Pronunciation of were (where)

Status
Not open for further replies.

2006

Key Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
If you cannot accept the facts, then carry on in your fancies. They harm nobody - except the odd student who might start worrying about a non-existent problem.
Speaking of students, I think that most teachers would point out the difference between the full wh pronunciation and the w pronunciation.
The teacher can certainly also point out that many or most native speakers don't make the effort to produce the full wh sound and instead say something very close to or even exactly the same as the w pronunciation.
I should have added this yesterday and avoided dragging this out another day.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Speaking of students, I think that most teachers would point out the difference between the full wh pronunciation and the w pronunciation.
The teacher can certainly also point out that many or most native speakers don't make the effort to produce the full wh sound and instead say something very close to or even exactly the same as the w pronunciation.

I should have added this yesterday and avoided dragging this out another day.
Or not added it, and avoided dragging this out another day.

I suspect that most teachers would not point out out a minority dialect difference.

And it is not a question of not making the effort, (just as there is no question of Americans not making the effort to pronounce the /h/ in herb, or English speakers not making the effort to pronounce the /r/ in that word). In most parts of the world the standard pronunciation of wh is/w/, (just as the standard AmE pronunciation of herb has no /h/ and the standard Br E pronunciation of that word has no /r/).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top