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zmjezhd Offline OP
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who pronounces an h at the beginning of words such as white

The whine-wine merger (link) is one of many interesting phonological changes to have occurred to English over the past millennium or so. I take it you are from somewhere in the NE of the USA. (I see the Vermont on your profile, but you could've moved.) Some wh do not go back to Old English hw (early PIE *kw-), such as whole (< OE hāl). How about some of the wh-word that lost their labelization early on, such as who? I assume your dialect hasn't gone through the cot-caught or Mary-merry-marry mergers yet either ...


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I was born in South Dakota, and lived on the Great Plains for the first 23 years of my life. since, then I've been in Vermont(25 years). whole I say hole, who I say hoo. and cot-caught are definitely two different pronunciations, but I'm not so sure about the Marys...

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Oho! I say hoo too. I hear it like that also when English people say 'who'. But there's another Spanish sound that causes me anyway problems enough: zarzuela, cabeça, corazon. Even more complicated than the Englis ththt-s.
I suppose the Spanish th-sounds are a bit different from the English?

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Originally Posted By: BranShea

I suppose the Spanish th-sounds are a bit different from the English?


In some parts of Spain, z and c before i and e are /θ/, the same as English. It's called ceceo.

Last edited by goofy; 04/28/10 12:45 AM.
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old hand
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Originally Posted By: BranShea
Oho! I say hoo too. I hear it like that also when English people say 'who'. But there's another Spanish sound that causes me anyway problems enough: zarzuela, cabeça, corazon. Even more complicated than the Englis ththt-s.
I suppose the Spanish th-sounds are a bit different from the English?


You knew I'd get in on this...

There are regional variations, as noted. In "standard" Spanish, there exists no sound correspondent to a "z" in English. It is pronounced as an "s".

B/V: Same sound. Often they are called "v chica" and "b grande", in which, of course, the first letters send the same, hence the need for distinction.

"Is that bay as in Victor or bay as in Habana?" - now THAT is funny! laugh

I take crap for my "wh" pronunciation, too. I teach in an urban high school. They even try to "trick" me into saying words such as "whale" so they can have a laugh. Sometimes I indulge them... ;0)

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Yes I know you are the hispañola ;~) Do you really pronounce Belazques? I always did that wrong then. S and Z I did right, like in Velazques we pronounce two times S.
But I was concerned with that th-as in-the sound, which is a real trial for the not anglo-born. (or Spanish)

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zmjezhd Offline OP
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th-as in-the sound

Not all sibilants are lisped in Castillian. As has been pointed out only the graphemes c and z before front vowels, e and i. Also, I voice the dental fricative in English the /ðə/. The Spanish phoneme is actually voiceless (as in English thin /'θɪn/).


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Lovely words, "the lisping sibilants " that are phonemes. Worthy of LLewis Carol. Alright, I will stop talking about mi corathon when it comes from the heart. BTW. Argentinian Spanish has the speciality of softening by adding a Z to the double ll changing Guillermo (Guijermo) into Guizjermo and such. I lack the phenomel phenomenal (?) expertise.

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zmjezhd Offline OP
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Argentinian Spanish has the speciality of softening by adding a Z to the double ll changing Guillermo (Guijermo) into Guizjermo and such.

How the different varieties of Spanish pronounce the phoneme represented by ll is called yeísmo (link). Varieties are /j/ (as the y in English you), /ʒ/ (as j in French jour), /dʒ/ (as j or dg in English judge). Then there is lleísmo where the ll is pronounced /ʎ/ (as gl in Italian gli).


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I too pronounce the "H" in words such as "whether" (by pronunciation distinguished from "weather")and I was born and raised in New York. I don't get a lot of comments about this. There are many New Yorkers who don't speak in "Brooklynese" and realize that "Long Island" are two words not one.

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