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SPLs, Megan, others

I need help and maybe it's too hard to try and tell me in text - but I am having trouble pronouncing the difference between wh /hw/ and w /w/. I was working on a wh lesson with a student today and I just couldn't figure out how to make an /h/ sound before a /w/ sound to make wh /hw/. Unless, I say it all breathy and pretentious, like the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, and that just confused the poor kid!

It might be that I over pronounce /w/  so its more like /w//a/

I also think that I don't really make the /hw/ sound when I say wh words - I say /w/.

The lady who did the training said that you have to talk like a newscaster during lesson, and not use dialect, so how should my mouth move to say /w/ and how should it move to say /hw/ ? 

image Anniversary

Re: SPLs, Megan, others

  • I vaguely remember talking about this in phonetics ages ago.  In most areas in this country, the dialect we speak uses /w/ instead of the /hw/. 

    If you're trying to differentiate the difference, maybe talk about voicing. Many sounds in our language are voice/unvoiced cognates, meaning that they're made identically, and are distinctive because of voicing.  Such as /p/ is voiceless, /b/ voiced; /t/ voiceless, /d/ voiced; /k/ voiceless, /g/ voiced.  Maybe describe it as /w/ is voiced and /hw/ is unvoiced? 

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  • thanks, I tried it out today and things went a little better. 
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