atw: Re: "An H" Verses "A H"
- From: petsky@xxxxxxxxxx
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 16:14:19 +1000
In French, words can begin with a so-called aspirated h or a silent h, with the
aspirated h being treated treated as a consonant for purposes of
contraction, eg, you write l'homme (silent h) but le hachisch (aspirated h). In
fact, in modern French neither h is pronounced and the
supposedly aspirated h is a historical spelling. The reason for it being
difficult to say "a historical" or "an hospital" could be that when an
accented syllable begins the word the h is much more aspirated than for an
unaccented syllable.
Regards,
Petra Liverani
> The determining factor, according to him, is the emphasis of the syllable
> following the 'h'. If the syllable is unemphasised (as in "hisTORical"),
> then "an" is required. If the syllable is emphasised (as in "HOSpital"),
> then "a" is required.
>
> Try reversing them, and it becomes difficult to pronounce.
>
>
>
>
> Nigel Dawes <NigelD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent by: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 17/06/2004 02:45 PM
> Please respond to austechwriter
>
>
> To: "Austechwriter (austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)"
> <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> cc:
> Fax to:
> Subject: atw: "An H" Verses "A H"
>
>
> Dear AuzTechies
>
> Can you please explain to me why I so often see "an" precede a word
> beginning with H?
>
> When I went to school, only words commencing with a vowel were preceded by
> "an".
>
> Has anyone else experienced this annoyance?
>
> Please enlighten me!
>
> Thanks and Regards
> Nigel
>
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