Whilst

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:20 AM +0000 7/17/10, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>I looked up "whilst" in the "MacMillan Dictionary for Children" that
>I just bought (I'm collecting dictionaries).  It does not contain
>the word "whilst".  Only "while" and that in verb form as well.
>(Does whilst have a verb form too?)
>
>Interestingly every word that starts with "wh" is given a first
>pronunciation of ~hw

Including "who"?

>  and a second of ~w (except those pronounced as ~h, as in who).  I
>never hear ~hw in USA.  I don't say ~hw so that may have something
>to do with it.
>
>Imagine "whoa" as "hwoa"
>
>Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
>see truespel.com phonetic spelling
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org