Re: A question

>Tom Weir wrote:
>
>> > One other phenomenon I think *will* come to completion is the loss of
>> voiceless
>> > /w_0/ as a phoneme in English, which used to characterize the
difference
>> between
>> > "weather" and "whether".  I think all standard dialects (except perhaps
>> the educated
>> > speech of Scotland) have already done away with this, and in the US at
>> least it survives
>> > only in a few regional varieties, mostly rural ones.
>
>Eric Christopherson replied:
>
>> I get annoyed when my mother and grandmother occasionally say /hw/,
because
>> to me it seems too formal or something. I thought that was actually a
pretty
>> common characteristic in American English.
>
>It is widely found in the Southeast, but perhaps not in Texas;
I grew up in SE Texas, and I not only say /hw/, but I thought everyone else
did too!  It's news to me if this phoneme is headed for extinction.  It
would be a pity to lose it, its such an enchanting sound...whistle, whirl,
whipoorwill, whack, whoa (not woe)...a whopper is a big hamburger ; a
wopper, I would guess, a big Italian.