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Radio National: Ways of talking

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Sillhouettes of five people filled with words
Radio National: Ways of talking

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  9–10


The ways that people talk can reveal much about themselves, and can also cause strong responses in listeners.

Julian Burnside reads from his book 'Word watching' about the controversy over the pronunciation of the letter 'h', and how the pronunciation of words starting with 'h' has changed over the centuries.

He suggests some reasons why the initial 'h' is pronounced in some cases and not in others.

If you like this clip, listen to the full ABC RN documentary by clicking 'Download Audio' at http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/linguafranca/ways-of-talking/3590790


Things to think about

  1. 1.Ask friends or family questions to discover who pronounces the letter 'h' as 'aitch' and who pronounces it 'haitch'. Perhaps you could provide them with a list of words to read out, such as hotel, humble, homage, habitual, herb. Try to get people from a range of ages in your survey. Note what age groups your subjects belong to and what sort of school they attended (state/private/Catholic). What generalisations can you make about the pronunciation of the letter 'h'?
  2. 2.This recording uses the term 'aspirate' to refer to the way that 'h' is pronounced by expelling air from the mouth — the difference between 'howl' (aspirated) and 'owl'. Generally, who pronounces 'h' as 'haitch' and who pronounces it 'aitch'? In modern English, how can we tell if the initial letter 'h' is to be sounded or not?
  3. 3.In two or three sentences, explain the logical argument set out in the program for pronouncing 'h' as 'haitch'. Why is it so difficult to be certain about the 'right' way to pronounce letters and words in English?
  4. 4.Conduct an internet search to discover four or five common English words that people pronounce in different ways (eg harass and garage). Ask a range of people to pronounce your list of words and collect and collate the results. What generalisations can you make from your findings? You could look at areas such as age, cultural background and educational level of your subjects. How useful do you consider this statement from Professor John Wells, University College London? 'There's no real way of determining what is correct other than looking at what is generally approved.'



Date of broadcast: 8 Oct 2011


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