Wh (digraph)
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The digraph wh is used to express a phoneme:
- In the English language, [ʍ] (voiceless labial-velar fricative) the continuation of the PIE labiovelar (formerly spelled hw). Notably interrogative words begin with this phoneme, whence they are also known as wh-words. However, this digraph has usually come to be pronounced as [h] when followed by the letter 'o', as in "who" or "whole". The [ʍ] phoneme is lost in most varieties of English, see wine-whine merger.
- In the Māori language, it represents the /f/ or /ɸ/ phoneme, but some North Shore tribes will pronounce it as /h/ or /hw/. When Europeans arrived in New Zealand, it was the North Shore accent that they heard first. They used "Wh" to spell the sound, however later it was found that different iwi pronounce this sound in different ways.
[edit] See also
| Digraphs |
Aa aa Ae ae Ai ai Au au Aw aw Ay ay Bh bh Ch ch C̱h c̱h Ck ck CÖ cö Cs cs Cu cu Dd dd Dh dh Dj dj Dx dx Dz dz Dž dž Ea ea Ee ee Ei ei Eu eu Ew ew Ey ey Ff ff Fh fh Gb gb Gh gh Għ għ Gi gi Gj gj Gn gn Gy gy Hs hs Hu hu Ie ie IJ ij Jö jö Kh kh Kp kp Ku ku Lh lh Lj lj Ll ll Ly ly Mb mb Mh mh Mp mp Nd nd Ng ng Nh nh Nj nj Nk nk Ns ns Nt nt Ny ny Nz nz Oa oa Oe oe Oi oi Oo oo Ou ou Ow ow Oy oy Ph ph Qu qu Rd rd Rh rh Rl rl Rn rn Rr rr Rt rt Rz rz Sh sh Sv sv Sy sy Sz sz Th th Tj tj Tr tr Ts ts Tx tx Ty ty Tz tz Ue ue Ui ui Wh wh Xh xh Xö xö Yh yh Yk yk Zh zh Zs zs Zv zv |
|---|---|
| Trigraphs |
Dzs dzs Ngb ngb Ngh ngh Ngk ngk Nkp nkp Nth nth Nyk nyk Rnd rnd Sch sch |
| Tetragraphs |
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