directly devoiced).
That said, I do have vowel length, vowel quality, or voicing differences in:
* knife - knives YES
* leaf - leaves YES
* self - selves YES
* shelf - shelves YES
* wharf - wharves YES
* wife - wives YES
* wolf - wolves YES
* bath - baths YES
* mouth - mouths YES
* oath - oaths NO
* path - paths YES
* youth - youths NO
* house - houses YES
I have the same distribution as Josh and Lazar.