Pronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩
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History and description of |
English pronunciation |
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Historical stages |
General development |
Development of vowels |
Development of consonants |
Variable features |
Related topics |
The pronunciation of the
Before rounded vowels, a different reduction process took place in Middle English, as a result of which the ⟨wh⟩ in words like who and whom is now pronounced /h/. (A similar sound change occurred earlier in the word how.)
Early history
What is now English ⟨wh⟩ originated as the
Because Proto-Indo-European
Developments before rounded vowels
Before
A similar process of labialization of /h/ before rounded vowels occurred in the Middle English period, around the 15th century, in some dialects. Some words which historically began with /h/ came to be written ⟨wh⟩ (whole, whore). Later in many dialects /hw/ was delabialized to /h/ in the same environment, regardless of whether the historic pronunciation was /h/ or /hw/ (in some other dialects the labialized /h/ was reduced instead to /w/, leading to such pronunciations as the traditional Kentish /woʊm/ for home). This process affected the pronoun who and its inflected forms. These had escaped the earlier reduction to /h/ because they had unrounded vowels in Old English, but by Middle English the vowel had become rounded, and so the /hw/ of these words was now subject to delabialization:
- who – Old English hwā, Modern English /huː/
- whom – Old English hwǣm, Modern English /huːm/
- whose – Old English hwās, Modern English /huːz/
By contrast with how, these words changed after their spelling with ⟨wh⟩ had become established, and thus continue to be written with ⟨wh⟩ like the other interrogative words which, what, etc. (which were not affected by the above changes since they had unrounded vowels – the vowel of what became rounded at a later time).
Wine–whine merger
The wine–whine merger is the phonological
Extent of the merger
The merger seems to have been present in the south of England as early as the 13th century.[4] It was unacceptable in educated speech until the late 18th century, but there is no longer generally any stigma attached to either pronunciation.[3] In the late nineteenth century, Alexander John Ellis found that /hw/ was retained in all wh- words throughout Cumbria, Northumberland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, but the distinction was largely absent throughout the rest of England.[5]
The merger is essentially complete in England, Wales, the West Indies, South Africa, Australia, and in the speech of young speakers in New Zealand.[6] However, some conservative RP speakers in England may use /hw/ for ⟨wh⟩, a conscious choice rather than a natural feature of their accent.[3]
The merger is not found in
Most speakers in the United States and Canada have the merger. According to Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006: 49),[2] using data collected in the 1990s, there are regions of the U.S. (particularly in the Southeast) in which speakers keeping the distinction are about as numerous as those having the merger, but there are no regions in which the preservation of the distinction is predominant (see map). Throughout the U.S. and Canada, about 83% of respondents in the survey had the merger completely, while about 17% preserved at least some trace of the distinction.
Possible homophones
Below is a list of word pairs which are liable to be pronounced as homophones by speakers having the wine–whine merger.[original research]
/w/ | /hw/ | IPA | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
wack | whack | ˈwæk | |
wail | whale | ˈweɪl | With pane–pain merger
|
wale | whale | ˈweɪl, ˈweːl | |
Wales | whales | ˈweɪlz, ˈweːlz | |
wang | whang | ˈwæŋ | |
ware | where | ˈwɛː(r), ˈweːr | |
wary | wherry | ˈwɛri | With Mary-marry-merry merger
|
watt | what | ˈwɒt | In certain dialects[ which? ]
|
way | whey | ˈweɪ | |
weal | wheel | ˈwiːl | |
wear | where | ˈwɛː(r), ˈweːr | |
weather | whether | ˈwɛðə(r) | |
weigh | whey | ˈweɪ | With wait–weight merger
|
we'll | wheel | ˈwiːl | In certain dialects[ which? ]
|
welp | whelp | ˈwɛlp | |
wen | when | ˈwɛn | |
were (man) | where | ˈwɛː(r), ˈweːr | |
were (to be) | whir | ˈwɜː(r) | |
wet | whet | ˈwɛt | |
wether | whether | ˈwɛðə(r) | |
wide | why'd | ˈwaɪd | |
wield | wheeled | ˈwiːld | |
wig | whig | ˈwɪɡ | |
wight | white | ˈwaɪt | |
wile | while | ˈwaɪl | In certain dialects[ which? ]
|
win | when | ˈwɪn | With pin-pen merger
|
win | whin | ˈwɪn | |
wince | whence | ˈwɪns | With pin-pen merger
|
wind (verb) | whined | ˈwaɪnd | |
wine | whine | ˈwaɪn | |
wined | whined | ˈwaɪnd | |
wire | why're | ˈwaɪə(r) | |
wise | why's | ˈwaɪz | |
wish | whish | ˈwɪʃ | |
wit | whit | ˈwɪt | |
witch | which | ˈwɪtʃ | |
wither | whither | ˈwɪðə(r) | |
woe | whoa | ˈwoʊ, ˈwoː | |
word | whirred | ˈwɜː(r)d | With nurse merger |
world | whirled | ˈwɜː(r)ld | With nurse merger |
world | whorled | ˈwɜː(r)ld | In certain dialects[ which? ]
|
Y; wye | why | ˈwaɪ |
Pronunciations and phonological analysis of the distinct wh sound
As mentioned above, the sound of initial ⟨wh⟩, when distinguished from plain ⟨w⟩, is often pronounced as a
In some dialects of
Phonologically, the distinct sound of ⟨wh⟩ is often analyzed as the consonant cluster /hw/, and it is transcribed so in most dictionaries. When it has the pronunciation [ʍ], however, it may also be analyzed as a single phoneme, /ʍ/.
In popular culture
- A portrayal of the regional retention of the distinct wh- sound is found in the speech of the character House of Cards.
- The show King of the Hill, set in Texas, pokes fun at the issue through character Hank Hill's use of the hypercorrected [hʍ] pronunciation.
- A similar gag can be found in several episodes of hWheat Thins", and "Wil hWheaton".[10]
- In the comedy movie Hot Rod, the titular character Rod declares that his "safe word will be hwhiskey" and an exchange of overemphasized /hw/ ensues.
- American linguist Dr. Jackson Crawford has noted on his YouTube channel his use of [hʍ] which he picked up from his grandmother's accent.
See also
References
- ^ Based on www.ling.upenn.edu and the map at Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006: 50).
- ^ ISBN 3-11-016746-8.
- ^ a b c d Wells, J.C., Accents of English, CUP 1982, pp. 228–229.
- ISBN 3-11-018097-9.
- ^ Maguire, Warren. "Retention of /hw/ in wh- words". An Atlas of Alexander J. Ellis's The Existing Phonology of English Dialects. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
- ^ a b Wells, 1982, p. 408.
- ^ Robert McColl Millar, Northern and Insular Scots, Edinburgh University Press (2007), p. 62.
- ^ Barber, C.L., Early Modern English, Edinburgh University Press 1997, p. 18.
- ^ A similar phenomenon to this has occurred in most varieties of the Māori language.
- ^ See for example the YouTube video Fox Broadcasting Company (April 13, 2012), Family Guy - Wheat Thins, archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved November 3, 2020