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Do you have a tendency to drop an 'h' in the beginng of words?

No.
What did you mean??? I don't have even a slightest idea

'Aving been around Yorkshiremen for several years, I 'ave acquired the 'abit of  dropping the initial 'h' quite often.
It is a habit that's common among British people, particularly in Central and Northern England and generally among the not-very-educated type.

Цитата: Drunkie...among the not-very-educated type.

Well, maybe it's somehow different in modern English (though hardly), omission of [h] sound always considered a vulgarism. William Thackeray (English classics) once wrote in his novel that it's impossible for a gentleman to marry a girl who "drops her h's". But it was rather long ago.
Russian linguist Polivanov writes in his course of lectures on phonetics that uneducated people usually drop theit h's , but sometimes they try to be proper in their language and they insert these  [h] sounds wherever they want. Then Polivanov gives such a nice joke:
A barber, while operating on a gentleman expresses his opinion , that after all, the cholera was in the hair. "Then", observes the customer, "you ought to be very careful what brushes you use". "Oh, sir", replies the barber laughing, "I didn't mean the air of the ed, but the hair of the hatmosphere."

Well, that's exactly what I wrote - h-dropping is normally characteristic of poorly educated English people. It's just that the men I work with are not fine-arts type or anything - they're plain engineers, and although their education is technically very good they can afford not to care whether they drop their h's or not.
And the joke is good, indeed :)

Цитата: Drunkie
And the joke is good, indeed :)

:)
I wonder whether this h-dropping depends on the position of a word in a sentence. Do those acquaintances of yours always drop it regardless?

Цитата: rezia

Цитата: Drunkie
And the joke is good, indeed :)

:)
I wonder whether this h-dropping depends on the position of a word in a sentence. Do those acquaintances of yours always drop it regardless?

No I can't say I have observed any usage pattern dependant upon the position of the word in the sentence. They just drop it regardless in most cases.

I drop [h] only in "have".

Цитата: andrewsiakI drop [h] only in "have".

Well, it's a rule to drop "h" in collocation "should have" - "should have done", for emaple.

Цитата: rezia

Цитата: andrewsiakI drop [h] only in "have".

Well, it's a rule to drop "h" in collocation "should have" - "should have done", for emaple.

I mean I drop it even in "we have an apple" and "I have a book".

you shoulda heard how I pronounce "he hates her" :)

on the heels of the Americans, i got used to articulate [hwa(t)] in "what". as you see, i tended to add it :D

Цитата: Jumison the heels of the Americans, i got used to articulate [hwa(t)] in "what". as you see, i tended to add it :D

It is pronounced not as [hwat], but [ʍɔt]. [ʍ] is not [hw], it's just the voiceless counterpart to [w].

Цитата: RawonaM
It is pronounced not as [hwat], but [ʍɔt]. [ʍ] is not [hw], it's just the voiceless counterpart to [w].

for me, it would be funny to perceive it as a somewhat comeback to the PIE-root *kwi-d :)

I am reading "Le Morte D'Arthur" now, and i've noticed that (almost) afore every word that begins with "h" there is an indefinite article "an". Does it mean for me, that I shouldn't pronounce this first "h" at all? For example Boox IX, chapter 4, the very beginning: "And anon there came an hundred knights about him and assailed him..."

or Book IX, chapter 2 :"and by sudden adventure there was an horrible lion kept in a strong tower of stone".

How shoud I read this?

Peamurdmisu:lesanne, exactly. An 'undred. I've seen the same thing in Swift's Gulliver. An horse etc. Actually the funniest thing is that I sometimes use such forms with an before a word which begins with H.

If you look at many other Germanic languages, you see that "a" is represented by words like "een", "eene", etc.
  So this "an" could be a remnant of the vanished gender system which you can still find in most Germanic languages.

Anwering the question: I don't think I drop the "h".

It sure depends on your dialect as well as on your level of education. In Pensylvania, for example, they drop h word-initially: (h)uge, (h)uman, (h)umor, etc.

cheers!

Цитата: Bridget Jones от ноября 27, 2006, 07:43
It sure depends on your dialect as well as on your level of education. In Pensylvania, for example, they drop h word-initially: (h)uge, (h)uman, (h)umor, etc.

cheers!

This is not that " they drop h word-initially: (h)uge, (h)uman, (h)umor" as you put it. These examples show that they only drop [h] in front of [ju].

I wasn't explicit enough. They do drop h-s before other vowels too. At least the person I know does.

cheers

I only drop it before the words where I have to drop it like "hour".

I drop "h" before unstressed vowels: for'im, for'er, tell'er.
So, in the word "behind" i tend to keep the "h".

After other pronouns ending with vowels, I make the "h" a bit weaker, but it is not fully dropped: "I have made" (the "h" soiund is weakened).

There's h-dropping in American English - herb [erb].

I can't pronounce English at all... only write it. :-[ The few times I spoke over voice chat, they could barely understand me, and I had like .. 3 encounters with native speakers in my entire life. But when I do have to speak, the biggest difficulty for me is pronouncing all the vowels properly.. and all those vowel sequences... a simple phrase like "go away" is impossible for me. (I can pronounce it with a glottal stop before the "away", but that sounds robotic and totally not English-like.) So the /h/ is at least some consonant to cling to, in a treacherous sea of vowels. [h] is an awesome sound in general... the English [h] should be stronger... like in German.

Also, I gave up on the "ur" sound, I just say [ja:r] for "year", [ha:r] for "her". (and [ja] for "yeah". :D) If it's a word like "bird", then I try to pronounce something like [beurd], kinda squishing the [e] and [u] together.

Anyway... I wish English phonetics were more "germanic".. like those of its remote relatives on the Continent. :(

Цитата: sknente от августа 25, 2007, 21:12
Anyway... I wish English phonetics were more "germanic".. like those of its remote relatives on the Continent. :(

By the way, what do you think about the most phantastic phonetics among the Germanic language, I mean that of Frisian? Is it "Germanic", or not?

What is then so phantastic about it?

Цитата: regn от августа 25, 2007, 22:36
What is then so phantastic about it?

Frisian has 26 diphtongs and 6 triphtongs, an ideal English couldn't reach.

Ah, yes, I know that; I just thought it was something else you named ;)
Well, the number of vowels is really impressive. But do these include the nasals, too? Coz the nasals seem to be no phonemes in Frisian, as far as I know.

Цитата: regn от августа 25, 2007, 22:49
Ah, yes, I know that; I just thought it was something else you named ;)
Well, the number of vowels is really impressive. But do these include the nasals, too? Coz the nasals seem to be no phonemes in Frisian, as far as I know.

You're right, and this number doesn't include any nasals. Frisian has also 18 monophtongs as well, but the reason why I wrote about is because it sounds absolutely normal for me and sometimes even understandable.

What seems normal? The number of vowels? Of course, it's even cool to have so many of them :) By the way, Danish has 20 monophthongs. ;)

Цитата: regn от августа 25, 2007, 23:09
What seems normal? The number of vowels?

No, the Frisian language itself.

Why should it be abnormal? :D

Цитата: regn от августа 25, 2007, 23:42
Why should it be abnormal? :D

Because English is. :D

well?

Цитата: Vertaler от августа 25, 2007, 22:42

Цитата: regn от августа 25, 2007, 22:36
What is then so phantastic about it?

Frisian has 26 diphtongs and 6 triphtongs, an ideal English couldn't reach.

Are you sure those are all phonemes (including the 18 monophthongs), or just dialectal variations in pronunciation... well you didn't mention they were phonemes anyway, so maybe there are just a lot of allophones.. ?

They're phonemes ;)

It's kinda hard to believe though, that they would keep such fine distinctions while being surrounded and dominated by a much sloppier language... :D Or maybe it isn't... since if the Frisian phonetics are so rich, maybe the entire phonetic set of Dutch can be contained within it, and perhaps the Frisians feel the Dutch sounds as a subset of their own, so Dutch phonetics don't muddle their language. :what:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KaTanewWj4Y Sweet. :> Doesn't seem as hard to pronounce as English... the ending sounds kinda like... элшьигиропнай. : p

It is notable, I think, that certain differencies are based on the pitch quality of this or that diphthong. I mean, rising and falling diphthongs are differentiated. Thus, it is very easy to number even greater quantites of vowels :P

I don't say "h" if it's not needed in the word.But sometomes I speak t like  r or ch- for example better "bere" or meet you "mi:chu".And sometimes I say love like "luv " or "lov"(l is any milder).

Sometimes I say h like..like a little г фрик.,but not im english but other languages.

lurrrve ~

Some black artist-singer man pronounced it with an awesome accent, but I forgot his name. Hearing him pronounce it was like eating greasy pasta with wine and thick mushroom sauce. :)

Цитировать
any milder

wha?

Цитата: "sknente" от
Some black artist-singer man pronounced it with an awesome accent, but I forgot his name. Hearing him pronounce it was like eating greasy pasta with wine and thick mushroom sauce

:E:   :UU:  :eat:

Цитата: "sknente" от
wha?

in a slightly palatalized way, ya betcha

Цитата: sknente от августа 26, 2007, 00:54
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KaTanewWj4Y Sweet. :> Doesn't seem as hard to pronounce as English... the ending sounds kinda like... элшьигиропнай. : p

That "элшьигиропнай" is translated to Dutch as "elke keer opnieuw" = each time again. :) I also noticed now they say "du bist", like German (while dutch has "jij bent") and their version of "that" is "dost". :o

I wonder what do people who speak Nedersachsen say... jij or du? I've seen some N-sachsen pages on Wikipedia and it looks a loooot like Dutch. Basically, badly spelled Dutch. :D (just kidding)

Цитата: sknente от ноября 27, 2007, 19:11

Цитата: sknente от августа 26, 2007, 00:54
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KaTanewWj4Y Sweet. :> Doesn't seem as hard to pronounce as English... the ending sounds kinda like... элшьигиропнай. : p

That "элшьигиропнай" is translated to Dutch as "elke keer opnieuw" = each time again. :) I also noticed now they say "du bist", like German (while dutch has "jij bent") and their version of "that" is "dost". :o

that = dat
(you) do = (du) dost

thou dost (doest) :D