How 'what' and 'witch' used to sound different
English words like "what" and "where" once had a distinct breathy "hw" sound, a difference mostly lost today due to natural language evolution and sound mergers.
Words like "what" and "where" once had a distinct breathy "hw" sound, unlike their modern counterparts. This difference, still heard in some Scottish and American dialects, was lost for most English speakers centuries ago in what linguists call the "wine-whine merger." Similarly, many Americans now pronounce "cot" and "caught" identically. These shifts highlight how language constantly evolves. For instance, British English dropped the "r" sound after vowels around the 17th century, while American English kept it, making American pronunciation sound more like older English in this regard. Language change is natural, ensuring what sounds "wrong" today can become standard tomorrow.