/zh/ replacing /dzh/?

[Mark A Mandel]

On Tue, 24 Sep 2002, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

#>I've noticed it for "garage" too.

That's been THE pronunciation of this word for me since always (~1950,
~NYC). Not the other ones; those are newer.

#
#>I've noticed for some time that many of my students and a lot of
#>newsreaders and sports announcers, local, cable, and network, are
#>replacing certain cases of /dzh/ with /zh/.  I first noticed it with
#>proper nouns like Beijing and Elijah, which are now regularly
#>pronounced with palato-alveolar fricatives rather than affricates.
#>This evening a newsreader on MSNBC did the same replacement with
#>"siege".  That's the first case I've noticed in a word that wasn't a
#>name and/or foreign sounding.
#>
#>Herb Stahlke