Fricative voicing in *houses*

[Alice Faber]

Charles Doyle wrote:
> Not only does my wife, from the Chicago area, keep the /s/
> of "house" unvoiced in the plural.  She also pronounces
> the "s" of "blouse" as /s/, which sounds odd to my Southern
> ear (actually, I have two of those).  I don't recall ever
> hearing her use "blouse" as a verb.

How else would you say "blouse"? [blawZ]??? I don't think I've ever
heard that.

--
 =============================================================================
Alice Faber                                    faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                           tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                        fax (203) 865-8963

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