So, today we’re just focusing on one sound, and that is /h/, but actually there’s quite a lot to say about it – we’ll be coming back to it next week, too, and it’s quite a long one to start us off today! /h/ is a voiceless fricative sound, but this time, rather than the friction coming from the tongue, teeth or lips, as we’ve seen with previous fricatives like /s/, /ʃ/ or /f/, it comes from the throat. The friction with /h/ is also lighter than in previous fricatives: in fact, linguists argue about whether there is friction there at all, so it definitely isn’t a strong friction or vibration. Your mouth should be pretty relaxed for this sound (though in words it will take the shape of the previous or next sounds). Imagine that I’ve asked you to make a candle flame flicker without moving your lips. The most common thing my learners do here is make /h/ a velar sound – moving the back of the tongue up to the soft palate – resulting in a /x/ sound, or simply overdo the friction. Play with moving the tongue up and down in your mouth until you hear that /h/. It might also help you to do this in your throat.
A couple of points I’d like to mention before we start. First, if you’re thinking about spellings, /h/ is almost always represented by the letter ‘h’, but do remember that the letter ‘h’ is always silent, like “honestly”, or “hour”. Second, we’re working on what is considered the standard English from England pronunciation of /h/ today, but it’s a letter which is often dropped, and we’re talking about that more next week.
Let’s start with some common words with /h/ at the beginning of words. If your language doesn’t have /h/ in this position, it can be a tricky one to master, perhaps because you are producing that breath before turning on your voice for the vowel sounds afterwards. See how you find it:
- happy
- hard
- hat
- hate
- have
- he
- head
- health
- hello
- help
- her
- here
- him
- his
- hobby
- holiday
- home
- hope
- hospital
- hot
- hotel
- house
- hundred
- husband
And a couple of sentences with those words:
- He has a hard hat on his head.
- Her husband hopes to have a hundred hotels here.
And, because this is such a common position with /h/, let’s also have a bit of fun with some higher-level vocabulary.
- headquarters
- hence
- hexagon
- hibernate
- hierarchy
- highlight
- historian
- homecoming
- hopelessness
- housewarming
- humanities
- hummingbird
- hurricane
- hypertension
- hypothesis
- hysterical
…And a couple of sentences with those words.
- The historian highlighted the hexagonal headquarters
- The hurricane made him hysterical and hence hypertensive.
It can also help to think about pairs of words which sound the same except that one has a /h/ sound at the beginning. Listen, repeat, and ensure that you’re differentiating between the words with the /h/ sound – and not pronouncing it in those where there shouldn’t be that /h/
- hacks axe
- hair air
- harm arm
- hate eight
- hear ear
- heart art
- heat eat
- hedge edge
- high eye
- hill ill
- hit it
- hold old
…And a couple of sentences with those words:
He hacked with the axe and hit it.
Put the heart art eye high at the edge of the hedge.
Now let’s move on to some words with /h/ in the middle of the word. Again, pay attention to any combinations where you find the /h/ more difficult. This position of /h/ is far less common, so there is some higher-level vocabulary here.
- ahead
- apprehensive
- backhand
- behaviour
- behind
- carbohydrate
- childhood
- comprehend
- comprehension
- enhance
- inheritance
- mahogany
- mayhem
- perhaps
- prohibition
- reheat
- unhappy
- wholeheartedly
And again, a couple of sentences with those words.
He wholeheartedly hated the mahogany hatstand he inherited.
He felt apprehensive about their behaviour; perhaps he sensed mayhem ahead.
Now let’s look at just a few words with two /h/ sounds.
- handholding
- haphazardly
- headhunter
- hitchhiker
- horsehair
- household
Now for a couple of sentences with a mixture of all these words. There are so many here, I’m sure you will be able to make some of your own, too.
The handholding hitchhikers haphazardly hunted a ride.
The headhunter highlighted the ways his hobbies enhanced his application.