On 20 Oct 2006 at 6:46, Noel Stoutenburg wrote: > I've never heard a speaker I can identify from any part of the U.S., > either in person, or via broadcast media, say pronounce the "w" and > "h" in their proper order, that is to say "w-hich" or "w-hen", and > while I have heard the name of the letter next before Z in customary > alphabetical order in English pronounced as "wye", I have never heard > "why" pronounced that way. Further, consulting my dictionary, the > pronunciation for every word beginning with the "wh" dyad is specifiec > as "hw", as in these examples
I remember being taught that words beginning with "wh" where to be pronounced "hw" but I have never heard anyone that I could say was definitely doing that. What I hear instead is not two distinct letters, each pronounced clearly, but a sound that is different from either of the two letters alone, just as "th" has a sound different as a pair from either of the two letters in it. So, no, I wouldn't see "wh" as an example of pronunciation where the letters are reversed at all. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
