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’wh’ sound in American English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6122 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes  22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 9 of 110 09 May 2009 at 2:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Here's something humorous on the subject:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lich59xsjik 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| chronik Diglot Groupie Brazil Joined 6006 days ago 42 posts - 42 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: Italian | Message 10 of 110 10 May 2009 at 1:25am | IP Logged | |||||
Interesting. It really sounded like a 'h' sound, but now that you mentioned it, it started to sound like an emphasized 'w'. Thank you for the information.
Haha good video. I'll go with Brian's pronunciation, then! Still regarding the 'w' sound, in the words wet and twice, do you pronounce it the same way? I've read that in wet you say a voiced 'w' and in twice you say an unvoiced 'w'. Thank you. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Earle Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6315 days ago 276 posts - 276 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Norwegian, Spanish | Message 11 of 110 10 May 2009 at 7:16am | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't believe "twice" can be said without voicing. IOW, the same "W" in "wet" and "twice." What Moultrie is referring to is usually called "aspiration," since it does involve a "puff of air" as the "w" is produced...
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| chronik Diglot Groupie Brazil Joined 6006 days ago 42 posts - 42 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: Italian | Message 12 of 110 11 May 2009 at 10:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thank you Karle. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| GuardianJY Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5685 days ago 74 posts - 72 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Italian, Swedish, French | Message 13 of 110 12 May 2009 at 2:09am | IP Logged | |||||
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In my area of the U.S., the "h" is generally silent. "Wales" the region sounds like "whales" the collection of animals. The vast majority of people do not pronounce the "h" in most, if not all, contemporary words. Edited by GuardianJY on 12 May 2009 at 2:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Earle Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6315 days ago 276 posts - 276 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Norwegian, Spanish | Message 14 of 110 12 May 2009 at 7:09am | IP Logged | |||||
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Hmmm... For all readers, I'd be wary of phrases like "vast majority," without actual demographic statistics to back up such sweeping statements...
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| Earle Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6315 days ago 276 posts - 276 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Norwegian, Spanish | Message 15 of 110 12 May 2009 at 7:15am | IP Logged | |||||
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To take one example, when I say "When it comes to "Wales" (or "whales") they are great managers of breathing, a listener who can hear the aspiration knows whether or not I'm referring to the great Welsh singers or to the ability of cetaceans to manage undersea for long periods. No good reason to impoverish English in that manner...
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| Rout Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5712 days ago 326 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish Studies: Hindi | Message 16 of 110 13 May 2009 at 2:10am | IP Logged | |||||
I think the question was about the 'wh' sound, not a 'w' sound. They're two completely different phonemes. I am going to get attacked and ridiculed for this but.. The CORRECT pronunciation of 'wh' is with aspirition. What = "HWUT" - READ AN OLDER DICTIONARY. This is why I have no respect for Webster's and the like. It is a sad thing what is happening to my language. I hear people say "I hate when people say 'hwut' instead of 'wat.' They sound old." That's because that's the way it was pronounced for hundreds of years! That said.. Either pronunciation is acceptable in modern America. I prefer the aspirated version because, as I've said, it was correct for hundreds of years and I refuse to clip and mangle the English language. =) If you don't believe me you could take a census but I've had some pretty lengthy discussions on this.. Older in people in general = aspirated Younger people in general = unaspirated That's why you get text messages with "wut" and "wat" *shudders* Hope that helps (didn't mean to offend anyone). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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