"H" pronunciation- Part 2
H - Pronunciation part 2
If you haven´t read part 1 of this series here is the link, it may help you with part 2: https://www.verbling.com/articles/post/h-pronunciation-part-1
In phonetics we describe the /h/ as a voiceless, glottal, fricative.
Now you have practiced part 1 you will know there is no voice or sound intentionally produced. The sound we hear is just from air passing out of the mouth. The air passes through the vocal cords (glottal), which are very gently tensed, to give a slight vibration (fricative).
A common error, (often produced by Spanish speakers) is to tense the top of the throat. This creates a friction or vibration between the back/top of the tongue and the roof of the mouth. The sound produced is not a sound we have in English, though it is used in Scottish /ch/ "loch". This is a voiceless velar fricative - velar describes the place of the vibration, in this case the back of the tongue against the roof of the mouth.
Often when we speak fluently and use "connected speech", we may drop or soften the /h/ so it is barely heard, we do this especially when we say function words. "Is he coming or isn´t he?" This is called reduced speech, it is how we adapt our pronunciation to reduce effort. To pronounce that sentence with the /h/´s is quite uncomfortable and involves a lot of breath. Dropping the /h/´s is smoother and simpler. A common error of foreign speakers of English is to pronounce these /h/´s when we don´t
If you would like to hear some examples of these errors and corrected pronunciations please go to my link here on youtube: https://www.verbling.com/articles/post/h-pronunciation-part-1
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Don´t forget to look out for the 3rd and final part of "H" the series, thanks for following :)
July 5, 2018
