wh pronunciation

chico   Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:05 pm GMT
Thanks for all the comments. I can't help what anybody does, my family does aspirate the h. and just for the record, i am not a whittington. my mother's first husband died and she remarried to my father and my name is Jones.

I have grown up hearing all theses stories. As for making my mother proud, I understand but I don't think she cares. I was just wondering about the correct way to prounounce the color white and if anyone aspirated the h in it in places in England.

Thanks again.
Ryan   Fri Apr 16, 2010 2:40 pm GMT
Well Chico, the pronunciation of h in wh was at one time in the not too distant past the only correct way of saying it. However, so many people incorrectly say it according to that rule that it has now become more common to hear it without. But you will never be wrong to pronounce the h!
Quintus   Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:16 pm GMT
[Damian wrote :]
>>the "h" is silent in Whittington, whether it applies to a place or person, much the same as it is in words like "white" "when" "which" or "whatever">>
[Gue wrote :]
>>Much like the "k" is silent in "knee", the "g" is silent in "gnome" and the "w" is silent in "wrap">>


Gosh, none of that is necessarily true at all.

Throughout much of Anglophony the h is still aspirated in most of the wh words (whale, what, when, while, whit, white) and, as Ryan sensibly points out, if you choose to aspirate it you can never go wrong.

Just compare the name Whittington to Whitby, a town name is derived from Old Norse < hvítr, 'white' + býr, 'farmstead'. It's pronounced "hwit-bee". Likewise, you have "hwit-ing-tun" (if you so choose).
Leasnam   Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:29 pm GMT
Remember too, that the h is ALWAYS aspired in words like 'who', 'whom', 'whose', and in 'whole', 'whore', etc. So the h is not always silent.
A helper   Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:41 pm GMT
Chico try this site, you will have to register first. You can write things in get them translated, plus hear the audio in as well...

http://imtranslator.com
me   Tue Apr 20, 2010 10:53 pm GMT
h in whoop aspired too
Quintus   Tue Apr 20, 2010 11:34 pm GMT
Leasnam wrote sardonically :
>>Remember too, that the h is ALWAYS aspired in words like 'who', 'whom', 'whose', and in 'whole', 'whore', etc. So the h is not always silent.>>

That's why I wrote "most of the wh words", Leasnam. Obviously, there are exceptions, as you have indicated. But most of the wh words do have aspiration, or at least an historically based aspiration to aspiration.
Swanson   Wed Apr 21, 2010 8:27 am GMT
in Britain h is silent not only in which but in HOME, HOUSE and other words too. It's spreading like a disease, H dropping...
Damian in Edinburgh   Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:32 am GMT
I know six honest working men -
They taught me all I knew...
Their names is What and Where and When
And Which and Why and Who......
Leasnam   Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:05 pm GMT
<<Leasnam wrote sardonically : >>

I intended no bitterness. My post was wholly detached from all others and not intended to be a response to any one post.
Quintus   Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:22 pm GMT
When I use the word "sardonically" I intend it as separate in meaning from "sarcastically", Leasnam, in that I perceived you were writing smilingly and benignly, if pointedly. It may be just my own peculiar usage, but bitterness would not have come into it. Some of my best friends are sardonic, though I won't permit often them to be sarcastic or cynical.

"Sceptically humorous" is my synonymous definition of "sardonic". Even the original Greek etymology is a bit strong for my purpose (although you can see that laughter is present) :

sardonic
1630–40; alter. of earlier sardonian (influenced by F sardonique) < L sardoni(us) (< Gk sardónios of Sardinia) + -an; alluding to a Sardinian plant which when eaten was supposed to produce convulsive laughter ending in death.
Quintus   Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:27 pm GMT
Corrigendum :
I won't permit often them = I won't often permit them
Spermwhale   Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:29 pm GMT
Chill you witless wench! I am talking about stabbing your soft wheaten womb with my wholesome meaten sword, not of hellish swords waved and swung by swinehounds that maketh blooden wounds that drip. So Sohoo whore shut thoust weepsome whining up and open thy mouth to it's full stretched width. I will whet my meaten sword and thrust it inwards in your innards whence its mightiness shall be whisked about till it whizzbangs and becomes all withered.
Damian in Edinburgh   Wed Apr 21, 2010 11:10 pm GMT
I've just noticed my error.....it should read "there names are.....etc"

Good night
Camino Grino   Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:34 pm GMT
@Swanson "in Britain h is silent not only in which but in HOME, HOUSE and other words too. It's spreading like a disease, H dropping..."

Only in working class speech... I've never heard middle class Londoner with h - dropping or th - fronting or L - vocalisation. But the glottal stops and yod coalescence are noticable...