Jesus [s] or [z] revisited

[James Harbeck]

I had the opportunity to hear an entire congregation of Free
Methodists in Fredonia, New York, pronouncing the word "Jesus" this
past Sunday, and what I heard (in the aggregate, no doubt with some
individual variation) was the same [z] on the end that they used in
"is" and definitely a different one from the ending of, for example,
"yes". The two individual worship leaders I heard pronouncing it also
voiced the final s. Since my parents, who both grew up in Western New
York, have always also pronounced the s, I would assume that's
standard around there, as it is in my experience for most people in
Canada (as per the thread a while back).

James Harbeck.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org