Lately I’m noticing some people pronouncing the word news as “noose” rather than “nooze.”
For example, on Morning Edition, Steve
Inskeep says “This is NPR nooze” but co-host Renee Montagne says “NPR
noose.”
Generally Americans use the z sound for the plural marker following
a vowel sound, as in days, fees, sighs,
potatoes, and dues. So
what’s up with “noose”? Does it mean that news has become a monolithic morpheme ( {news}
rather than {new} + {PLURAL} ) for them and so escapes the rule mandating
the z-sound-after-vowels for the plural marker?
Dick Veit
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Richard Veit
Department of English