In thish show, Phil and Eric talk their way around the shounds of "sh" and "zh", [ʃ] and [ʒ], post-alveolar fricatives. This pair of consonants provide ample room for discussion of how the sounds are made, compared to similar sounds in the mouth.

Show Notes:

• compared to /s/ and /z/, the airflow of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ goes through a wider aperture
• /ʃ/is very broad spectrum, which makes it an effective "shusher"
• these sounds include a lip-rounding component
• /ʒ/ Phil uses less lip-rounding (lip corner advancement) than /ʃ/, while Eric is unaware of such a difference.
• [Phil mentioned the Heisenberg Uncertainly Principle, which states that "the more precisely one property is measured, the less precisely the other can be measured." I'm not sure that this is what he meant—Eric]
• wikipedia has a list of languages that feature /ʃ/and /ʒ/.
• yogh ȝ is not the symbol you are looking for—note the curved top on the yogh (pronounced [jɒɡ, joʊɡ, joʊk, joʊx] )
• the symbols were invented by Pittman (the shorthand guy)
• š and ž : with a caron or haček
• Ж Cyrillic "zhe"

• ろ in Japanese looks like /ʒ/, but it is not the same

• yod coalescence turns /sju/ into /ʃu/

• Phil gives us a lecture on the history of /sh/ and /zh/ in English
• synchronic (a process/pressure on articulation at one time) and diachronic (over time) change e.g. Pressure—diachronic change that has already happened vs. Presh yer face against the glass—synchronic yod coalescence happening in real time
• Phil refers to Shakespeare's Pronunciation by Helge Kökeritz
• note that in our discussion of /ʒ/, Phil suggests that no one would say beige with an affricate ending, that is [beɪdʒ]. Wells does say that that pronunciation is possible.
• /s/ in sport or strasse in German is ʃ
• omniglot.com, a great place to learn about the spelling conventions of a language
• Alveolo-palatal fricatives ɕ (voiceless) ʑ (voiced)
• Retroflex fricatives ʂ (voiceless) and ʐ (voiced)