GH: Difference between revisions
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==Use in English== | ==Use in English== | ||
{{:English_spellings/Catalogs/Masterlist}} | {{:English_spellings/Catalogs/Masterlist}} | ||
Although at the beginning of an English word it merely sounds like a hard '''g''', as in '''ghôst''', in any other position | Although at the beginning of an English word it merely sounds like a hard '''g''', as in '''ghôst''', in any other position '''gh''' is a justly notorious digraph. In '''nîght''' and '''cóugh''', for example, it is pronounced *nîte and *cóff (the accents show pronunciation: see [[English phonemes]]). This '''gh''' is the sorry relic of a sound ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] χ) no longer pronounced except in exclamations of disgust, '''úgh! yeùgh!''', the sound of Scottish '''ch''' in '''lóch''' (which in Ireland is indeed spelt '''lóugh''') - or mutated into the sound of [f] and 'ph'. | ||
It is pronounced [f] in: '''tróugh, cóugh, Góugh, enoúgh, toúgh, roúgh, sloúgh''' ''skin'' (cf. '''slòugh''' ''swamp'', and the English town '''Slòugh''', both *slòu). | It is pronounced [f] in: '''tróugh, cóugh, Góugh, enoúgh, toúgh, roúgh, sloúgh''' ''skin'' (cf. '''slòugh''' ''swamp'', and the English town '''Slòugh''', both *slòu). | ||
Revision as of 16:59, 27 April 2009
GH, gh is a digraph (a two-letter grapheme) used with various different values in a number of languages using the Latin alphabet, especially in English, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Italian, Romanian, Friulian and Corsican.
Use in English
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |
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| Use in English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alphabetical word list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retroalphabetical list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common misspellings |
Although at the beginning of an English word it merely sounds like a hard g, as in ghôst, in any other position gh is a justly notorious digraph. In nîght and cóugh, for example, it is pronounced *nîte and *cóff (the accents show pronunciation: see English phonemes). This gh is the sorry relic of a sound (IPA χ) no longer pronounced except in exclamations of disgust, úgh! yeùgh!, the sound of Scottish ch in lóch (which in Ireland is indeed spelt lóugh) - or mutated into the sound of [f] and 'ph'.
It is pronounced [f] in: tróugh, cóugh, Góugh, enoúgh, toúgh, roúgh, sloúgh skin (cf. slòugh swamp, and the English town Slòugh, both *slòu).
More often it is silent as in slòugh swamp - with quite a variety of preceding vowel sounds and spellings: ŏught, sŏught, bŏught, cåught, nåughty, Våughan, Våughn, dôugh, èight, nèigh, wèigh, slèigh ride (= slây kill), wèight heavy (= wâit time), frèight, heîght, bòugh, throûgh, thôugh, Búrrôughs, sîght, nîght, nîgh, and ough is even sometimes a schwa [ə] as in BrE bòrough, Scàrborough and thòrough, which in AmE are bòrôugh, Scàrborôugh, and thòrôugh, rhyming with fúrrôw. British English pronounces fürlôugh this way too.
gh uniquely sounds like [p] in híccoúgh (a variant spelling of híccup). In other words the digraph merely represents a hard g, whether Germanic, as in ghôst, ghoûl, ghāstly, or Italian, as in spaghéttì; and h serves to distinguish dínghy boat (which can have hard g or silent g, but always the ng sound) from díngy dirty (soft g: *dínjy).