'wh' words

[Dr S. Watts]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
--On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 8:04 am +0000 "Debra.Ziegeler"
<Debra.P.Ziegeler at man.ac.uk> wrote:

> Years later, I observe that speakers of Mandarin Chinese whose first
> languages are Cantonese or Hokkien sometimes pronounce the /hw/  in
> words such as 'huai' ('spoilt, bad') as /w/, and am reminded by a
> Taiwanese colleague, Lien Chinfa,  that once the /hw/ was there in
> English too. No way to stop change.
>
> Debra Ziegeler

I think we've been round the /hw/ block before, but for anyone else who
thinks it was there in English 'once', I can assure you that it is alive
and kicking in Ireland and Scotland. It is the norm for us to the extent
that we find /w/-substitution incomprehensible when contextual information
is inadequate. I have seen a small English child cause total confusion by
announcing that he 'loved animals, and had done a project on wales at
school'.

Sheila Watts

___________________________________________________
Dr Sheila Watts
University Lecturer in German
G06 Kennedy Building
Newnham College
Cambridge CB3 9DF
Telephone +44-1223-335816