Developmental pattern

Final Devoicing

A voiced consonant at the end of a word loses its voice.

Resolves by: By 3;0
Sounds affected: b, d, g, v, z, j
Minimal pairs: 10

What it sounds like

"bed" becomes "bet"
"bag" becomes "back"
"pig" becomes "pick"
"eyes" becomes "ice"

Also called: Postvocalic devoicing, word-final devoicing

What is going on

The mirror image of prevocalic voicing. At the end of a word the voice box has to keep running a moment longer than feels natural, and children often shut it off early. The tongue and lips land in exactly the right place; only the buzz is missing, so "dog" comes out as "dock."

Final devoicing hits /z/ hard, which means plurals and possessives lose their marking - "dogs" becomes "docks," "Mom's" becomes "Moms." It also creates a long list of real-word confusions, which is frustrating in the same way prevocalic voicing is.

Try this at home

Stretch the ending and keep the voice on. Say "beddddd" and hold it. A hand on the throat works here too - the buzz should still be going when the word ends. Contrasting pairs like "bed" and "bet" side by side makes the target obvious.

When to refer

Still devoicing final consonants after age 3, especially if plurals and past tense are affected.

Print it

Final Devoicing minimal pairs10 pairs grouped by sound · PDF Final Devoicing picture pair cards9 reviewed two-picture pairs · PDF

Picture-ready minimal pairs

9 pairs

These pairs have two distinct picture subjects. Put both pictures on the table and take turns asking for one. If the two words sound alike, slow down and compare the sounds together. The printable word list has additional listening contrasts.