Fricatives

1. Some speakers have only one apico-dental fricative, the voiced /ð/, e.g. this > [ðis], thanks > [ðεŋks].

2. Similarly, while some speakers have /ß/ in initial and medial position for very > [ßeri] , never > [neßa] , most have /f/ in final position for five > [faif], and cave > [ke:f].

3. Fijian has only one sibilant, the voiceless post-alveolar /s/, a sound intermediate between the /s/ and /ʃ/ of Standard English. Most commonly, the /ʃ/ of Standard English is realized as /s/ as in: sure > [suɐ] and insure > [insuɐ] , pollution > [pɒlusen] , English > [iŋlis] , British > [britis], shock > [sɒk] , parachute > [parɐsut]. On the other hand, the grooved palato-alveolar fricative [ʃ] also often occurs, particularly in words that contain two or more voiceless sibilants, e.g. socializing > [ʃoʃɐlaisin] , associate [εʃoʃiεt].

4. Standard English words containing the voiced post-alveolar fricative /Ʒ/ , such as measure, confusion and usual, are often realized as [meʃɐ ~ mezɐ] , [kɒnfjuʃen] , [juʃuɐl ~ juzuɐl]respectively.

5. Syllable final /z/ is nearly always [s], e.g. cruise > [krus], noise > [no^es], including the plural and third person singular morphemes, e.g. years > [jis], boys > [bo^es], cleans > [klins]. This feature, along with the devoicing of voiced stops described above (3.), suggests that Pure Fiji English may have a general devoicing rule for these consonants in final position.