Phonological history of wh

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[edit] Hole-whole merger

The hole-whole merger is the replacement of /ʍ/ with /h/ before the vowels /oː/ and /uː/ which occurred in Old English resulting in the following pronunciations:

• who - /huː/
• whom - /huːm/
• whole - /hoːl/
• whore - /hoːr/

"hole" and "whole" became homophonous.

[edit] Wh-labiodentalization

Wh-labioldentalization is the merger of /ʍ/ and the voiceless labioldental fricative /f/ occurring in the Scots and Māori languages resulting in wh' denoting /f/. In Scots this leads to pronunciations like:

• whit (what) - /fɪt/
• when - /fɛn/

Whine and fine become homophonous as /fain/.

[edit] Wine-whine merger

The wine-whine merger is a merger by which [ʍ] or sequence /hw/ (spelled wh) becomes /w/; it occurs in the speech of the great majority of English speakers. The resulting /w/ is generally pronounced like the original /w/, but sometimes like the original /ʍ/ or /hw/; this may be due to hypercorrection.

The whine-wine merger in the United States. The area marked in purple is where preservation of the contrast is strongest. In other areas the merger predominates, though sporadic instances of contrast preservation are found throughout the country. Based on [1] and the map at Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006: 50).^[1]

The merger is essentially complete in England, Wales, the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and is widespread in the United States and Canada. In accents with the merger, pairs like wine/whine, wet/whet, weather/whether, Wales/whales, wear/where, which/witch etc. are homophonous. The merger is not found in Scotland, Ireland (except in the popular speech of Dublin), and parts of the U.S. and Canada. The merger is not usually stigmatized except occasionally by very speech-conscious people.

According to Labov, Ash, and Boberg (2006: 49)^[1], while there are regions of the U.S. (particularly in the South and the Midwest) where speakers keeping the distinction are about as numerous as those having the merger, there are no regions where 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.

The wine-whine merger, although apparently present in the south of England as early as the 13th century,^[2] did not become acceptable in educated speech until the late 18th century. While some RP speakers still use /ʍ/, most accents of England, Wales, West Indies and the southern hemisphere have only /w/.

Phonologically, the sound of the wh in words like whine in accents without the merger is either analyzed as the consonant cluster /hw/, and it is transcribed so in most dictionaries, or as a single phoneme /ʍ/, due to the fact that phonetically it is realized as the single sound [ʍ].

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Labov, William; Sharon Ash; Charles Boberg (2006). The Atlas of North American English. Berlin: Mouton-de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016746-8. 
2. ^ Minkova, Donka (2004). "Philology, linguistics, and the history of /hw/~/w/.", in In Anne Curzan and Kimberly Emmons, eds.,: Studies in the History of the English language II: Unfolding Conversations. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 7-46. ISBN 3-11-018097-9.