british english - Pronunciation of the word 'negotiate' with an /s/


So, I've heard this one a couple of times so far, especially in formal contexts on BBC Radio 4 and other tv/radio stations. OED states you can only say it this way — /nɪˈgəʊʃɪeɪt/, providing no other options. However, it's rather popular to say it with an /s/ sound. Since I'm not a native speaker, I wonder why it's so. Is this some kind of a dialect or...I don't know. Also, there's a similar issue with the word 'issue', yet of slightly different genesis. Somehow, people like MPs and Theresa May have got an odd way of pronouncing it like /isju:/ and /iʃu:/ from time to time, shifting their articulation depending on whatever reason there is. Like, if Theresa May gives a speech in the Parliament, she goes /isju:/, and then, immediately outside the building, she answers to a reporter with /iʃu:/. What's the reason behind?




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