Different pronounciations for the word HORIZON?

[FiveStar]

I have pronounced the word HORIZON as [hu-rai-zon] but heard it once in an expression with a different pronounciation:

- ..at this point we don't know what the horizon looks like..[ho-re-zon], that is, instead of the "I" sound above, they used the i as in Big.

Please advise, tks

 

[Matching Mole]

I think what you are describing is a difference in stress. Most English speakers, British or American, pronounce it huh-RAI-zen but there may be regional variants where the stress is on the first syllable (which is what your example sounds like), or where there is no particular stress.

Check out phonetic pronunciation and sound files here:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/73/H0277300.html

and here
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=horizon

for fairly standard pronuncations. British is similar, if you make allowances for the accent.