Have I missed some mention of accent here? It seems to me that the placement of word accent influences whether ‘h’ is optional or not. (or more properly, the probability of its appearance.) I certainly alternate in my pronunciation of ‘historic’ either pronouncing or not pronouncing the initial ‘h’. However I am much less likely to omit the initial ‘h’ in ‘history’, where the initial syllable is accented. The elision of initial ‘h’ is quite common in words such as ‘him’ and ‘his’, which are regularly unaccented. But compare the pronunciations of ‘him’ in ‘*give* it to him’ vs. ‘give it to *him*’. (Asterisks indicate sentence stress.) I am much more likely to omit the initial ‘h’ in the first version than I am in the second.
For those members of the list who are less familiar with English dialects, the pronunciation of initial ‘h’ (both omission of ‘h’ and insertion of ‘h’ where it ‘doesn’t belong’) is a feature that distinguishes many dialects, particularly British dialects. (Of course, talking about places where sounds are ‘omitted’ or where they ‘don’t belong’ is only possible if one chooses the proper dialect as a reference point. So far as the speakers of the “‘h’ insertion” dialects are concerned, the ‘h’ belongs there, it’s all the other speakers who omit it.)
You may enjoy an old story from my family that turns on this difference in pronunciation of initial ‘h’.
Many years ago (I suspect that it occurred in 1928 or 1929), when my parents were in England, they visited William Craigie (editor of the OED) and his wife, and at the end of the evening meal a considerable amount of one of the dishes had been left over, so Mrs. Craigie told the housekeeper that she should keep it over night and ‘heat it up for breakfast’. The next morning, when the dish didn’t appear, Mrs. Craigie asked after the dish, and the answer came back “Oh, You said I could heat it up for breakfast, so I het it up.”
Peter
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"Let's not dismiss this one so easily.
In spite of what Grammar Girl says, does anyone honestly find that saying "a historic hurricane" out loud actually sound better than "an historic hurricane"? Only if the emphasis is on the indefinite article does "a historic" sound ok (it still sounds wrong to me even though I know it's right). However, if (as I would argue every native speaker does automatically), the sound of the article is naturally elided with the "h," tonally forming one word "anistoric," then "an historic hurricane" is the proper choice - both orally and in writing. And why would the emphasis be placed on an indefinite article anyway? If we were talking about "the historic hurricane," then it makes some sense to emphasize "the," separating tonally the two words.
The next reason to savor this problem a bit more is that it is not a grammar problem at all, but one of usage. So the question becomes (even if we agree that "a historic" is "right") which "errors" of usage are worth fighting over? My feeling is that this judgment should be based on meaning - does the "error" affect the meaning? So this one ("an historic") fails to meet just about any criteria that calls for correction. In fact, correcting this "error" may even reach the level of "hyper-correctness" where being "right" sounds wrong to everybody else except us schoolmarms (and, as mentioned earlier, it even sounds wrong to this schoolmarm), so that not only does "an historic" not affect the meaning negatively, it actually enhances the meaning if it enhances the ability of all of but a select audience to focus on what is being said rather than how it is being said.
Geoff Layton
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:21:38 -0700
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Grammar Question
To: [log in to unmask]
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From: Brad Layton <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Grammar Question
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, August 26, 2011, 8:07 PM
Carol, either is "correct." It simply depends on the idiolect of the individual speaking ... specifically, whether that person pronounces the "h" or does not pronounce the "h". I am unaware of any prescriptive case for the superiority of either that would hold water ... or 100 mph winds, for that matter ;) .
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From: Carol Morrison <[log in to unmask]>
To: ATEG <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Fri, Aug 26, 2011 6:41 pm
Subject: Grammar Question
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--- On Fri, 8/26/11, Kathleen Bethell <[log in to unmask]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Kathleen Bethell <[log in to unmask]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Membership in ATEG
To: [log in to unmask]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, August 26, 2011, 12:16 PM
Thank you, Geoff – Amy already got in touch. ATEG folks are wonderful!KathiP.S. I don’t know why the cc didn’t work; the address is correct.From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]&" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Geoffrey Layton
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2011 10:39 AM
To: [log in to unmask]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Membership in ATEGKathi - I passed on your question to our president, Amy Benjamin - but I tried to copy you on the message and got an undeliverable message for [log in to unmask]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[log in to unmask].
Geoff Layton
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:19:07 -0400
From: [log in to unmask]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Membership in ATEG
To: [log in to unmask]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]I never received acknowledgement when I joined, so I am not sure if I am even on the rolls, yet. Is there some way I can check to find out my membership status?KathiKathleen BethellAssistant ProfessorLiberal Arts, EnglishIvy Tech Community College200 Daniels WayBloomington, IN 47404From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]&" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Amy Benjamin
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2011 10:33 AM
To: [log in to unmask]" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]
Subject: Membership in ATEGAs you know, our hot new ATEG Journals are stacked and stampled in our mailroom (aka my basement) ready to go out to ATEG members. As we now do have a better system of keeping track of, acknowledging, and servicing ATEG members, please consider joining officially.See www.ateg.org for details, which are, we are happy to report, now accurate!Membership in ATEG allows you to receive the Journal, published twice yearly, and to keep ATEG as a (nagging) voice to our parent organization, NCTE. We maintain this listserv, our website, and are allowed to host a session at the NCTE annual conference. We also host an annual conference, gathering together all of the educators in the English-speaking, non-English-speaking, and non-speaking world, and non-world who are interested in the teaching of grammar. Thankfully, all of these people can fit easily into one room.So keep those cards and letters coming!Amy BenjaminATEG co-presidentTo join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/