Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1993 09:39:53 EST
From: Larry Horn LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU
Subject: Re: th/dh
I realize from Donald Lance's posting that another minimal pair for the above
in the relevant dialect(s) would be bath's (voiceless) vs. baths or baths'
(voiced). Again, not a particularly high functional load, as we used to say.
Thanks for the suggestions on sh/zh, folks, but I'm afraid my _fission_ is as
voiceless as my _fishin'_ and my _tressure_ is non-existent (except in the
context "I know _treasure_ but not _tressure_"); it's apparently something to
do with hair-dressing.
As for houses, my favorite datum comes from a linguist colleague whose
identity will be shielded here. She claims to have always distinguished
_housewife_ ([HAWSwayf] as for everyone else) from _housewives_ (which she
pronounces [HAWZwayvz], with all fricatives voiced). Some form of voicing
harmony or regressive assimilation, but limited to this lexical item. (She's
in her 40's and grew up in southern New England.) --Larry Horn