A couple of my cousins, and some other people I’ve come across, pronounce the word “weapon” as though it were spelled “wheppon”. Pronounce the “h”.
So does that dude on Star trek with the wattles in his forehead.
Where on Earth does this come from?
Peace,
mangeorge
I pronounce it “wheppon” as well, mangeorge, at least, I think I do. (I’ve only seen two episodes of Star Trek and don’t know how the weird foreheaded guy pronounces it).
How do you pronounce it?
wepin!
I’m definitely seeing a trend here. Do you have forehead wattles that contain little blow holes, connected to your airway, causing you to aspirate your Ws? Just a hunch.
I’m confused.
Is there a difference between ‘wen’ and ‘when’?
Just how strongly is that ‘h’ being aspriated? I assume we’re talking about Michael Dorn, here, and I’ve never noticed anything unusual in his speech…
Ok, I got my lazy ass moving and found his name. It’s Worf, the Klingon.
I say weppon, by the way. No aich.
And I certainly don’t mean to put down anyone else’s pronounciation.
Wow, you jumped ahead of me, MonkeyMensch.
I’m referring to the character, not the actor, and he aspirates it pretty strongly. Most people do so a lot more softly.
Still confused?
There can be, depending on ones dialect. My own dialect does have a difference. Essentially, one begins to aspirate before pronouncing the “w” and aspirates throughout the sound.
I presume you mean, no “haich”…Unless you finish you sentences with “Guv’nor”
I say wepun. I also pronounce which and witch differently, though slightly so. I also pronounce the h in months. I think that if anyone who pronounces it whepun thought about what they were doing, they’d stop.
some Irish even pronounce the “h” before the “w”.
they go around saying things like “hwhen” and “hwhere”.
Usually when they want to put emphaisi on the word.
Sounds really strange.
I do not pronounce the “h”.
so how did you pronounce what you just typed?
I’m English, and I distinctly remember my junior school teacher telling us the “correct” way to pronounce “wh-” words was to imagine that the h came before the w.
Nope, it’s “aitch”. So sez my dicksunree. “Haitch” just sounds so council.
Here in NZ wh is pronounced as F. We have towns like Whakatane, prounounced Fuck-a-ta-neigh. But weapon is just plain old weapon.
The “wh” or “hw” sound is a voiceless version of the standard “w” (a voiced labio-velar approximant). As well as in Ireland, the voiceless pronunciation is common in Scotland, although from personal experience pronunciation seems to vary from word to word and person to person, with few (if any) people beginning all words spelt “wh” with an unvoiced sound.
Pronouncing a word spelt “w” (not “wh”) with a voiceless initial sound as your Klingons do is an error akin to someone who drops (h)aitches putting extra (h)aitches before words that correctly begin with vowels. Common with people trying to put on a pronunciation they are not familiar with.
Random fact: the quh in names like Colquhoun was another way of writing the voiceless “wh” sound in Scots.
This reminds me of something my twin cousins did that was wierd. But that’s another thread.
Anyway, this stuff is interesting to me. Thanks, folks.
You realize, of course, that when you hear the character speaking, you’re actually hearing the actor speaking.
Just checking.
So, Walter Koenig has a (bad) Russian accent?
Dorn’s diction is far different when he’s in character as Worf than when he’s just being himself (or when he’s playing other characters). This seems to be distinction mangeorge is making.
Haven’t been around actors much, have you. Or theatre?