as well in standard German as pronounced by people from northern and central Germany. For example, and are often pronounced (with a short vowel as in Dutch dag , cf. Standard German ) and . Compare German phonology. This pronunciation reaches as far south as Franconia, thus into Upper German areas. > High German experienced the shift > in all positions, and > before another consonant in initial position (original may in fact have been apical , as OHG and MHG distinguish it from the reflex > , spelled ⟨z⟩ or ⟨ȥ⟩ and presumed to be laminal ): German , script German , flask German (), spin German (), street German , sleep German , smith German , snow German , swan Likewise usually became : German , perch or bass (Dutch ) German , cherry (Dutch ) In the cluster , this change was not reflected in spelling and the modern standard pronunciation, which is partly based on Low German accents, uses . Therefore, is in Modern Standard German, though virtually all High German dialects have in this word. The > shift occurred in most West Germanic dialects but notably not in Dutch, which instead had > , while West Frisian retains in all positions. The two other changes did not reach any further than Limburgish (eastern dialects only) and some southern dialects of Low German: East Limburgish , , Dutch , , (although note that Dutch is usually apical). Terminal devoicing Other changes include a general tendency towards terminal devoicing in German and Dutch, and to a far more limited extent in English. Thus, in German and Dutch, , and (German), (Dutch) at the end of a word are pronounced identically to , and (German), (Dutch). The in German (day) is pronounced as in English tack, not as in English tag. However, this change is not High German in origin but is generally thought to have originated in Frankish, as the earliest evidence for the change appears in Old Dutch texts at a time when there was still no sign of devoicing at all in Old High German or Old Saxon. Nevertheless, the original voiced consonants are usually represented in modern German and Dutch spelling. This is because related inflected forms, such as the plural , have the voiced form, since here the plosive is not terminal. As a result of these inflected forms, native speakers remain aware