H-dropping

H-dropping or aitch-dropping is the deletion of the voiceless glottal fricative or "H-sound", [h]. The phenomenon is common in many dialects of English, and is also found in certain other languages, either as a purely historical development or as a contemporary difference between dialects. Although common in most regions of England and in some other English-speaking countries, and linguistically speaking a neutral evolution in languages, H-dropping is often stigmatized as a sign of careless or uneducated speech.

The reverse phenomenon, H-insertion or H-adding, is found in certain situations, sometimes as an

The phenomenon of H-dropping considered as a feature of contemporary English is the omission, in certain accents and dialects, of this syllable-initial /h/, either alone or in the cluster /hj/. (For the cluster /hw/ and its reduction, see Pronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩.)

Description

H-dropping, in certain accents and dialects of Modern English, causes words like harm, heat, home and behind to be pronounced arm, eat, ome and be-ind (though in some dialects an [h] may appear in behind to prevent hiatus – see below).

Cases of H-dropping occur in all English dialects in the

There is evidence of h-dropping in texts from the 13th century and later. It may originally have arisen through contact with the Norman language, where h-dropping also occurred. Puns which rely on the possible omission of the /h/ sound can be found in works by William Shakespeare and in other Elizabethan era dramas. It is suggested that the phenomenon probably spread from the middle to the lower orders of society, first taking hold in urban centers. It started to become stigmatized, being seen as a sign of poor education, in the 16th or 17th century.^[3][4]

Geographical distribution

H-dropping occurs (variably) in most of the dialects of the

H-dropping also occurs in some Jamaican English, and perhaps in other Caribbean English (including some of The Bahamas). It is not generally found in North American English, although it has been reported in Newfoundland (outside the Avalon Peninsula).^[8] However, dropping of /h/ from the cluster /hj/ (so that human is pronounced /'juːmən/) is found in some American dialects, as well as in parts of Ireland – see reduction of /hj/.

Social distribution and stigmatization

H-dropping, in the countries and regions in which it is prevalent, occurs mainly in working-class accents. Studies have shown it to be significantly more frequent in lower than in higher social groups. It is not a feature of RP (the prestige accent of England), or even of "Near-RP", a variant of RP that includes some regional features.^[9] This does not always apply, however, to the dropping of /h/ in weak forms of words like his and her.

H-dropping in English is widely stigmatized, being perceived as a sign of poor or uneducated speech, and discouraged by schoolteachers. John Wells writes that it seems to be "the single most powerful pronunciation shibboleth in England."^[10]

Use and status of the H-sound in H-dropping dialects

In fully H-dropping dialects, that is, in dialects without a phonemic /h/, the sound [h] may still occur but with uses other than distinguishing words. An

For many H-dropping speakers, however, a phonological /h/ appears to be present, even if it is not usually realized – that is, they know which words "should" have an /h/, and have a greater tendency to pronounce an [h] in those words than in other words beginning with a vowel. Insertion of [h] may occur as a means of emphasis, as noted above, and also as a response to the formality of a situation.

It is likely that the phonemic system of children in H-dropping areas lacks a /h/ entirely, but that social and educational pressures lead to the incorporation of an (inconsistently realized) /h/ into the system by the time of adulthood.^[12]

H-insertion

The opposite of H-dropping, called H-insertion or H-adding, sometimes occurs as a

The following is a list of some pairs of English words which may become homophones when H-dropping occurs. (To view the list, click "show".) See also the list of H-dropping homophones in Wiktionary.

In other languages

Processes of H-dropping have occurred in various languages at certain times, and in some cases, they remain as distinguishing features between dialects, as in English. Some

The phoneme /h/ was lost in Vulgar Latin, the ancestor of the modern Romance languages. Already in the Imperial period, there is attested evidence for early h-loss. Both French and Spanish acquired new initial /h/ in medieval times, but they were later lost in both languages in a "second round" of H-dropping. Some dialects of Spanish have yet again acquired [h] from /x/, which as of now is stable.

It is hypothesized in the laryngeal theory that the loss of [h] or similar sounds played a role in the early development of the Indo-European languages.

In Maltese, /h/ existed as a phoneme until the 19th century. It was then lost in most positions, sometimes lengthening the adjacent vowel. Chiefly word-finally it was merged with /ħ/. The latter phoneme, in turn, may now be pronounced [h] by some speakers, chiefly in the syllable onset.

In Tagalog, /h/ is sometimes elicited along with its succeeding vowel, such as "huwag" from /huˈwaɡ/ to /ˈwag/ and "sabihin" from /saˈbihin/ to /saˈbin/.

Many dialects of Persian spoken in Afghanistan (i.e. Dari) do not realize the phoneme /h/, except in high-prestige literary words or in hyper formal speech. The deletion of the phoneme /h/ may cause a preceding short vowel to be reinterpreted as a long vowel, likely due to phonological rules in Dari prohibiting short vowels and long vowels from being equal in length.^[16] For example, <قَهْر> (qahr /qahɾ/, "anger") is often realized as qār /qɑːɾ/ (as if it was written like <قَار>), and <فَهْمِیدَن> (fahmīdan /fahmiːdan/, to understand) is often realized as <فَامِیدَن> (fāmīdan /fɑːmiːdan/). Between vowels, the phoneme /h/ may be replaced by a glide (/j/ or /w/) resulting in words like <میخواهَم> (mēxāham /meːxɑːham/, "I want") being realized as <میخَایُم> (mēxāyum /meːxɑːjʊm/) (the -um being the result of a separate colloquial pronunciation shift).

The modern

See also

• Phonological history of English
• Phonological history of English consonants
• Aspirated h

References