American English Pronunciation

[+ Gar1eth]

My speech is -or at least was-fairly neutral. I've lived outside Texas for many years at a time. And while some people have been able to peg me as being from Texas, a significant number of others (including fellow Texans-but also a large number of people from out of state) have asked me why I don't sound like a Texan. When I was 16 and spending 4 weeks during the summer at a National Jewish Camp outside Warwick, New York, in a skit we were doing, they had to pick a non-Texan to play a Texan because I couldn't fake enough of a cowboy drawl. I've always told people that while I was a 4 or 5th generation Texan on one side, in recent memory, my family always lived in large cities rather than in small town Texas.

 

So the mention in another thread of an escort who wrote his copy in the third person made me think of how I didn't understand at the beginning what the teacher meant by 'person,' but that led to the the memory of when I was in primary school-most likely 2nd grade-and the teacher was discussing the "wh" question words. I remember being totally bewildered when she told us they were pronounced as if they were spelled "hw." I had trouble hearing it. To my mind and ear they all sounded as if they started with "w," and the "h" is silent. Looking at Webster's now, I see that it states the "hw" pronunciation is first. But that the 'w' alone is a secondary pronunciation.

 

It seems to me when I hear it, that, at least in Texas, the "w" alone pronunciation is predominant.

 

What about yourselves, and where y'all live?

 

Oh and what's the pronunciation for these words by native but non-American English speakers?

 

Gman

[HotWhiteThirties]

I see what you’re saying....I’m from the South. However, I hear and understand the “hw” in words like who, what, when, where, etc.

 

On a separate note...I find accents and pronunciations interesting. I also find it sad when someone feels the need to excuse a regional accent. As if that accent is inferior to another. I mean, who decides a superior accent? If it’s one who feels they are elite to another, count me out of that game. Appropriate mechanical use of language is another point entirely...I’ll gladly support good mechanics. I will, however, never apologize for having a Southern Drawl, and, if it causes someone to underestimate me, well then that will be to my advantage and their loss due to their own prejudice. ?

 

Beauty can be found in sincere words, no matter what accent in which they are spoken.

[mike carey]

The Oxford Dictionary site has it without any h sound at the front, and that's how it is spoken in Australian English. The initial h is often present in Scots and Irish usage, I've noticed it in particular in Panti Bliss' speech (her enunciation is usually somewhat exaggerated). Your question referred to the wh- question words, and while [hwile?] it applies to which, what, where and whither, I've never heard it used in who.

[+ azdr0710]

wait, what??!!.......the teacher was saying to pronounce "where.....what.....why" with a bit of an "h" at the beginning????........like "huhwhere, huhwhat, huhwhy"???..........

 

what am I missing here???!!!!

[+ WilliamM]

@Gar1eth

 

I was born in Austin, Texas, but am totally confused by your explanation.

Not your fault

[bostonman]

wait, what??!!.......the teacher was saying to pronounce "where.....what.....why" with a bit of an "h" at the beginning????........like "huhwhere, huhwhat, huhwhy"???..........

 

what am I missing here???!!!!

 

I don't know if it's a regionalism or not. Growing up in CT (and now living in MA), we didn't start the sound with H, just W. (Which of course is literally the sound "oo" but thought of as if it were a consonant.)

 

I do find that in vocal music (particularly as a choral technique) using the "HW" can work as a helpful attack on the sound - as the English "H" sound is literally an exhale of breath. It can also be used to sound a bit more upper crust. ;-)

[+ azdr0710]

It can also be used to sound a bit more upper crust. ;-)

 

sort of a William F Buckley affectation???......

[+ Gar1eth]

The Oxford Dictionary site has it without any h sound at the front, and that's how it is spoken in Australian English. The initial h is often present in Scots and Irish usage, I've noticed it in particular in Panti Bliss' speech (her enunciation is usually somewhat exaggerated). Your question referred to the wh- question words, and while [hwile?] it applies to which, what, where and whither, I've never heard it used in who.

 

Who is Panti Bliss?

wait, what??!!.......the teacher was saying to pronounce "where.....what.....why" with a bit of an "h" at the beginning????........like "huhwhere, huhwhat, huhwhy"???..........

 

what am I missing here???!!!!

 

It's an "h" without a "u" just a breath of air -sorta. Here's a video on it.

 

I'm sure hwen the teacher explained it, she exaggerated the "h" sound. But I remember thinking that she sounded really weird.

 

Oh and I may sometimes pronounce "human" as "youman."

 

Gran

 

[mike carey]

wait, what??!!.......the teacher was saying to pronounce "where.....what.....why" with a bit of an "h" at the beginning????........like "huhwhere, huhwhat, huhwhy"???..........

It's not a separate syllable, it's more, as @bostonman said, an aspirated sound, as if you were starting to say an h sound and switching to the w sound before you finish the h.

[+ Gar1eth]

I don't know if it's a regionalism or not. Growing up in CT (and now living in MA), we didn't start the sound with H, just W. (Which of course is literally the sound "oo" but thought of as if it were a consonant.)

 

 

 

@Gar1eth

 

I was born in Austin, Texas, but am totally confused by your explanation.

Not your fault

 

I understand where you are coming from because I have no idea what @bostonman is talking about when he calls the sound of "w" the sound of "oo" as a consonant.

 

Gman

[mike carey]

Who is Panti Bliss?

An Irish drag queen. He alter ego Rory O'Neill usually has a less 'forced' enunciation. Her initial notoriety was brought about by a short speech she made at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. She was later a prominent campaigner in the Irish equal marriage referendum.

[+ azdr0710]

as @bostonman suggests, this 'wh/hw' thing may be a bit of a formal (pretentious??) pronunciation??......or an educated New England way??

[bostonman]

I understand where you are coming from because I have no idea what @bostonman is talking about when he calls the sound of "w" the sound of "oo" as a consonant.

 

Try this - start the sound of a W, but just hold on to it - don't release the sound. You'll find yourself going "oo." That's actually what a W sound is. Just that we think of it as if it were a consonant instead of a vowel. Same thing with "Y" - it's actually just an "ee" sound.

 

The proper terms for these kind of "vowels turned consonants" are "semivowels" or "glides." (I had to learn all about this IPA stuff back when I took some linguistics courses in college, lol. But it's also very helpful to know all this stuff when I'm working with singers.)

[mike carey]

I have no idea what @bostonman is talking about when he calls the sound of "w" the sound of "oo" as a consonant.

Try saying oo-ich quickly and see how that comes out.

[+ Charlie]

I was surprised when I first learned that the hw sound was correct, because I had always used only the w sound in all the wh words, and to my ear, that was how everyone I knew (no k sound) pronounced the wh words. I have to be very self-conscious (sc pronounced sh) to remember to aspirate before the w. (Native of northern New Jersey)

[bostonman]

Try saying oo-ich quickly and see how that comes out.

 

And...a word like "why" is actually just a 3-part diphthong (merely 3 vowels that merge together, no true consonants at all) - if you say it slowly and hold it out as you go, you'll actually hear "oo-ah-ee."

[mike carey]

I was surprised when I first learned that the hw sound was correct, because I had always used only the w sound in all the wh words, and to my ear, that was how everyone I knew (no k sound) pronounced the wh words. I have to be very self-conscious (sc pronounced sh) to remember to aspirate before the w. (Native of northern New Jersey)

Even if it is standard in a given version of English, I'm not sure that it can be called 'correct' rather than just 'standard', especially if other pronunciations are 'standard' in other versions of the language.

[+ Gar1eth]

Try this - start the sound of a W, but just hold on to it - don't release the sound. You'll find yourself going "oo." That's actually what a W sound is. Just that we think of it as if it were a consonant instead of a vowel. Same thing with "Y" - it's actually just an "ee" sound.

 

I can sorta see/hear it with "y". But "oo" and "w" seem different to me.

 

Gman

[bostonman]

I can sorta see/hear it with "y". But "oo" and "w" seem different to me.

 

Gman

 

If you literally just purse your lips as you would to start a "W" and make a sound, you should hear an "oo." If you then release the sound (the kind of "uh" sound you'd make as your mouth opens) you'll hear something like the "wha" of "what." But really you're saying "oo-uh."

[bostonman]

It also might make more sense if you know that, for instance, the French word for "west" is "ouest," which comes out sounding the same as the English word.

[+ Charlie]

Even if it is standard in a given version of English, I'm not sure that it can be called 'correct' rather than just 'standard', especially if other pronunciations are 'standard' in other versions of the language.

I meant correct according to my high school English teacher (she was from Vermont).

[+ Gar1eth]

It also might make more sense if you know that, for instance, the French word for "west" is "ouest," which comes out sounding the same as the English word.

 

Oui?

 

Gman

[rvwnsd]

My second grade teacher in Chicago taught us to pronounce words like "what," "why," and "where" in a similar fashion. However, I would describe the pronunciation as starting out as if you are quickly blowing though very slightly opened lips just before making the "w" sound.

 

In my recollection the sound was fairly common until the 1980's or 1990's. I haven't heard the words pronounced that way for years and years.

[BabyBoomer]

@Gar1eth

 

Isn't the letter "w" pronounced "Dubya" in Texas?

 

~Boomer~

[Guest]

... I mean, who decides a superior accent?...

 

Well, I wouldn't necessarily use the word "superior," but an accent or way of speaking is probably preferable if the largest number of people can understand it easily. In the US, English as it is spoken by most National news broadcasters is probably preferable in my mind. No one ever has trouble understanding my English (assuming he can speak English in the first place), but there are people that others or myself have trouble understanding. I can usually readily understand "BBC English," but have trouble understanding speakers from Britain, especially England, who use other accents. I would call BBC English the preferable British English. I think that the comprehensibility is probably something which can be studied objectively. Why not talk in a way which makes it as easy as possible for other to understand you without their having to say "I'm sorry--what did you say?"?