the pronunciation of S in "jobs"

[WilliamTaft]

A clip from VOA Learning English - America's Presidents - Richard Nixon: Resigned

I heard an S sound rather than a Z sound in "jobs". What do you hear?

 

[5jj]

I hear just 'job'.

 

[probus]

I agree with you to a limited extent @WilliamTaft. The vocalization of the s sound is less pronounced than usual, but I think it's there. If it were completely absent we would hear a hissing sound at the end of jobs.

 

[5jj]

. If it were completely absent we would hear a hissing sound at the end of jobs.

Surely if it were completely absent, we'd hear no sibilant sound at all

 

[probus]

Perhaps I could have expressed it more clearly: i didn't mean the sound was absent or reduced. I was talking only about the vocalization of the sibilant. I hear it as a z sound rather than an unvoiced sibilant s.

 

[emsr2d2]

I hear a perfectly normal "z" sound at the end of "jobs", before "he".