34. Front continuants.—Watch with your mirror what the tongue does when you utter the word he. You see that it rises in front. Raise it a little more, until the passage becomes quite narrow; the vowel will pass into the sound which we have at the beginning of yes [jes], and which we also have in sue [sjuːw], for which see § 45. As a rule the friction is very slight, and indeed hardly perceptible to the ear; but in the slowly uttered, deliberate yes the friction can often be heard very distinctly. The sound is also noteworthy as being, like [w] and [ɹ], "gliding," not "held" (see §§ 26, 32). In careless speech it sometimes passes into [ʒ] after [d]; during is pronounced [dʒuwriŋ] instead of [djuwriŋ], the dew becomes [dʒuw], it made you start [it mei dʒu stɑːt]. Soldier is regularly pronounced [souldʒə], not [souldjə]; and verdure, grandeur, have both pronunciations, [djə] being preferred by careful speakers.
After voiceless sounds, as in Tuesday, tube, [j] occasionally passes into the corresponding voiceless [ç], which is the consonant sound in the German ich; and sometimes it even becomes [ʃ], compare the careless pronunciation of don't you know [dountʃənou], last year [lɑːs tʃiə], he'll meet you [hijl mijtʃu]; I shall hit you is in vulgar speech [ɑi ʃəl itʃə]. For this development in unstressed syllables, see § 45.
Back continuants.—When we utter the vowel sound of who the back of the tongue is raised; if we raise it a little higher, there is friction, and we obtain the back continuants. These do not normally belong to standard English. The voiceless [x] is, however, not uncommon in the pronunciation of words taken from Scotch, Welsh, or German; even in such words [k] is generally substituted. The Scotch loch is pronounced [lɔx] or [lɔk]; the German Hoch(heimer) is always spelt and pronounced hock [hɔk]. In Scotch [x] occurs normally.
Throat r (uvular r).—This sound, which does not normally belong to standard English, has been referred to in § 32.
35. The h sounds.—We considered the glottis (the interval between the vocal chords) in § 6. We saw that when it is quite open, the breath passes through without producing any audible sound. When, however, the glottis is somewhat narrowed, the breath brushes past the vocal chords, and an h is produced; this we may call a voiceless glottal continuant.[41]
Now there may be various kinds of glottal [h]. The passage between the vocal chords may be more or less narrow, and it may remain uniform or gradually grow narrower or wider. The current of breath may be strong or weak; it may be of uniform force, or gradually grow stronger or weaker. When there is a strong current of breath, and the opening is very narrow, we call it "wheezing."
In standard English the h is a glottal continuant only when there is precise and emphatic utterance. Ordinarily it is produced in the mouth passage. When we say ha, the vocal chords are not drawn together until the vowel is sounded; the mouth, however, gets into position for uttering the vowel a little before the time, and the breath as it passes through produces an h sound. In [hɑ] then, we practically have a voiceless [ɑ] followed by the ordinary voiced [ɑ]; in he, a voiceless followed by the ordinary vowel; in who, a voiceless followed by the ordinary . Whisper these words, and also hay and hoe; and after each, whisper the [h] only. Notice that the ear detects an actual difference in these h sounds.