Teacher Discussion Forums

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:14 pm

The eighth letter of the alphabet

Apparently, Catholics in Northern Ireland call the letter "haitch" and Protestestants in the same region call it "aitch". How about you?

Buddhaheart · Post by **Buddhaheart** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:48 pm

We pronounce it /eItf/ where /eI/ is the long <a> sound and /tf/ is the <ch> sound. I tried the IPA symbols but it wouldn’t show up clearly in this Forum.

Unlike the Protestants we don’t have the /h/ sound in front of /eI/, and unlike the Protestants & Catholics we don’t have the /t/ before the
/ch/.

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:39 pm

and unlike the Protestants & Catholics we don’t have the /t/ before the
/ch/.

What's the difference?

Is each word ending here pronounced differently in Canada?

match
much

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 1:47 am

Seems to me that ....ch and ....tch are the same (actually, tsh in sound)

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:09 am

Lorikeet wrote:Seems to me that ....ch and ....tch are the same (actually, tsh in sound)

So much is something like "mutsh" for you? For me, it has the "ch/tch" of "challenge".

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:56 pm

While we're on the subject of English in NI, I had a friend from Belfast who pronounced film as "fillum". Does anyone know how widespread that is?

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 11:12 pm

lolwhites wrote:While we're on the subject of English in NI, I had a friend from Belfast who pronounced film as "fillum". Does anyone know how widespread that is?

Also happens in Scotland and parts of Oz.

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:46 pm

metal56 wrote:
Lorikeet wrote:Seems to me that ....ch and ....tch are the same (actually, tsh in sound)
So much is something like "mutsh" for you? For me, it has the "ch/tch" of "challenge".

You mean tshallenge?

I don't see any difference between "ch" and "tsh". "tsh" is the phonetic basis for "ch" (but we can't use IPA here)

The "ch" sound in initial and final position is pretty much the same for me as far as I can tell.

John Hall · Post by **John Hall** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 4:27 pm

Gotta agree with Lorikeet that "ch" = "tsh." Spanish speakers often pronounce an initial "ch" as an "sh" (saying "challenge" as "shallenge," for example). I've been getting them to correct it by telling them that the "ch" in "challenge" is the same as the "ch" in "much." In a sense, the "tch" in such words as "clutch" and "match" is redundant, but in another sense, it is the just the consequence of the natural linking between the "ch" and the vowel that precedes it.

By the way, in Canada, Newfoundlanders say "haitch," and I used to know an Australian English teacher who would say it that way as well.