Re: Spelling pronunciations (was: rhotic miscellany)

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.

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