English words beginning with <j> pronounced [Z]?

Nadia Gabriel nadpaz3 at GMAIL.COM
Mon Jan 21 19:15:21 UTC 2008


Zut ! (as we say in French), it begins with a <z>

>From ADS-L Archive, message from "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" posted Dec. 6, 2006:

> And then there's the infinitely irritating Rachael Ray, whose
> "Food Channel" cooking show regularly uses such cutesy terms
> as "sammy" ('sandwich'; for all I know, however, that word
> may occur more general in some dialect that I'm glad I don't
> speak), "EVOO" (pronounced initialistically; 'extra virgin
> olive oil'), "zush" (/zUS/; 'quick swirl or shake of a
> mixture in a pan'--or something like that); probably others
> that I have successfully tried to forget.

Nadia


On Jan 21, 2008 1:56 PM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: English words beginning with <j> pronounced [Z]?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A while back, didn't we discuss a word pronounced [ZUZ], a noun referring
> to a quick shake given to something? I have no idea how the word might be
> spelled!
>
> --Charlie
> _____________________________________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:19:07 -0500
> >From: Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU> >
> >In LIN 101 we teach students that /Z/ (the second sound in 'azure'
> >the last sound in 'garage') is a silly sound (like ng) which can
> >occur internally and finally but never initially. In final position
> >it is giving way to /dZ/, and here in good-talking and linguistically
> >secure Michigan, people surveyed were not sensitive to the final /dZ/
> >pronunciation as nonstandard.
> >
> >dInIs
> >
> >
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       Nadia Gabriel <nadpaz3 at GMAIL.COM>
> >>Subject:      English words beginning with <j> pronounced [Z]?
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>Dear all,
> >>
> >>A question out of a friend's curious brain - he is French, currently
> taking
> >>lessons to improve his English:
> >>
> >>Do you know of words, common word or proper names, in the English
> language
> >>that begin with the letter <j> but that are pronounced without the [d]
> >>sound, just the [Z] sound?
> >>Or, to put it another way, words where the initial <j> is pronounced as
> in
> >>French?
> >>
> >>I can't think of any!
> >>An advanced search in the OED Online ("Entries containing Z
> >>in Pronunciations") retrieves only one word: jinricksha, jinrikisha,
> >>*n.*<
> http://dictionary.oed.com.proxycu.wrlc.org/cgi/entry/50123824?query_type=advsearch&queryword=Z&first=1&max_to_show=10&search_spec=pron%3Aph&order=ab&return_set=entries&sort_type=alpha&result_place=6&control_no=50123824&search_id=xncX-q3erq2-7384&side=M
> >,
> >>from Japanese.
> >>
> >>I'd be grateful for any comments!
> >>  (I must add I didn't read all the article under the entry for the
> letter J,
> >>which also appeared in the results of my search - Wonderful OED)
> >>
> >>Thank you,
> >>
> >>  Nadia Gabriel
> >>  Librarian & Translator
> >>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >
> >--
> >Dennis R. Preston
> >University Distinguished Professor
> >Department of English
> >Morrill Hall 15-C
> >Michigan State University
> >East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
Nadia Gabriel
Librarian & Translator

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



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