[Ads-l] Dropped plurals

[Tom Zurinskas]

One of the biggest changes in pronunciations I here nowadays is the pronouncing of plural "s" as an ~s instead of the proper ~z for various words.  Thus "news" becomes "noose".


Tom Zurinskas,
Originally SWConn 20 yrs,  college Tenn 3,  work NJ  33,  now FL 14.
truespel phonetics free converter and  tutorials - http://truespel.com








________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2016 12:30 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Dropped plurals

KWS:  << Some people find -sts unpleasant to pronounce. >>
WB:  Perhaps the <-sts> cluster is just awkward/embarrassing to pronounce;
cf. the "principle of ease of articulation", invoked to account for much
phonetic simplification/erosion. My favorite is <eight> + <-th>, where I
lose the first plosive <-t> reflected in the standard spelling <eighth>. So
there, KWS, you have phonetic change having been accepted in the spelling
bee. OTH,  <-sixths> (as in 5/6), carefully articulated, sounds almost
trisyllabic, unless slurred out as [five-six].

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