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

[Brenda Lester]

shouldn't it be J pronouced like ZH??



Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Charles Doyle
Subject: Re: English words beginning with pronounced [Z]?
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A while back, didn't we discuss a word pronounced [ZUZ], a noun referring to a quick shake given to something? I have no idea how the word might be spelled!

--Charlie
_____________________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:19:07 -0500
>From: 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
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Nadia Gabriel
>>Subject: English words beginning with 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 but that are pronounced without the [d]
>>sound, just the [Z] sound?
>>Or, to put it another way, words where the initial 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.*,
>>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
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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



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