"fission" with -zh-?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 3/16/2011 06:46 AM, Barbara Need wrote:
>I make a distinction in the final vowels of Rosa's and roses, but not
>the final vowels of fisson and fishin' (of course, I also use [Z] in
>the former).

Resonates (and rhymes?) with frisson.  :-)

Joel


>Barbara
>
>On 16 Mar 2011, at 1:43 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
>>At 3/16/2011 12:12 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>>At 10:34 PM -0400 3/15/11, Barbara Need wrote:
>>>>And is identical with fishin'?
>>>>
>>>>I remember learning fission and fishin' as a minimal pair in some
>>>>early linguistics class.
>>>>
>>>>Barbara
>>>
>>>Based on the contrast between [@] in the former
>>>and [I] or barred-i in the latter, as in "Rosa's"
>>>vs. "roses" (from Gleason's Intro to Descriptive
>>>Linguistics)?  My problem was that I could never
>>>really believe in contrasts resulting from the
>>>difference between two unstressed vowels.
>>
>>I, pretentious moi, believe.  fish-un (mission)
>>vs. fish-in.  Same for Rosa's vs. roses.  And
>>thanks for the title -- it's the book I've been
>>trying for decades to remember, ever since a
>>graduate school course, to look again at his
>>minimal pairs.  "light-house keeper" and "light house-keeper", etc.
>>
>>Joel
>>
>>Joel
>>
>>
>>>LH
>>>
>>>>Barbara Need
>>>>Etna, NY
>>>>
>>>>On 15 Mar 2011, at 9:37 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Yes, we few but happy and pretentious few.  For
>>>>>me "fission" is "mission", not "vision", so that
>>>>>"fusion" ['fyuZn] is two pairs away from "fission".
>>>>>
>>>>>Joel
>>>>>
>>>>>At 3/15/2011 08:25 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>>>>>At 4:05 PM -0400 3/15/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>>>>>"Fizhion" is what they've been saying on the news for years and
>>>>>>>years. I
>>>>>>>suppose some still say "fission," but they must be a real
>>>>>>>minority.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>JL
>>>>>>
>>>>>>We're a proud minority, we happy few.  Besides,
>>>>>>we can pun on "Gone Fission", which those fizhion
>>>>>>folks can't.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>LH
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 3:58 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
>>>>>>>wrote:
>>>>>>>>On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 4:22 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
>>>>>>>>wrote:
>>>>>>>>>At 12:11 PM -0700 3/15/11, geoffrey nunberg wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>Listening to some nuclear energy experts talking about Japan
>>>>>>>>>>on
>>>>>>>>>>the
>>>>>>>>>>radio this morning, I was led to wonder whether  "fission" is
>>>>>>>>>>the
>>>>>>>>>>only English word in which orthographic [Vssion] can be
>>>>>>>>>>pronounced
>>>>>>>>>>with a voiced fricative. When I checked with my graduate
>>>>>>>>>>students, I
>>>>>>>>>>was surprised to find that that's the pronunciation used by
>>>>>>>>>>all
>>>>>>>>>>but
>>>>>>>>>>one of them (and the one is from S. Africa). If so, it must
>>>>>>>>>>be by
>>>>>>>>>>analogy with "fusion," right?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Geoff
>>>>>>>>>So I've always assumed, as with the shift from penult to ult
>>>>>>>>>stress
>>>>>>>>>in "covert" on the model of "overt". Â Something there is that
>>>>>>>>>likes a
>>>>>>>>>minimal pair. Â (Then there's the pronunciation of
>>>>>>>>>"transition" to
>>>>>>>>>rhyme with "incision"...)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>LH
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Are speakers of BrE still under the impre[Z]ion that
>>>>>>>>"equation" is
>>>>>>>>pronounced "equa[S]ion"?
>
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