Comments on: Pronouncing Words that Begin with WH

By: Reefy

Reefy — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 06:10:12 +0000

I went to a very prestigious private grammar school in Newport and they taught that the “wh” is aspirated. All the people I know who pronounce it in a non-aspirated way are middle class or lower. Just my observations.

By: thebluebird11

thebluebird11 — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:56:23 +0000

@Emily, I am amazed and encouraged that a 14-year-old is posting on this site. I have an 18-year-old daughter, and surfing grammar sites is not on her “to-do” list. You are obviously intelligent, and, off-topic for this post, I think you used the word “ironic” correctly (which I can’t seem to do, LOL).
I don’t know if it’s a generational thing, a regional thing, a combination, or what. Both my parents were born in New York (USA), and so was I. My mother was an English major and chastised me mercilessly for not blowing out candles when pronouncing “Why,” “When,” Whale,” etc. The whole issue seriously disgusted me, and I would never in a million years pronounce the H (“HWY,” “HWEN,” “HWALE”). I’m sorry, but it sounds pretentious to me. Perhaps there was a spelling issue (not that English ever cared), but “wy” looks weird (and is also the abbreviation for our state of Wyoming), and “wen” and “wale” are words.
Anyway, nice post Happy new year!

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:37:00 +0000

I’m fourteen years old, I live in England, and I was brought to this website as a result of my mother (who is German) and my great-aunt (who is Scottish) arguing over the pronunciation of words involving ‘wh’. My aunt believes that the only proper way to speak English is to pronounce the ‘wh’ in every single word that contains that pattern. My mother disagrees completely.
I don’t know who is right to be honest, and I find it ironic that neither of them are actually from England (don’t think of me as racist for saying this, but it is the ENGLISH language). I have also noted that when I go to Scotland, more of the population pronounce the h. And the same occurred when I went to Ireland
I don’t think it necessary to put emphasis on the h, and I find that most people in my area in my generation and others near to it don’t bother either.

By: Michael Strangways Price

Michael Strangways Price — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 07:50:05 +0000

Regarding the pronunciation (NEVER pronounciation!) of wh- words, H.G. Fowler (Modern English Usage) notes that the inclusion of the h is most common with Scottish and Irish speakers. My ancient Chambers’s English Dictionary (published in Edinburgh circa 1913) gives the phonetic pronunciations as hwat, hwere, hwy, and so on, and I have always followed this pattern, having been taught to do so almost from infancy. Not to do so would be anathema to me. As for aitch and its pronunciation, will people seriously speak of the ‘haitch’-bone? If the word was meant to be pronounced otherwise, the dictionaries would include the h, which of course they do not! The origin of this mispronunciation is well known.

By: Mary Jo

Mary Jo — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:43:44 +0000

I just realized that my husband of 14 years pronounces “whale” as “wale” – He’s from Rhode Island
I, on the other hand, remember being taught to hold my hand in front of my mouth to feel the air when pronouncing “wh” words and I’m from East Tennessee.
If it took me 14 years to notice, I would imagine that one would have to be intent on listening for the difference to hear it.
Additionally, speech in the Appalachians tends to be closer to Old English than the rest of the country.