Sujet : Re: How to pronounce the letter "H"
De : naddy (at) *nospam* mips.inka.de (Christian Weisgerber)
Groupes : sci.langDate : 01. Jul 2025, 20:16:58
Autres entêtes
Message-ID : <slrn1068d1a.498.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>
References : 1 2 3
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On 2025-07-01, Tilde <
invalide@invalid.invalid> wrote:
"haitch" does sound oldish. Wondering if there is a
difference/preference between English as spoken in
America or GB... If you recite the alphabet (again,
this is for English speakers), sure seems to come
out "aitch".
I had never head of "haitch" until it was discussed in one of the
usual places (alt.usage.english, sci.lang or Language Log) many
years ago. Wikipedia confirms my recollection: The "haitch"
pronunciation is Irish and in some places it's a shibboleth: If you
went to Catholic school, you learned "haitch", otherwise it was
"aitch".
"Haitch" is spreading in BrE. J.C. Wells in the _Longman Pronunciation
Dictionary_, 3rd ed., 2008, cites these figures:
Preference poll: BrE: eɪtʃ 84%, heɪtʃ 16% (born since 1982, 24%)
-- Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de