Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: Spelling pronunciations (was: rhotic miscellany)

From:Tristan Mc Leay <conlang@...>
Date:Wednesday, November 10, 2004, 19:51
Andreas Johansson wrote:

>Quoting John Cowan <jcowan@...>: > > >> Old English had [xw-], and though the majority of dialects now have [w-], >> >>some still have [hw-] or [W]. In Scots, [xw-] became [kw-] for a while, >>as shown by older Scots spellings like quha (who) and quhilk (which), >>(now written "wha" and "whilk"). >> >> > >I was of the impression that 'quh' itself indicated [xw], on analogy with 'ch' = >[x] and 'th' = [T]? Seems saner than using it for [kw], for which simply 'qu' >should immediate present itself. > >
That's what I thought too. I also thought some Scottish dialects pronounced it as some f-like sound (probably [P] ... I mean, [p\]), and that this had somehow influenced the spelling of Maori so that <wh>=/f/ nowadays (at least by English-speakers using Maori words). -- Tristan.

Replies

John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>