Date:  Tue, 30 Nov 1993 12:15:11 CST

From:  Mike Picone <MPICONE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UA1VM.BITNET>

Subject: sh/zh



>  In any case, the situation with th/dh pairs is a lot more robust that what

>we find with sh/zh (voiceless/voiced palatal fricatives). The best I've ever

>come up with here is Confucian/confusion, while other would-be pairs involve

>either proper names invoked for the occasion (Asher/azure), marginal instances

>of productive word-formation (mesher/measure), or near-minimal pairs that

>don't quite get there (pressure/pleasure, thresher/treasure). Can anybody do

>better?

>Larry Horn



For some, like me, in normal speech _fission_ and _fishing_ would constitute

a minimal pair, as in "nuclear fission" |+voice| and "I'm goin' fishin'"

|-voice|. This will not work, of course, for those who have either the

voiceless version of _fission_ or who maintian either |i| or a word-final

velar nasal as elements of participial <-ing>.



Mike Picone

U Alabama