3 ms·
That's a much better example! I'm not sure how to accurately describe the w/wh difference in text. A comment in this thread suggested that it's like prepending
by smcl 5y ago
That's a much better example! I'm not sure how to accurately describe the w/wh difference in text. A comment in this thread suggested that it's like prepending a "h", like "hwhen" which is actually incorrect - this exists but it's what you'd do as part of an over-the-top impression of an old fashioned upper class accent :) In reality the pronunciation is just like blowing a tiny little bit of air when your mouth makes the shape for the "w". I didn't know it was largely just a Scottish/Irish thing nowadays, though.
Also while we're all gathered in our shared appreciation of pronunciation weirdness I have one more "wh" example. Where I'm from (Northeast Scotland) English words following a "wh-" pattern are transformed in the local dialect to be spelled and pronounced differently as "f-". So "fit" instead of "what" ("fit like?" = "how's it going"), "far" instead of "where" ("far dae ye bide" = "where do you live") etc. Dialects are weird :)