The pronunciation of/z/as in the Defeño dialect seems to be a recent innovation originating in the 1980s influenced from American and Zapotec pronunciations and has been used as an attempt to differentiate the letter/z/from/s /.
The pronunciation of/z/as in the Defeño dialect seems to be a recent innovation originating in the 1980s influenced from American media. In words of Zapotec origin it is pronounced as/z/as it is in the Zapotec language and many speakers in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas differentiate the letter/z/from/s /.