Adiós a la ‘h’

If the Real Academia got rid of the letter 'h' what impact would it have on spelling and pronunciation in Spanish?


Here is an interesting article posted in the New York Times en español this week about this hypothetical possibility.

https://www.nytimes.com/es/2018/03/...nformacion&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=Homepage

In 2010 the RAE eliminated 'ch' and 'll' thus making the official number of letters in the alphabet 27.

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-spanish-alphabet-3078115

The article is about the possibility of eliminating the letter 'h' since it is mute. It is written but not pronounced. Spanish being so phonetic the argument of the author is why is 'h' a letter in such a phonetic language.


Will the question is how much of a long shot is it? What will happen to the meaning of words like ola vs hola. Some people spell hello in Spanish ola when it fact it means wave. These are factors that would have to be considered meaning the impact on homonyms. However, it will help those who are challenged to spell correctly and write ermano when it should be hermano.


¿Qué opinan uds?


-MP.

Did you folks read the article? There is no current consideration by the RAE to eliminate the ‘h’. The article is just a commentary by a Professor who is thinking what if? Ilan Stavans is a Professor of Humanities and Latin Culture and has written a book on Spanglish which I read and found quite engaging especially since I am not in favour of those invented words. 

My thoughts on the matter are quite simple:

1) the silent ‘h’ is a remnant of Latin. Since Spanish is one of the languages that derived from Latin, I say leave it alone with its original phonetic properties.

2) Mentioned in the article and I totally agree eliminating the ‘h’ will cause a problem for ‘ch’ words. Although ‘ch’ is no longer an official letter by eliminating the ‘h’ what do you do with words like chico, chica, chamba, chabacano etc. The ‘h’ is needed for pronunciation purposes.

3) For those who currently can’t spell properly words that have “h” I think it is important for them to know that words like hospital, hotel, habichuela etc are words that they are spelling incorrectly. While it may resolve orthographic problems for some it will create a slew of new ones for other people. An example of this is the ultra Dominican spelling of the colloquilialism jablador. You don’t need a different spelling even for the local meaning it has. The spelling should still be hablador.


-MP.

2dlight said:

MP: What is the actual pronunciation of the city of Haina? I hear everyone in the DR, including newscasters on TV, say Jaina. Is that an exception of the silent H rule? I would also add "jarto" to the ultra Dominican spelling list.

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The “h” is silent in Spanish. No exceptions to the rule. It should not be pronounced. Some speakers especially in the Caribbean speak with what is called an aspirated “h” sound for diverse reasons. 

Your example is classic for whatever reason the speaker feels the need to incorporate an “h” sound when in fact there should be no “h” thus pronouncing the word as aina instead of jaina. The aspirated “h” is also pronounced by many speakers to avoid cacaphony meaning two clashing vowels once the “s” is dropped. For example, los amigos can be joined by the “s” and “a” thus creating liaison but when a speaker drops the “s” two vowels are left lo amigo. Instinctively, many speakers say lo jamigo to break the cacaphony. 


-MP.

Celt202 said:

In the DR they don't speak Spanish, they speak Dominican. The port of Santo Domingo is smaller than the port of Haina (not Aina).

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As I stated in the first two lines of my post #8 in general this phenomenon is know as the aspirated “h” although phonetically the “h” is silent in Spanish. This type of speech phenomenon is very common in the Caribbean not just the DR. In the DR in some cases the spelling is changed to accommodate the sound by spelling the word with a “j”.

I think I know why Haina is pronounced that way but I won't post anything unless I can find some linguistic back up.


-MP.

2dlight said:

MP: What is the actual pronunciation of the city of Haina? I hear everyone in the DR, including newscasters on TV, say Jaina. Is that an exception of the silent H rule? I would also add "jarto" to the ultra Dominican spelling list.

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Marianopolita said:

As I stated in the first two lines of my post #8 in general this phenomenon is know as the aspirated “h” although phonetically the “h” is silent in Spanish. This type of speech phenomenon is very common in the Caribbean not just the DR. In the DR in some cases the spelling is changed to accommodate the sound by spelling the word with a “j”.

I think I know why Haina is pronounced that way but I won't post anything unless I can find some linguistic back up.


-MP.

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2dlight,


I found the info I was looking for in order to confirm what I thought. It is exactly what I figured. The word is Taino origin and the original spelling was Jaina thus the pronounciation with the H sound. The modern day spelling of Jaina is Haina however the original pronounciation is maintained.


-MP.

dv8 said:

a good article and i agree with the author, in a way. the language is alive and it evolves. every now and then there is an article in diario libre about adjustments made by RAE in terms of correct spelling of both new and older words. i do not read literature in spanish but both polish and english changed over the centuries in such way that some older works are a struggle to even understand.
granted, H-less words would look a bit strange at first but new generations would not even know. so who knows, maybe one day the H will be put to rest.

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Not so fast. Please read my post #5 point #2. Eliminating H in first position is what he takes into consideration and is putting out there as a thought. However, in words with CH how do you eliminate the H and retain the same pronounciation? 


Let me see. Example: Chico would would change to cico. 


Two completely different pronounciations according to Spanish phonetics.


As a result Cico makes no sense and is not even a word. Coincidentally -cico/a is a suffix but it is not a word.



 -MP.

dv8 said:

CH could be an exception, maybe? strangely enough CH exist in polish too and is an equivalent to H. they both sound exactly the same, but mixing them is an orthographic error.

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The professor who wrote the article is just speculating. Maybe he is required to write articles in his profession but the elimination of the H is not a discussion topic on the table of the governing body the RAE as far as I know. Therefore, please realize this is going nowhere. 

The silent H in Spanish is a remnant of Latin and therefore exist in Spanish as a silent letter in first position. I see the article as nothing more than a thought-provoking read.


-MP.