@hotdogsladies @instantiatethis @RecDiffs I explained 'important' in another reply but I have no explanation for word-final (post-nasal?) devoicing of stops except that they do it in German and there are other cases where post-nasal stops are devoiced in English (e.g. the 'g' 'strength' is always devoiced -- you say [stɹɛŋkθ] with a 'k' sound, never with a voiced 'g' sound).