I distinctly remember being in first and second grade and being taught that “wh” in English is distinctly different from just the letter “w” or “h.” But I increasingly struggle to think of any use of “wh” where I regularly use that “wh” sound. I’m reminded of this when I see this skit:
Am I wrong? Is there anyone left who still uses “wh” regularly in its old-fashioned breathy-w manner? Or are there people doing it and it’s just the region I’m in?
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No one I know has ever said ‘wh’ like that.
But then again, I grew up over by dere in Chicago just like you did, Dean.
I was taught as a child (in North Carolina)Â to pronounce wh as hw, but I never really heard it that way, so I have always just pronounced it as w. I remember having a conversation with my Dad wherein he was rather surprised at this, however he heard me speaking every day, so maybe it is one of those things you don’t really hear unless you are listening for it.
Anything with audio is NSFW unfortunately…
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My second grade teacher (in rural CA) said it that way. I don’t know where she was from though.
Ryan
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I’m not sure if a listener can tell the difference, but I know I say "wh" differently from "w." There’s more air passing through my larynx (without vibrating the vocal chords, natch).
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My pronunciation of "wh" is distinct from my pronunciation of "w" (so you can tell the difference between "witch" and "which" without context), but I don’t emphasize the H as much as Stewie does.
I still hear it all the time when I’m in the Carolinas. Â
And as IADS mentioned above, it often borders on “hwâ€.Â
Everyone pronounces "who" "hoo" not "woo," but what is pronounced "wut."
Probably fairly arbitrary these days.
It used to be part of BBC English, I believe, but I can’t recall hearing it there recently.
WTF?
Wonder how that “W” sounds…
"Who." Yeah, I would agree that the "h" is still prominent when people say "who." So that would be one exception in my world. Although in that one, the “w” seems to almost disappear.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_wh
Stewie’s pronuciation of "wh" is the /hw/ consonant cluster. The prevailing English pronuciation is the voiced labial-velar approximant /w/. I mainly use the Voiceless labio-velar approximant /Ê/.
Maniakes, ha, great find! There’s a wikipedia page for everything! I notice that the Carolinas feature prominently in the map of the wine-whine distinction preservation belt.
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The pronunciation of "wh" reminds you of eating hair?
How strange.
I always wondered why the word "have" is pronounced "hav" in all instances other than when you’re saying "I have to (do something)." Then it’s pronounced "haff".
I mean, what’s up hwith that?
The map makes me wonder where I got the distinction from, as I grew up in Maryland and my parents are from Indiana and New Jersey, and none of these places are shaded in that map.
I say what, white, whine, where, etc.
I do not say wat, wite, wine, wear. I also have a very good background in teaching phonics to adults learning to read, so I am probably more careful in my speaking. I pronounce the wh.
I was born in Oklahoma, raised in Texas and when those accent tests and vocabulary tests make their regular rounds, I have a very strange result. You know East Texas accents are southern, but west Texas accents are more like Oklahoma, Arizona, and points west. I’ m a complete mixture. I live in south Texas. I have a good ear for accents and can usually tell where an older person is from. Many younger people have a more universal accent because of television. However, my Cajun grandsons speak with a definite Cajun accent from Breaux Bridge.
All the small Cajun towns can be identified by their particular accent.Â
I read "somewhere" that this is utter nonsense, invented by insecure English teachers.
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These are regionalisms. There is a simple, but quite accurate, test floating around the Internet somewhere where you can test your pronunciation of various words and it’ll tell you where you’re from.
It includes "wh" versus "w", as well as others like "aunt" (is it ant or ont), "hard" R’s versus Boston "ah’s", etc.
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