Comments on: The Oddest English Spellings, Part 16: Wistful Whistplayers and Other Wherry Important Words

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 21:32:23 +0000

No real statistics, but /hw/ is pretty much confined to Ireland, Scotland (except the North), and parts of the southeastern U.S.

By: Terry Collmann

Terry Collmann — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:52:29 +0000

In Aberdeen “hw-” has apparently become “f-”, so that “what’s that?” is “fit’s tha’?” and “whereabouts are you from” is “furryboots are ye fram?”

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:07:24 +0000

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By: Walter Turner

Walter Turner — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:35:26 +0000

Imagine how insipid the sound of hwaet would be in Beowulf without the h!
I seem to have grown up in a family that, like John Cowan’s wife, heard the wh- sound where we expected it, without really listening for it. My brother was a teenager before my parents realized he was not pronouncing the h in the wh words, and, despite all efforts on our part, he never learned to say or even hear it.
Professor Liberman says the number of those who make that distinction is “relatively small,” but I’ll bet he has some statistics about it available.
When I followed up the reference given above to Link Love: Language, I was aghast to read about the sounds people aren’t distinguishing. I can’t understand where those people must come from. What keeps the language from falling apart completely? That is must reading for anyone who thinks English spelling might be regularized.

By: Link love: Language (16) « Sentence first

Link love: Language (16) « Sentence first — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:20:09 +0000

[...] and presumptions of purity. The development of language, in cartoon form. A short history of the hw- sound and the wh- spelling. On the spelling and pronunciation of (n+1)st and (n+1)th. Savants, [...]

By: Stan

Stan — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:58:21 +0000

Another fascinating post. Thank you. As mollymooly writes, English as spoken in Ireland has retained the /w/–/hw/ distinction. I think it’s normal in Scotland too.

By: mollymooly

mollymooly — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:59:32 +0000

In Ireland we still say /hw/. So “whiskey” (and even “whisky”) has a /h/ and a /w/, even though the Irish Gaelic “uisce” has no /h/ (and in many dialects no /w/ either).

By: dw

dw — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:17:54 +0000

those who make this distinction do not say w-hitch, w-hine, and w-hen

Actually some Indian English speakers, especially those whose native language is Marathi, do say whitch, etc. Those guys can aspirate anything!

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:03:08 +0000

After thirty years of marriage to a wh-speaker from North Carolina, it still comes as a surprise to her that I don't make the distinction: she simply hears it where it isn't, in the same kind of way that people fail to hear a distinction where it is, if it's not a distinction they themselves make. On the other hand, I know a Whitlock from Virginia who refuses to answer to Witlock, on the unimpeachble ground that it is not his name. Me, I call him by his first name, which is unproblematic.