Haf and have

[Mark A Mandel]

On Mon, 24 Mar 2003, Duane Campbell wrote:

#It seems that when "have" is used to mean "need" -- as in, "I have to go
#to the bathroom" -- it is pronounced "haf". But the same speaker using
#"have" as perfect tense or when meaning "possess" the "v" is vocalized. I
#have even heard, "I haf to have this."
#
#Am I imagining this? Is this one word becoming two distinct words by
#meaning and pronunciation? Am I just a dilettante observing something
#that has been studied to death?

I've been aware of this for many years. ISTM that the regressive
devoicing originated in lexicalized "have to" /'h ae ft@/, as a purely
phonological phenomenon owing to the loss of word boundary, and is now
so strongly attached to this combination that it persists even when
stress and prosody create a break, e.g.,
        I really HAVE to go to the bathroom
 with high-falling tone on "have", and the same duration for
        real    ly
 and
        have    to
 piecewise.

-- Mark A. Mandel