How do you pronounce the H in Amherst?

The 'h' is silent. It's pronounced AM-erst. Fun fact: You can sometimes spot t-shirts and stickers around campus with the saying: “Amherst—where only the 'h' is silent.” Both a pronunciation lesson and a tribute to their vibrant, outspoken community.

Is it Amherst or Amherst?

Amherst (/ˈæmərst/) is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law.

How do you pronounce the H in Northern Ireland?

In Northern Ireland the Catholic population is distinguished from the Protestant by the former saying 'haitch' and the latter 'aitch'. 'Haitch' is the way Catholic primary schools teach H in the alphabet and therefore may well have Papal authority as correct!

Why do some people pronounce the H in WH?

Before rounded vowels, a different reduction process took place in Middle English, as a result of which the ⟨wh⟩ in words like who and whom is now pronounced /h/. (A similar sound change occurred earlier in the word how.)

Why do people pronounce h differently?

In Britain, H apparently owes its “haitch” pronunciation to the Catholic Normans, who brought the old French word “hache” with them when they invaded in 1066. With aitch and haitch, it still seems to be linked to the speaker's religion. According to Rosen, “haitch” is the Catholic way and “aitch” is the Protestant way.

How to Pronounce Amherst (Real Life Examples!)

Why can't some people pronounce h?

H-dropping or aitch-dropping is the deletion of the voiceless glottal fricative or "H-sound", [h]. The phenomenon is common in many dialects of English, and is also found in certain other languages, either as a purely historical development or as a contemporary difference between dialects.

Why do Catholics and Protestants pronounce H differently?

In Northern Ireland, the pronunciation of the letter has been used as a shibboleth, with Catholics typically pronouncing it with the /h/ and Protestants pronouncing the letter without it. Authorities disagree about the history of the letter's name.

Do Irish people pronounce H?

Do Irish people pronounce their H's? Yes. In fact we even pronounce the H in the name of the letter H that many other speakers of English don't pronounce! Dropped Hs are not a feature of any standard Irish accent (but common in England).

Which accent doesn t pronounce h?

Cockney English tends not to pronounced an initial “H”, as in “'appen” (happen). In Jamaican and Newfoundland English dialects, the initial “h” may or may not be pronounced: you never know.

How do you pronounce the h in Australia?

Keen mythbusters will notice no mention of religious affiliation here. In a 1944 session of Australian Parliament, then-Senate president Gordon Brown said he had heard various members of Parliament pronounce H as 'haitch'. 'Whereas its proper pronunciation,' Brown opined, 'is aitch.

How is h pronounced in Old English?

h is never silent. It is pronounced with a bit of a throat-clearing sound, like the "ch" at the end of Scottish "loch" or German "Bach": dryhten. "H" also is used in combination with the "semi-vowels" "r," "l," and "w" in ways not familiar in Modern English: hlaford, hronræd, hwæt.

Why is Amherst called Amherst?

Amherst College is a prestigious, private liberal arts college founded in the Western Massachusetts town of Amherst in 1821. Amherst College took its name from the town and the town took its name from Lord Jeffery Amherst, a colonial-era military hero.

Is Amherst a little ivy?

A 2016 article by Bloomberg Businessweek lists the members of the Little Ivies as: Amherst College. Bates College. Bowdoin College.

Why is Amherst College so popular?

Amherst's outstanding resources, dedicated faculty and rigorous academic life allow the College to enroll students with an extraordinary range of talents, interests and commitments.

Do Londoners pronounce H?

Many people from London and the south east (especially Essex and the parts of the home counties that has a large influx of North Londoners) will generally drop their leading "H" and say "an 'otel".

How do Scots say hi?

Scots Salutation 101

“Hello” — Just like in English, Scots often use “hello” for a friendly greeting. “Hiya” — A more informal variant of “hello,” “hiya” is commonly used in casual conversations.

Why don't Irish pronounce h?

Remember that H technically has no sound value. It's there simply to tell you that the consonant preceding it isn't pronounced the way you expect. There is no such sound in Gaelic as a TH sound pronounced as in either THICK or THIS; if those sounds come out of your mouth, you will be wrong.

Why do Irish not pronounce H?

The Irish alphabet doesn't actually contain the letter H, even though it appears constantly in modern Irish spelling! The H is used to denote a special effect called lenition -- which is really a fancy way of talking about aspiration of consonants.

How do they say h in England?

British English dictionaries give aytch as the standard pronunciation for the letter H. However, the pronunciation haytch is also attested as a legitimate variant.

What is the silent H rule?

Silent H words

The letter H is sometimes silent when placed at the beginning of words such as hour, heir, honor, herb, homage, and honest. The letter H is silent in many words where it follows the letter C, such as anchor, archive, chaos, character, Christmas, charisma, chemical, choreography, chorus, choir, and echo.

Is it pronounced ache or hache?

Usage (language): The name of the letter h is based on French (h)ache, in which the initial h is not pronounced. In imitation of the French, the English name is commonly aitch, but this means the name does not contain the sound of the letter.

Why is the H not pronounced in humble?

The word "humble" has been borrowed from French, which underwent a lot of unstressed vowel deletions and then augmented clusters of nasals +/r l/ to make them easier to pronounce (which explains humilem > humle > humble).