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

[Dennis Preston]

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
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>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

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