an historical (pronouncing the h)

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:05 PM +0200 9/14/10, Paul Frank wrote:
>I realize that the slightest hint of prescriptivism is frowned upon
>around this water cooler. But here's a pet peeve of mine: people who
>say "an historic" and "an historical" and pronounce the "h". I don't
>have a preference for "a historic" or "an historic" but if you opt for
>the "an" shouldn't the "h" be silent? BBC World and BBC 1-4 news
>presenters and talking heads invariably pronounce the "h" when they
>say "an historical," which they do nine times out of ten instead of "a
>historical" (this is just my impression, possibly because I pay
>attention to this irritating habit). And it's not just Brits. Here's
>Justice Stephen Breyer pronouncing the "h" in "historical" after the
>indefinite article "an" in an NPR interview: "People think we decide
>things politically, or that the only way to protect against subjective
>views of judges is to have something called originalism, which is as
>if you could reach decisions by means of an historical computer. I
>don't think any of those things are true."
>
><http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129702855>
>
>Cheers,
>Paul
>
Well, we're making *some* progress.  In the early-mid 19th century
(through Austen and Mill, at least), they were writing "an hero", "an
husband", "an history" with "an" before what I assume was a
pronounced <h> in a *stressed* syllable.  Mill even has "an
universal".  And googling "an universal", I find many many hits
(supposedly about 1,170,000, but in any case lots and lots),
including a substantial chunk from the current era ("an universal
boot loader", "an universal operating system"), not *all* of them
representing the output non-native writers/speakers.  (At least the
"an husband" hits seem to be largely biblical or otherwise antique.)

LH

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