Wh (digraph)

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The digraph wh is used to express a phoneme:

• In the English language, [ʍ] (voiceless labial-velar fricative) the continuation of the PIE labiovelar (formerly spelled hw). Notably interrogative words begin with this phoneme, whence they are also known as wh-words. However, this digraph has usually come to be pronounced as [h] when followed by the letter 'o', as in "who" or "whole". The phoneme [ʍ] has merged with [w] in most varieties of English, a phenomenon known as the "wine-whine merger" in linguistics. See also: phonological history of wh.

• In the Māori language, it represents /ɸ/ or /f/, with some regional variations approaching /h/ or /[ʍ]/. In the Taranaki region, some speakers pronounce it as a glottalized /w/. The /f/ pronunciation is very common, perhaps due to influence from English.

• In the Xhosa language, it represents /w̤/, a murmured variant of /w/. It is found in loan words.

[edit] See also

• Hwair
• Phonological history of wh

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Digraphs	Aa aa Ae ae Ai ai Au au Aw aw Ay ay Bh bh Ch ch Ck ck Cö cö Cs cs Cu cu Cz cz Dd dd Dh dh Dj dj Dx dx Dz dz Dž dž Dź dź Dż dż Ea ea Ee ee Ei ei Eu eu Ew ew Ey ey Ff ff Fh fh Gb gb Gh gh Għ għ Gi gi Gj gj Gn gn Gy gy Hs hs Hu hu Ie ie IJ ij Jö jö Kh kh Kp kp Ku ku Lh lh Lj lj Ll ll Ly ly Mb mb Mh mh Mp mp Nd nd Ng ng Nh nh Nj nj Nk nk Ns ns Nt nt Ny ny Nz nz Oa oa Oe oe Oi oi Oo oo Ou ou Ow ow Oy oy Ph ph Qu qu Rd rd Rh rh Rl rl Rn rn Rr rr Rt rt Rz rz Sh sh Sv sv Sy sy Sz sz Th th Tj tj Tr tr Ts ts Tx tx Ty ty Tz tz Ue ue Ui ui Vh vh Wh wh Xh xh Xö xö Yh yh Yk yk Zh zh Zs zs Zv zv
Trigraphs	C'h c'h Dzs dzs Eau eau Ngb ngb Ngh ngh Ngk ngk Nkp nkp Nth nth Nyk nyk Rnd rnd Sch sch
Tetragraphs	Eeuw eeuw Ieuw ieuw Ough ough