Thish year

Hello,
I’ve heard many a time people (it seems, well educated ones) pronounce Thish year or even Thizh year. Could anyone please comment on this phenomenon?
TIA

Actually, there is a specific reason for this, and what Brennus is saying does not explain this at all. What the matter is is that in many English dialects, sequences of /sj/, /tj/, and also commonly /dj/ will be realized as [S(j)], [tS(j)], and [dZ(j)] respectively, including across word boundaries. Consequently, if a word ending in /s/, /t/, or /d/, such as "this", comes before another word starting with /j/, such as "year", such will be commonly realized instead as [S], [tS], and [dZ] instead of [s], [t], and [d] respectively.

Maybe they just came out of the pub?

Tnx, folks.
Brennus, I’m aftaid I can’t agree with you. The way Spaniards pronounce words like yo, llamar depends on where they live. Actually, I thought “thish year” was also some local feature, not just an accidental slip. And the booze is out of the question.

<<Actually, I thought “thish year” was also some local feature, not just an accidental slip. And the booze is out of the question.>>

It often happens in casual speech. The sounds 's' and 'j' are coalesced, and hence the 'sh' sound. If you speak faster and don't pay much attention to the clear articulation of the two adjacent sounds, you will get this solution. Some speakers even drop the 'j', and get 'thishear'.

And a good drink in the all-time-loser (a boozer) may help you a lot to get that flavour! :-)))

Could it be that Shean Conner hash shomething to do with it.Lol

Thank you, Brennus.

The "s" in "this year" is followed by a "y".

Firta of my Spanish history isn't that good but I have read that the reason that the Spaniard pronounce the 'ce' as thé and 'ci' as thi because they had a king (I don't know which one) that had a terrible lisp. So that his lisp wouldn't stick out the rest of the court started to lisp as well. Time did the rest.
Thish could have a similar back ground.

>>The "s" in "this year" is followed by a "y".<<

What was meant by "j" here is /j/, which is what "y" in that place in English orthography represents.

<<Firta of my Spanish history isn't that good but I have read that the reason that the Spaniard pronounce the 'ce' as thé and 'ci' as thi because they had a king (I don't know which one) that had a terrible lisp. So that his lisp wouldn't stick out the rest of the court started to lisp as well. Time did the rest.>>

Actually, that's a myth. Castilian Spanish distinguishes between an "s" sound [s] and a "th" sound [T], so Castilian Spanish speakers have no more of a "lisp" than most English speakers do. The Castilian pronunciation of "z" and soft "c" is the result of the natural phonological evolution of the language.

http://spanish.about.com/b/a/044680.htm

http://linguistlist.org/issues/11/11-2186.html (scroll down to "Spanish lisp")

Lazer

(Actually, that's a myth. Castilian Spanish distinguishes between an "s" sound [s] and a "th" sound [T], so Castilian Spanish speakers have no more of a "lisp" than most English speakers do. The Castilian pronunciation of "z" and soft "c" is the result of the natural phonological evolution of the language.)

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

There are only three European languages that use lisps that I know of being English, Greek and Spanish. I wonder if there could be a conection?

The th sound ("lisp") also exists in some Scandinavian languages.

<<What was meant by "j" here is /j/, which is what "y" in that place in English orthography represents.>>

Thanks, Travis.

. The reason native speakers do this (and I've noticed it in the careful speech of university professors) is simple assimilation of place.

/s/ before /j/ becomes /S/: "This year" ["DIS"jI@]
/z/ before /j/ becomes /Z/: "As you know" [{Z.ju:"n@U]
/n/ before /k/ becomes /N/: "Ten cars" ["tEN."kA:z]
/d/ before /m/ becomes /b/: "Good morning" ["gUb."mO:nIN]
/d/ before /k/ or /g/ becomes /g/: "Good girl" ["gUg."g3:l]
... and countless other examples.

It's interesting that native speakers are not aware of the rules that govern their own speech and consider these processes "casual" or "sloppy". Granted, not everyone uses these forms and even those who use them might unconsciously avoid them at certain times. But they are a feature of spoken English without which something does not sound quite right.
The same goes for weak vs. strong forms of some words, e.g. "from" being pronounced [fr\Qm] only when it's emphasised or exposed, but [fr@m] when it occurs everywhere else. I've met native speakers who firmly refuse to believe these "sloppy" forms should be used, or even that they themselves ever use them.

As for Brennus' comment, having lived in Latin America most of my life, I can say that I've never heard [S] or [dZ] (which is what I assume he means by his faux-netic spelling "ojo") in "ocho". The caricature of a Chilean accent includes pronunciations such as [Sile] for "Chile" but I'm not sure how authentic those are.
And the incidence of [j] vs [L] vs [S] or [Z] in "lluvia" is largely a geographical, not socioeconomic, issue.