Zero and Hero

How do you pronounce the first vowel in these two words? It seems that many speakers and dictionaries use [i] for "zero", but I have never adopted this pronunciation. Mine seems to be closer to [I] in both words. Are these pronunciations specific to certain regions?

I think Guest is be touching on another issue though: some dictionaries show a pronunciation for these words along the lines of /"zi:.r\o:/, as if it were "Z-row" (as opposed to "zeer-o"). m-w.com, for example, gives two pronunciations for "zero" ( http://m-w.com/dictionary/zero ), even though you wouldn't expect the serious-Sirius merger to affect the pronunciation of a word like that.

I would transcribe this stuff as:
/"sI.r\i.@s/ unmerged "Sirius"
/"sI@`.i.@s/ merged "Sirius"
/"zI@`.o:/ most common pronunciation of "zero", for merged and unmerged speakers alike
/"zi:.r\o:/ variant pronunciation of "hero"

I've heard this variant pronunciation for "zero, hero" used by some people on TV, so I think it's common in some regions. (But not up here in Massachusetts.)

Agh, typos:

<I think Guest is touching on>

<variant pronunciation of "zero">

Hmm, I have "Z-row" for "zero" but "hear-oh" for "hero". I guess I must have only a partial merger.

Well, the serious-Sirius merger is something different - it has to do with whether you pronounce pairs like "serious-Sirius" or "mirror-nearer" with the same vowels. I think this is just variation in the pronunciation of a small number of words, not a broad phonological issue.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I have heard /"hi:.r\o:/ "hee-row" used by some people, but the m-w.com only gives this type of pronunciation for "zero", and that fits with your pronunciations, so I think this phenomenon may be more common in "zero" than in "hero".