For English speakers anyways...
https://theweek.com/culture-life/tv-radio/aitch-or-haitch-the-linguisitic-debate-that-matters-a-lot
APRIL 15, 2024
The host of "University Challenge", Amol Rajan,
is to change the way he pronounces the letter
"H" after complaints from viewers that he was
doing it incorrectly during his first series
presenting the BBC quiz.
Rajan found himself at the centre of a
linguistic storm when he was criticised by
viewers for saying "haitch" rather than "aitch",
an approach described as "horrible with a capital
aitch" on social media and "truly awful" in a
newspaper letters page.
APRIL 15, 2024
Rajan found himself at the centre of a
linguistic storm when he was criticised by
viewers for saying "haitch" rather than "aitch",
an approach described as "horrible with a capital
aitch" on social media and "truly awful" in a
newspaper letters page.
On 2025-06-09, Tilde <[email protected]d> wrote:
APRIL 15, 2024The more interesting question is why H is called "aitch" in the
Rajan found himself at the centre of a
linguistic storm when he was criticised by
viewers for saying "haitch" rather than "aitch",
an approach described as "horrible with a capital
aitch" on social media and "truly awful" in a
newspaper letters page.
first place. Well, that is prime evidence that English took the
names of the letters from French, so Old French "ache"--/ˈatʃə/, I think--was borrowed into Middle English and then underwent the
soundshifts to Present Day English.
English of course has an /h/ sound, so there would have been no
reason not to use that as the initial sound of the name for the
letter H if English speakers had named it themselves. The original
Latin name was /ha/, but /h/ was already unstable in Classical Latin
and dropped out completely on the way to Romance, causing Proto-Romance speakers to come up with *aca or *acca, as evidenced by its reflexes
all over Italo-Western-Romance. The shift Latin /ak/ > /atʃ/ > /aʃ/
is highly specific to French, though.
soundshifts to Present Day English.
English of course has an /h/ sound, so there would have been no
reason not to use that as the initial sound of the name for the
letter H if English speakers had named it themselves. The original
Latin name was /ha/, but /h/ was already unstable in Classical Latin
and dropped out completely on the way to Romance, causing Proto-Romance
speakers to come up with *aca or *acca, as evidenced by its reflexes
all over Italo-Western-Romance. The shift Latin /ak/ > /atʃ/ > /aʃ/
is highly specific to French, though.
I'd guess, rather /aka/ - /akə/ - ?/akʃə/ - /atʃə/ - /aʃ/ , not? --
On 2025-06-09, Tilde <[email protected]d> wrote:
APRIL 15, 2024
Rajan found himself at the centre of a
linguistic storm when he was criticised by
viewers for saying "haitch" rather than "aitch",
an approach described as "horrible with a capital
aitch" on social media and "truly awful" in a
newspaper letters page.
The more interesting question is why H is called "aitch" in the
first place. Well, that is prime evidence that English took the
names of the letters from French, so Old French "ache"--/ˈatʃə/, I think--was borrowed into Middle English and then underwent the
soundshifts to Present Day English.
English of course has an /h/ sound, so there would have been no
reason not to use that as the initial sound of the name for the
letter H if English speakers had named it themselves. The original
Latin name was /ha/, but /h/ was already unstable in Classical Latin
and dropped out completely on the way to Romance, causing Proto-Romance speakers to come up with *aca or *acca, as evidenced by its reflexes
all over Italo-Western-Romance. The shift Latin /ak/ > /atʃ/ > /aʃ/
is highly specific to French, though.
On 2025-06-15, guido wugi <[email protected]d> wrote:
Oops, actually, what I _meant_ to write wassoundshifts to Present Day English.I'd guess, rather /aka/ - /akə/ - ?/akʃə/ - /atʃə/ - /aʃ/ , not? --
English of course has an /h/ sound, so there would have been no
reason not to use that as the initial sound of the name for the
letter H if English speakers had named it themselves. The original
Latin name was /ha/, but /h/ was already unstable in Classical Latin
and dropped out completely on the way to Romance, causing Proto-Romance
speakers to come up with *aca or *acca, as evidenced by its reflexes
all over Italo-Western-Romance. The shift Latin /ak/ > /atʃ/ > /aʃ/
is highly specific to French, though.
/ka/ > /tʃa/ > /ʃa/
for the generic development of Latin /ka/ in French. There are
also secondary developments that have shifted the /a/ further in
some cases.
As far *aca, that's likely
/ˈaka/ > /ˈatʃa/ > /ˈatʃə/ > /aʃə/ > /aʃ/
Presumably Middle English picked up /ˈatʃə/ as /ˈaːtʃə/ and then
you have loss of final schwa and the Great Vowel Shift > /eɪtʃ/.
/ˈaka/ > /ˈatʃa/ > /ˈatʃə/ > /aʃə/ > /aʃ/
Presumably Middle English picked up /ˈatʃə/ as /ˈaːtʃə/ and then
you have loss of final schwa and the Great Vowel Shift > /eɪtʃ/.
I find it more likely that the palatisation of k accompanied the
"schwa-ing" of final a.
On 2025-06-16, guido wugi <[email protected]d> wrote:
Why?/ˈaka/ > /ˈatʃa/ > /ˈatʃə/ > /aʃə/ > /aʃ/I find it more likely that the palatisation of k accompanied the
Presumably Middle English picked up /ˈatʃə/ as /ˈaːtʃə/ and then
you have loss of final schwa and the Great Vowel Shift > /eɪtʃ/.
"schwa-ing" of final a.
/ka/ shifted to /tʃV/ throughout, no matter whether the eventual
outcome of the vowel was /a/, /ɛ/, /jɛ/, /e/, /ə/, or by way of monophthongization /o/, or whatever. In fact, it must have happened
early as indicated by causa > chose, which palatalized before Latin
au monophthongized--not to be confused with the later development
of /aɫ/ > /aw/ > /o/, etc.; caulis > *chol > chou even combines both monophthongizations.
[...]
On 2025-06-09, Tilde wrote:
For English speakers anyways...
https://theweek.com/culture-life/tv-radio/aitch-or-haitch-the-linguisitic-debate-that-matters-a-lot
APRIL 15, 2024
The host of "University Challenge", Amol Rajan,
is to change the way he pronounces the letter
"H" after complaints from viewers that he was
Snobs, presumably. "Haitch" sounds odd to me, because it's rare
where I come from, but I wouldn't send in complaints about it.
doing it incorrectly during his first series
presenting the BBC quiz.
Rajan found himself at the centre of a
linguistic storm when he was criticised by
viewers for saying "haitch" rather than "aitch",
an approach described as "horrible with a capital
aitch" on social media and "truly awful" in a
newspaper letters page.
On the other hand:
When the letter H is pronounced beginning with the letter sound it
makes, children have an easier time learning its correspondence as
they learn to read.
"haitch" does sound oldish. Wondering if there is a
difference/preference between English as spoken in
America or GB... If you recite the alphabet (again,
this is for English speakers), sure seems to come
out "aitch".
Adam Funk wrote:
On 2025-06-09, Tilde wrote:
For English speakers anyways...
https://theweek.com/culture-life/tv-radio/aitch-or-haitch-the-linguisitic-debate-that-matters-a-lot
APRIL 15, 2024
The host of "University Challenge", Amol Rajan,
is to change the way he pronounces the letter
"H" after complaints from viewers that he was
Snobs, presumably. "Haitch" sounds odd to me, because it's rare
where I come from, but I wouldn't send in complaints about it.
Yes, sounds odd. See below...
doing it incorrectly during his first series
presenting the BBC quiz.
Rajan found himself at the centre of a
linguistic storm when he was criticised by
viewers for saying "haitch" rather than "aitch",
an approach described as "horrible with a capital
aitch" on social media and "truly awful" in a
newspaper letters page.
On the other hand:
When the letter H is pronounced beginning with the letter sound it
makes, children have an easier time learning its correspondence as
they learn to read.
<https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/haitch-or-aitch-pronunciation-letter-h-old-english-a8393766.html>
"haitch" does sound oldish. Wondering if there is a
difference/preference between English as spoken in
America or GB... If you recite the alphabet (again,
this is for English speakers), sure seems to come
out "aitch".
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