Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
liaison (n.)
pronounced lee-AI-zuhn, LEE-ai-ZAWN, LEE-uh-ZON, plus a widely heard but Nonstandard LAI-uh-zuhn, has a generalized meaning of “an interlinking, a relationship,” and three specialized senses: “an illicit sexual relationship, an affair”; “a French language practice wherein a silent final consonant is pronounced as the first sound of a following word beginning with a vowel, as in chez elle (SHAI ZEL); and “the title of the person who acts as go-between, especially between groups or organizations.”
