"wh" words - was "no subject"

[Tom Zurinskas]

All the following words beginning with "wh" are said to be pronounced ~hw in first pronunciation in the McMillan Dictionary for Children 2001, then as ~w in second pronunciation.

whack
whale
whaling
wharf
what
whatever
wheat
wheel
wheelbarrow
wheelchair
wheeze
whelk
when
whenever
where
whereabouts
whereas
whereupon
wherever
whey
which
whichever
whiff
while
whim
whimper
whine
whinny
whip
whippoowill
whir
whirl
whirlpool
whirlwind
whisk
whisker
whiskey
whistle
white
whiten
whitewash
whittle
whiz
whoa
why

thefreedictionary.com also gives ~hw as first pronunciation for these words in their notation, but listening to the pronunciation I don't hear it.  "Wheat, which, whip, whisk" spoken at the clickable "icon" I believe have ~hw, but the speakers at the US and UK clickable flags do not for any of these words.

I think that folks that say ~hw for these words are in the vast minority, and ~hw should be 2nd pronunciation if it's still spoken at all.


Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
see truespel.com phonetic spelling


>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>> Imagine "whoa" as "hwoa"
>
> Or "who" as "hwo"
>
> Self continues to be the measure of all things.
>
> Back in 1961, I got into a shouting match with a barracksmate from
> Cincinnat[@] who'd more-or-less rhetorically asked,
>
> "You ever notice that, in words that start with wh-, like "[w]at," the
> -h- is never pronounced?"
>
> Say *[hw]at*?!!! That was one of the most ignorant remarks that I'd
> ever heard! [w]y, I knew people in *Saint Louis* from Cincinnat[@] and
> they didn't be saying any "[w]at"! (Even though they did say
> "Missour[@]." But that was okay. My Texan grandmother used
> "Missour[@]," too.) They pronounced it the *right* way: "[hw]at"! Just
> as *I* did!
>
> As Stewie (cf. The Family Man) says, "Will [hw]eaton."
>
> -Wilson
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> –––
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> –Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
_________________________________________________________________
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail.
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_5

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