H-dropping

H-dropping or aitch-dropping is the deletion of the voiceless glottal fricative or "H-sound", . The phenomenon is common in many dialects of English, and is also found in certain other languages, either as a purely historical development or as a contemporary difference between dialects. Although common in most regions of England and in some other English-speaking countries, and linguistically speaking a neutral evolution in languages, H-dropping is often stigmatized as a sign of careless or uneducated speech. The reverse phenomenon, H-insertion or H-adding, is found in certain situations, sometimes as an allophone or hypercorrection by H-dropping speakers, and sometimes as a spelling pronunciation or out of perceived etymological correctness. A particular example of this is the spread of 'haitch' for 'aitch'. In English Historical /h/-loss In Old English phonology, the sounds , , and (described respectively as glottal, velar and palatal voiceless fricatives) are taken to be allophones of a single phoneme . The sound appeared at the start of a syllable, either alone or in a cluster with another consonant. The other two sounds were used in the syllable coda ( after back vowels and after front vowels).