I would like some help in deciding how to demonstrate the aspirated wh sound of where. I am teaching literacy to adults in Australia and insist on them using the aspirated sound for words beginning with wh (just in class!) but would like to know which symbol to use when writing it down. Can someone please help me???
How do you demonstrate the aspirated wh?
Are you only doing this as a device to help them learn the spelling? (I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of Australians don't use that aspirate sound, so it would sound kind of unnatural if they used it in everyday speech.) But if it's just a mnemonic device to help with spelling, then it doesn't seem like a bad idea.
Anyway, the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbol for this sound is an upside down w. I don't think that symbol will display on this forum, but you can see it in this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_labiovelar_approximant
Anyway, the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbol for this sound is an upside down w. I don't think that symbol will display on this forum, but you can see it in this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_labiovelar_approximant
<<I am teaching literacy to adults in Australia and insist on them using the aspirated sound for words beginning with wh (just in class!) but would like to know which symbol to use when writing it down.>>
Why insist on them such a sound such a minority uses? I'd just say to use a plain "w" sound, as most people do.
Why insist on them such a sound such a minority uses? I'd just say to use a plain "w" sound, as most people do.
<<Anyway, the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbol for this sound is an upside down w. I don't think that symbol will display on this forum, but you can see it in this Wikipedia article:>>
Isn't it actually [w_0]? I have such a sound in my speech being from Ireland but I've always thought it was [w_0]. [W] seems difficult for me to say and actually sounds very different from the sound I actually use in "wh" words.
Isn't it actually [w_0]? I have such a sound in my speech being from Ireland but I've always thought it was [w_0]. [W] seems difficult for me to say and actually sounds very different from the sound I actually use in "wh" words.
<<Isn't it actually [w_0]? I have such a sound in my speech being from Ireland but I've always thought it was [w_0]. [W] seems difficult for me to say and actually sounds very different from the sound I actually use in "wh" words.>>
[w] is defined as a (voiced) labiovelar approximant and [W] is defined as an voiceless labiovelar approximant. [w_0], with the voiceless diacritic, would simply be a voiceless labiovelar approximant, just the same as [W]. I don't know how you're interpreting the symbols, but [W] and [w_0] represent the exact same sound.
In phonetic transcription, I've found [W] to be much more common than [w_0], which is probably because it's simpler (and more esthetically pleasing) to use a single symbol rather than employing a diacritic.
[w] is defined as a (voiced) labiovelar approximant and [W] is defined as an voiceless labiovelar approximant. [w_0], with the voiceless diacritic, would simply be a voiceless labiovelar approximant, just the same as [W]. I don't know how you're interpreting the symbols, but [W] and [w_0] represent the exact same sound.
In phonetic transcription, I've found [W] to be much more common than [w_0], which is probably because it's simpler (and more esthetically pleasing) to use a single symbol rather than employing a diacritic.
I would assume that Gail is doing this only as a device to help them learn the spelling. No, the vast majority of Australians don't use [W]. In fact the only time you'd hear it in Australian English would be when the speaker is conciously pronouncing the word that way. As a mnemonic device to help with spelling it would probably be all right. However, since you don't know how to pronounce it yourself you might end up teaching them the wrong sound ... I dunno whether this would be such a terrible thing though.
<<Do you mean that "which" and "witch" are differently pronounced?>>
Yes; this distinction occurs mostly in Scotland, Ireland, and some parts of the US (mostly in the South).
Yes; this distinction occurs mostly in Scotland, Ireland, and some parts of the US (mostly in the South).