Fricative voicing in *houses*

[Beverly Flanigan]

Wilson, you've got to stop being so judgmental!  Why is this "unpleasant"???

At 05:55 PM 5/10/2006, you wrote:
>My unpleasant experience has been that City folk go with "Eli[s], Loui[s],
>Syracu[s],' etc.
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 5/10/06, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
>>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: Fricative voicing in *houses*
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>At 02:34 PM 5/10/2006, you wrote:
>> >From:    Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> >
>> >>Among speakers of American Black English, the plural of the noun,
>>"house,"
>> >>is "hou[z]es." Likewise, the verb, "(to) house," is "hou[z]e." I
>>personally
>> >>did not become aware of the validity of the pronunciation of the plural
>>as
>> >>"hou[s]es" till perhaps ten years ago. Before then, if ever I noticed
>>that
>> >>anyone pronounced "houses" as "hou[s]es," either it didn't register or I
>> >>assumed that the speaker was working-class or lower, therefore not a
>>speaker
>> >>of standard American White English whose pronunciation I needed to be
>>able
>> >>to emulate in formal settings.
>> >
>> >I (grew up in Maryland, south of DC, in the 70s) consistently say
>> >hou[z]es and hou[z]e's, but hou[s]ewives; Jeanne (grew up in Maryland,
>> >north of Baltimore, in the 70s), my wife, says hou[s]e's and
>> >hou[s]ewives, but seems to be pretty much free variation between
>> >hou[z]es and hou[s]es.
>> >
>> >If i was still out in Utah, i'd do a study of Boi[s]e vs. Boi[z]e. In my
>> >experience, Boiseans (at least the upper- and upper-middle-class ones i
>> >had contact with) are pretty emphatic that the pronunciation is Boi[s]e,
>> >and i would repeatedly and firmly have my Boi[z]e-pronouncing self
>> >corrected on it. However, my observation is that Boiseans themselves
>> >show variation on this (and, in fact, a small study an undergrad from
>> >Boise did for one of my classes seems to support this).
>> >
>> ><snip>
>> >
>> >--
>> >David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
>> >     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
>> >     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
>> >     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.
>> >
>> >------------------------------------------------------------
>> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>I assume Syracuse might also be [s] or [z], New Yorkers?
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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