There was some debate, whilst drunk, a few nights ago as to whether “whales” and “Wales” were proper homophones (this was within the context of a game of “Mallet’s mallet”).
A primary teacher friend of mine insisted that they were not, and insisted that “whales” is properly pronounced differently from “Wales”. I disagreed, as did others, and can think of no accent where such a distinction would manifest itself without sounding like a ridiculous affectation.
So, is “whales” pronounces differently to “Wales”, and if so, in what accents/dialects? Specifically, are they pronounced differently in RP? I presume, as he’s a British teacher, he thought that they were pronounced differently in RP, which I believe it taken as standard with regards pronunciation in the UK.
English words starting with “wh” were so spelled because it was a different sound from “w”. However, most English-speakers (including myself) pronounce the two spellings the same these days, so that (for example) “which” and “witch” are the same.
In Midwest US speech, the wh sound has a little more air push behind it - sort of an h + w sound. So in that region, yes, whales and Wales sound different.
Diction teachers in the US teach that many words starting with “wh” like whales must be pronounced with a puff of air. They test whether you are pronouncing it correctly by hanging a tissue in front your mouth and seeing if it waves in the breeze.
In my own 50 years of living in the US I have observed that the only people I’ve heard that commonly apply this distinction are people from certain areas of the South.
It would generally not be heard as an affectation here, though, even by someone who did not pronounce it that way.
Now that I think about it, I think I pronounce Wales as “Wails” like the word meaning sobs, “Whales” on the other hand, for some reason pronounce it as if it is two syllables, like “WAY-ulls” or “way-ills.” Like a killer way-ull. Not to be confused with the volcano in Hawaii.
For what it’s worth, I pronounce the “wh” (as in “what” or “whales”) and the “w” (as in “worth” or “Wales”) differently, and I hear them differently in my head when I see them—but it’s a subtle difference.
Do words count as homophones if some people pronounce them identically and others don’t (e.g. “aunt” and “ant”)? Is there a special term for such words?
My grammar school teachers taught me that “wh” should properly be pronounced as if it were spelled “hw”.
Aside from that lesson, I think that everyone (my grammar teachers included) actually pronounced the “wh” as if it were spelled “w”. To me, the pronunciation that everyone I know uses has “Wales” and “whales” sounding exactly the same.
I have nothing substantial to add, except to say that on first glance, I saw “whales” and “homophobes,” then I mouse-overed and saw “debate” and “drunk.”
My first thought was that you had one too many drinks and got into an argument with an Orca over gay rights.
I pronounce them the same, although I distinctly remember being taught at one point to pronounce “wh” as “hw”.
So the original spelling seems to be the rationale for the “hw” pronunciation. Perhaps some linguist here can confirm that and explain why the spelling changed.
I am somewhat surprised the dictionary gives the “hw” pronunciation first.
To me, that sounds like one of those outdated rules meant to perpetuate some snobish, upper crust way of speaking. I mean, if it’s supposed to be pronounced “hw”, why is written “wh”? I don’t know anyone who pronounces Wales and Whales differently.
