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> Dropping the aitch from "historical" would be an example; it was a cockney habit, adopted by posh people I'll need to check this. If the word came from Old F
by ogogmad 5y ago
> Dropping the aitch from "historical" would be an example; it was a cockney habit, adopted by posh people
I'll need to check this. If the word came from Old French or any post-Latin Romance language, then the "h" would almost certainly be silent. The "h"s in Vulgar Latin were all silent except among educated speakers.
Pronouncing the "h" in "historical" or "hotel" is almost certainly originally a spelling pronunciation. It may have started out as a hypercorrection, just like pronouncing the "h" in "vehicle" when it should really be "vee-icle".
- denton-scratch 5y agoMost latin-ish words in english came from Anglo-Norman; but some came earlier, from Old French. But it seems that phases of aitch-dropping have occurred repeatedly. https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/02/h-dropping.html https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2016/02/h-dropping.html That's an interesting article, and apparently the hhistory of dropped aitches is much more complicated than I suggested. But I don't entirely agree with it. It says it's correct to use the indefinite article before a noun starting with an aspirated aitch; I don't know anybody that talks like that, and it sounds awfully pompous.