GH: Difference between revisions
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'''gh''' in English is a notorious digraph, representing as it usually does the sorry relic of a sound ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] χ) no longer pronounced except in exclamations of disgust, '''úgh! yeùgh!''' (also found as Scottish '''ch''' in '''lóch''', which in Ireland is indeed spelt '''lóugh'''; another Irish example is '''Drógheda''') - or mutated into the sound of 'f' and 'ph'. | '''gh''' in English is a notorious digraph, representing as it usually does the sorry relic of a sound ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] 'χ') no longer pronounced except in exclamations of disgust, '''úgh! yeùgh!''' (also found as Scottish '''ch''' in '''lóch''', which in Ireland is indeed spelt '''lóugh'''; another Irish example is '''Drógheda''') - or mutated into the sound of 'f' and 'ph'. | ||
'''nîght''' and '''cóugh''', for example, are pronounced *nîte and *cóff (the accents show pronunciation: see [[English spellings]]). It is pronounced 'f' in: '''cóugh, tróugh, Góugh, enoúgh, toúgh, roúgh, sloúgh''' ''skin''. | '''nîght''' and '''cóugh''', for example, are pronounced *nîte and *cóff (the accents show pronunciation: see [[English spellings]]). It is pronounced 'f' in: '''cóugh, tróugh, Góugh, enoúgh, toúgh, roúgh, sloúgh''' ''skin''. | ||
Revision as of 16:23, 26 November 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Use in English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alphabetical word list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retroalphabetical list | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common misspellings |
gh in English is a notorious digraph, representing as it usually does the sorry relic of a sound (IPA 'χ') no longer pronounced except in exclamations of disgust, úgh! yeùgh! (also found as Scottish ch in lóch, which in Ireland is indeed spelt lóugh; another Irish example is Drógheda) - or mutated into the sound of 'f' and 'ph'.
nîght and cóugh, for example, are pronounced *nîte and *cóff (the accents show pronunciation: see English spellings). It is pronounced 'f' in: cóugh, tróugh, Góugh, enoúgh, toúgh, roúgh, sloúgh skin.
More often, as in nîght, gh is silent, and quite a variety of vowel sounds and spellings can precede it: 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, slòugh swamp and the English town Slòugh, both *slòu.
ough is even a schwa (ə) in British English bòrough, Scàrborough and thòrough, though in American these are bòrôugh, Scàrborôugh, and thòrôugh, rhyming with fúrrôw. BrE pronounces fürlôugh this way too.
gh uniquely sounds like 'p' in híccoúgh (a variant spelling of híccup). Initially the digraph merely represents a Germanic hard g, as in ghôst, ghoûl, ghāstly, as it also does in Italian spaghéttì; and an 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).