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An Historic or a historic? | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7017 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes  Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 39 29 July 2006 at 7:24am | IP Logged | |||||
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I heard a news reporter saying "this marks an historic occasion...". I was taught that "an" only applied to words starting with vowels (an apple, an orange, etc.) and "a" should be used for words starting with consonants. Should the "h" be pronounced or does this depend on what variant of English is being spoken? Edited by patuco on 29 July 2006 at 7:58am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7207 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 2 of 39 29 July 2006 at 7:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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It depends on how historic is pronounced. If historic is prounced with an aspirated h, then "a" should be used. (I believe this is more of an US pronunciation). If the h is silent, (perhaps more of a UK pronunciation), then it would be "an historic occasion". Edited by luke on 29 July 2006 at 7:55am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6770 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 3 of 39 29 July 2006 at 8:33am | IP Logged | |||||
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In my Canadian English, one would naturally say "a historic", with the "a"
pronounced the emphatic "ay" way and an aspirated h. "An historic" sounds British, with the h almost disappearing. I might say it that way if I was giving a speech or wanted to sound formal. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6892 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 4 of 39 29 July 2006 at 9:33am | IP Logged | |||||
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I hope this is of some help! :)
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutother/silent Apparently it's all about silent h's and the etymology of the words in question. That's why you say 'an hour' and 'an historic' but 'a hotel' and 'a horse'. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7106 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 5 of 39 29 July 2006 at 9:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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As long as the reporter didn't say the H sound and say AN, it's all fine. 'istorically French loan words had no "'aiches" pronounced in the first place.
An history doesn't sound right, but "an historic" sounds decent to my ears. What's also amusing is H-adding. This is why Americans don't pronounce the H in herb, but English do, as it was added in later. Edited by Sir Nigel on 29 July 2006 at 9:51am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7017 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 39 29 July 2006 at 11:40am | IP Logged | |||||
The trouble is that the reporter did pronounce the "h" AND said "an". It sounded odd to me, which is why I noticed it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7106 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 7 of 39 29 July 2006 at 12:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Perhaps it was a hypercorrection where instead of just removing the AN, and H got added. Edited by Sir Nigel on 29 July 2006 at 1:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| alcina Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6699 days ago 51 posts - 54 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Italian | Message 8 of 39 29 July 2006 at 12:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
I believe that the "h" can be sounded and yet you can still legitimately use "an". I think it's more to do with where the stress comes in the word. If the word stress isn't on the first syllable, which is prefaced with the "h", then you can say "an" - hence "an historic" where the stress in "historic" is on the second syllable. Similarly you may hear "an heroic" or "an habitual". However, you wouldn't say "an holiday" because the stress is in "holiday" on the first syllable. That's my understanding. You don't have to lapse into cockney and drop your aitches to use "an", you can still aspirate them! Of course I could be wrong! And don't forget...this is English...rules are there to be broken :) Alcina Edited by alcina on 29 July 2006 at 1:16pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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