W vs. WH - a Linguistic Pet Peeve

Travis   Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:39 pm GMT
>>I went to a private school in California and we were taught that the upper classes pronounced it "hw" and the middle and lower classes pronounced it "w"...<<

That, of course, is ridiculous, considering that most English dialects have lost the distinction between historical /w/ and /W/ outside Scotland, Ireland, certain parts of the southern US, and limited pockets in other parts of North America, and the distinction is not really associated with social class at all. In England, this distinction is only really preserved by *some* RP speakers. As for General American, this distinction is left unspecified, with no greater prestige associated with its presence or its lack, and most speakers of GA-like varieties lack this distinction. One way or another, whoever taught you that did not know what they were talking about.
Guest   Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:50 am GMT
I find it ridiculously funny how English speakers argue about which is the right pronunciation and then dare to say that English is the world's easiest language, absurd.