The Phonogram WH

The Phonogram WH The Phonogram WH The Phonogram WH By Maeve Maddox A reader commenting on Wile vs While wrote: Modern speakers and writers have a problem with W words such as while and wile (another example: whale, wale, and wail) because there is no longer a distinction made between the way wh and w are pronounced. Not all American speakers distinguish between the sounds of whine and wine, but many still do. There are advantages to teaching the distinction, even in regions where the difference has been lost in the local dialect. Wh represents the sound one makes when blowing out a candle: [wh]. The number of English words that begin with wh is not large, and even speakers who distinguish between the initial sounds of Wales and whales do not pronounce wh as [wh] in every word that begins with the wh spelling. For speakers of dialects that still distinguish between the pronunciation of which and witch, the following words begin with the aspirated sound [wh]: whack whale wharf what wheat wheel wheeze when where whet whether which whiff Whig while whim whimper whip whirl whisk whisker whisky whisper whit white whoop why In the following words, the spelling wh represents the sound [h]. who whom whole whose wholly whore What linguists call the â€Å"wine-whine merger† is no doubt destined to prevail in the United States. Nevertheless, teaching the aspirated sound of wh is an aid to spelling mastery. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Spelling category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Types of LanguageWhat is Dative Case?50 Plain-Language Substitutions for Wordy Phrases