Seriously strange pronounciations (?)

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Peverel

I know what I say - I actually just said it to myself - and in both cases I say a

I have booked us a hotel room
I have a delivery to make to a hospital

Yep a definately feels right for me even if it may be gammatically wrong as I remember the rule you mention about silent H's

mmm, I keep saying to myself, and saying "a Hotel" is forced....my natural instinct is to say "an otel"....

Mum was an infant teacher and, even now, is quite adamant on the silence of the "h".....

[Peverel]

I wonder if it is dialectic laziness being brought up down south? or maybe my latent 'barrow boy' tendencies lol

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

On a slightly different note; do you say .....

a hospital, or an hospital ?
a hotel, or an hotel ?


I was always taught that the 'silent' H meant the word phonetically started with a vowel...

That's not quite the right "rule". You say "an" if the word starts with an "h" and the "stress" is not on the first syllable. Thus, it's "a hospital" (stress on the first syllable), but "an hotel" (stress on the second syllable).

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's not quite the right "rule". You say "an" if the word starts with an "h" and the "stress" is not on the first syllable. Thus, it's "a hospital" (stress on the first syllable), but "an hotel" (stress on the second syllable).

The rule, as taught to me, was a noun starting with a vowel uses "AN", otherwise it's "A". The exception being nouns where there is a 'silent' first character - the most obvious one being the "H"..


edit : My pronunciation is always 'otel, 'ospital .....

[pdurrant]

I don't think so -- just different rules (& sounds) to English.

I think English must have the least obvious connection, because it's taken words from so many other languages, /and/ pronunciation of many words has changed while spelling has stayed the same.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Gaelic place names fool everybody. It has to be the language which has the least obvious connection between spelling and pronunciation!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

The rule, as taught to me, was a noun starting with a vowel uses "AN", otherwise it's "A". The exception being nouns where there is a 'silent' first character - the most obvious one being the "H"..

That's right, but it's the fact that the first syllable is not stressed that "makes" the "h" silent - you naturally "skip over it" in speech. The "technical" word for missing off a letter in this way is "ellision".

[Peverel]

Wow my pronounciation must be really bad as I always say hotel with the 'H'

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Peverel

Wow my pronounciation must be really bad as I always say hotel with the 'H'

So do I. It's a "regional" thing. I have a "northern" accent and we generally pronounce our h's.

[Peverel]

Ah right - I have a London Barrow Boy accent lol

[HarryT]

There you go, you see - neither of us is "posh" enough to "properly" drop our h's .

[GeoffC]

forgive me "mere mortals" for being Yorkshire and proud of it too ..... actually me mum's a southerner - no wonder I've gone through life cock-eyed .

we're both correct, Harry - I have a mnemonic of how to say it 'correctly', whilst your explanation is a grammatical and technical description - which I lack.

on wit' t' show .....

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by Peverel

Wow my pronounciation must be really bad as I always say hotel with the 'H'

I pronounce both hospital and hotel with a hard 'h' and have never heard it here otherwise, therefore it is always 'a hospital' and 'a hotel'.

What confuses me watching some British TV and Film is that sometimes the article is left out altogether. ie. We're going to hospital. What happenend to the 'the'?

WDE. (WordsDon'tEscape)

[Lady Blue]

OK, as the first American to chime in this morning regarding the leading "h" in words, and the indefinite artical used therewith (ha . . . as if I know what the heck I'm talking about) . . .

Anyway, Americans almost always pronounce the "h" at the beginning of a word and therefore use the word "a" as in "a hospital," "a horse." You always use "a" with a word that begins with a consonant.

I say always, but there are always exceptions . . .

We use "an" with a word that begins with a vowel or a consonant which is silent (as was previously mentioned.) These exceptions would be as in "an honest mistake," "an honorary membership."

[BenG]

It's odd but I've always heard buoy pronounced boo-ee, but a lifebuoy is pronounced life-boy.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Lady Blue

We use "an" with a word that begins with a vowel or a consonant which is silent (as was previously mentioned.) These exceptions would be as in "an honest mistake," "an honorary membership."

Just a teensy note: "An" goes before vowels EXCEPT "u." An umbrella. A university.

Originally Posted by Peverel

Ah right - I have a London Barrow Boy accent lol

OK, I'll ask. What's a barrow boy?