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| History and description of |
| English pronunciation |
|---|
| Historical stages |
| General development |
| Development of vowels |
| Development of consonants |
| Variable features |
| Related topics |
Thepronunciation of thedigraph⟨wh⟩ inEnglish has changed over time, and still varies today between different regions andaccents. It is now most commonly pronounced/w/, the same as a plain initial⟨w⟩, although some dialects, particularly those ofScotland,Ireland, and theSouthern United States, retain the traditional pronunciation/hw/, generallyrealized as[ʍ], avoiceless "w" sound. The process by which the historical/hw/ has become/w/ in most modern varieties of English is called thewine–whine merger. It is also referred to asglide cluster reduction.
Beforerounded vowels, a differentreduction process took place inMiddle English, as a result of which the⟨wh⟩ in words likewho andwhom is now pronounced/h/. (A similar sound change occurred earlier in the wordhow.)
What is now English⟨wh⟩ originated as theProto-Indo-European consonant *kʷ (whose reflexes came to be written⟨qu⟩ inLatin and theRomance languages). In theGermanic languages, in accordance withGrimm's Law, Indo-Europeanvoiceless stops became voicelessfricatives in most environments. Thus thelabialized velar stop *kʷ initially became presumably a labialized velarfricative *xʷ in pre-Proto-Germanic, then probably becoming*[ʍ] – avoiceless labio-velar approximant – inProto-Germanic proper. The sound was used inGothic and represented by the letterhwair. InOld High German, it was written as⟨huu⟩, a spelling also used inOld English along with⟨hƿ⟩ (using the letterwynn). InMiddle English the spelling was changed to⟨hw⟩ (with the development of the letter⟨w⟩) and then⟨wh⟩, but the pronunciation remained[ʍ].
Because Proto-Indo-Europeaninterrogative words typically began with *kʷ, English interrogative words (such aswho,which,what,when,where) typically begin with⟨wh⟩ (for the wordhow, see below). As a result, such words are often calledwh-words, and questions formed from them are calledwh-questions. In reference to this English order, a common cross-lingual grammatical phenomenon affecting interrogative words is calledwh-movement.
Beforerounded vowels, such as/uː/ or/oː/, there was a tendency, beginning in theOld English period, for the sound/h/ to becomelabialized, causing it to sound like/hw/. Words with an established/hw/ in that position came to be perceived (and spelt) as beginning with plain/h/. This occurred with the interrogative wordhow (Proto-Germanic *hwō, Old Englishhū).
A similar process of labialization of/h/ before rounded vowels occurred in theMiddle English period, around the 15th century, in some dialects. Some words which historically began with/h/ came to be written⟨wh⟩ (whole,whore). Later in many dialects/hw/ was delabialized to/h/ in the same environment, regardless of whether the historic pronunciation was/h/ or/hw/ (in some other dialects the labialized/h/ was reduced instead to/w/, leading to such pronunciations as the traditionalKentish/woʊm/ forhome). This process affected the pronounwho and its inflected forms. These had escaped the earlier reduction to/h/ because they had unrounded vowels in Old English, but by Middle English the vowel had become rounded, and so the/hw/ of these words was now subject to delabialization:
By contrast withhow, these words changed after their spelling with⟨wh⟩ had become established, and thus continue to be written with⟨wh⟩ like the other interrogative wordswhich,what, etc. (which were not affected by the above changes since they had unrounded vowels – the vowel ofwhat became rounded at a later time).
The wine–whine merger is the phonologicalmerger by which/hw/, historically realized as avoiceless labio-velar approximant [ʍ], comes to be pronounced the same as plain/w/, that is, as avoiced labio-velar approximant[w].John C. Wells refers to this process asGlide Cluster Reduction.[3] It causes the distinction to be lost between the pronunciation of⟨wh⟩ and that of⟨w⟩, so pairs of words likewine/whine,wet/whet,weather/whether,wail/whale,Wales/whales,wear/where,witch/which becomehomophones. This merger has taken place in the dialects of the great majority of English speakers.
The merger seems to have been present in the south of England as early as the 13th century.[4] It was unacceptable in educated speech until the late 18th century, but there is no longer generally anystigma attached to either pronunciation.[3] In the late nineteenth century,Alexander John Ellis found that/hw/ was retained in all wh- words throughoutCumbria,Northumberland,Scotland and theIsle of Man, but the distinction was largely absent throughout the rest of England.[5]
The merger is essentially complete inEngland,Wales, theWest Indies,South Africa,Australia, and in the speech of young speakers inNew Zealand.[6] However, some conservativeRP speakers in England may use/hw/ for⟨wh⟩, a conscious choice rather than a natural feature of their accent.[3]
The merger is not found inScotland, most ofIreland (although the distinction is usually lost inBelfast and some other urban areas ofNorthern Ireland),[6] and in the speech of older speakers in New Zealand. The distribution of thewh- sound in words does not always exactly match the standard spelling; for example, Scots pronouncewhelk with plain/w/, while in many regionsweasel has thewh- sound.[3]
Most speakers in theUnited States andCanada have the merger. According to Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006: 49),[2] using data collected in the 1990s, there are regions of the U.S. (particularly in the Southeast) in which speakers keeping the distinction are about as numerous as those having the merger, but there are no regions in which the preservation of the distinction is predominant (see map). Throughout the U.S. and Canada, about 83% of respondents in the survey had the merger completely, while about 17% preserved at least some trace of the distinction.
Below is a list of word pairs that are likely to be pronounced as homophones by speakers having the wine–whine merger.[original research]
| /w/ | /hw/ | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| wack | whack | ˈwæk | |
| wail | whale | ˈweɪl | Withpane–pain merger |
| wale | whale | ˈweɪl,ˈweːl | |
| Wales | whales | ˈweɪlz,ˈweːlz | |
| wang | whang | ˈwæŋ | |
| ware | where | ˈwɛː(r),ˈweːr | |
| wary | wherry | ˈwɛri | WithMary-marry-merry merger |
| watt | what | ˈwɒt | In certain dialects[which?] |
| way | whey | ˈweɪ | |
| weal | wheel | ˈwiːl | |
| wear | where | ˈwɛː(r),ˈweːr | |
| weather | whether | ˈwɛðə(r) | |
| weigh | whey | ˈweɪ | Withwait–weight merger |
| we'll | wheel | ˈwiːl | In certain dialects[which?] |
| welp | whelp | ˈwɛlp | |
| wen | when | ˈwɛn | |
| were(man) | where | ˈwɛː(r),ˈweːr | |
| were(to be) | whir | ˈwɜː(r) | |
| wet | whet | ˈwɛt | |
| wether | whether | ˈwɛðə(r) | |
| wide | why'd | ˈwaɪd | |
| wield | wheeled | ˈwiːld | |
| wig | whig | ˈwɪɡ | |
| wight | white | ˈwaɪt | |
| wile | while | ˈwaɪl | In certain dialects[which?] |
| win | when | ˈwɪn | Withpin-pen merger |
| win | whin | ˈwɪn | |
| wince | whence | ˈwɪns | Withpin-pen merger |
| wind(verb) | whined | ˈwaɪnd | |
| wine | whine | ˈwaɪn | |
| wined | whined | ˈwaɪnd | |
| wire | why're | ˈwaɪə(r) | |
| wise | why's | ˈwaɪz | |
| wish | whish | ˈwɪʃ | |
| wit | whit | ˈwɪt | |
| witch | which | ˈwɪtʃ | |
| wither | whither | ˈwɪðə(r) | |
| woe | whoa | ˈwoʊ,ˈwoː | |
| word | whirred | ˈwɜː(r)d | Withnurse merger |
| world | whirled | ˈwɜː(r)ld | Withnurse merger |
| world | whorled | ˈwɜː(r)ld | In certain dialects[which?] |
| Y; wye | why | ˈwaɪ |
As mentioned above, the sound of initial⟨wh⟩, when distinguished from plain⟨w⟩, is often pronounced as avoiceless labio-velar approximant[ʍ], a voiceless version of the ordinary[w] sound. In some accents, however, the pronunciation is more like[hʍ], and in some Scottish dialects it may be closer to[xʍ] or[kʍ]—the[ʍ] sound preceded by avoiceless velar fricative orstop. (In other places the/kw/ ofqu- words is reduced to[ʍ].) In theBlack Isle, the/hw/ (like/h/ generally) is traditionally not pronounced at all.[7] Pronunciations of the[xʍ] or[kʍ] type are reflected in the former Scots spellingquh- (as inquhen forwhen,quhite forwhite, etc.).[8]
In some dialects ofScots, the sequence/hw/ has merged with thevoiceless labiodental fricative/f/.[9] Thuswhit ("what") is pronounced/fɪt/,whan ("when") becomes/fan/, andwhine becomes/fain/ (ahomophone offine). This is also found in someIrish English with anIrish Gaelic substrate influence (which has led to a re-borrowing ofwhisk(e)y as Irish Gaelicfuisce, the word having originally entered English fromScottish Gaelic).
Phonologically, the distinct sound of⟨wh⟩ is often analyzed as theconsonant cluster/hw/, and it is transcribed so in most dictionaries. When it has the pronunciation[ʍ], however, it may also be analyzed as a single phoneme,/ʍ/.
