Fricative voicing in *houses*

[Wilson Gray]

Just pretty much kidding, Beverly. I didn't expect that anyone would care
enough about my opinion to be bothered by it. I'm going to start using
emoticons more often, so that it'll be more obvious that I'm not taking
myself seriously. Well, I'll still be taking myself seriously, but I'll be
pretending that I'm not, at least. ;-)

But seriously, folks, I do appreciate constructive criticism. After all, I
say things like "Chin[is]" myself without finding it unpleasant.
Unfortunately, I do find the Chin[iz] that gave rise to the "Chinee"
in, e.g. "heathen Chinee"

unpleasant. ;-)

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