"Voiced obstruent" mistakes

[D Roy Mitchel IV]

What I would share is that I've encountered many students of Tlingit and Dena'ina over the years who pronounce the orthographys' d as a voiced stop, not only because it's spelled like the English voiced stop, but many guidebooks for learners state explicitly that these sounds are "the same" in English as they are in Tlingit and in Dena'ina as they are in English.  
This is one of my pet peeves.  Admittedly, it doesn't lead the learners mistakenly to create a different word, and English-speaking learners of Athabascan and Tlingit will have pronunciation difficulties, but I cannot agree with steering them in the wrong direction by design.
When I talk to learners about the consonant system of Tlingit, for example, I identify seven consonants that may be pronounced consistently the same in English and in Tlingit, three in which certain English allophones may match with Tlingit phones, and 32 in which English has no exact match at all.


________________________________
From: James Crippen <jcrippen at GMAIL.COM>
To: ATHAPBASCKAN-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Sent: Wed, February 17, 2010 2:38:43 PM
Subject: "Voiced obstruent" mistakes

We all recognize that the symbols <d>, <g> and the like which
conventionally represent voiced obstruents, e.g. in the IPA, are
instead used in Athabaskanist literature to represent voiceless
unaspirated obstruents. They're used this way in Athabaskan
orthographies as well. This is something we quickly take for granted
after the first few exposures, but we still constantly have to remind
outsiders about it.

I'm well aware that this convention has tripped up linguists who are
not well-read in our literature and don't consult any Athabaskanists,
but I don't have any examples at hand. Do any other list members have
some good examples of gratutitous assumptions about the voiced status
of Athabaskan obstruents? Things that would make any of us sigh and
shake our heads?

Gunalchéesh (IPA /kunaɬtʃʰíːʃ/) "thanks",
James

(As usual I'm lumping Eyak and Tlingit into "Athabaskan" for
convenience despite inaccuracy.)
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