OCR Text |
Show Cockney's Absent "H" In Latin and the languages, such as French, derived from it, the "h" is not pronounced, its omission being due to the slightly different throat formation for-mation In different races. For centuries cen-turies after the Norman conquest Latin and Norman French were the official tongues of England, and the aspirate, therefore, was never sounded. With the gradual rise of English as a national na-tional language, the "h" came Info fashion, though even today one may occasionally find an old-fashioned clergyman who clings to the ancient tradition and speaks with conservative correctness of an "umble man." In the main, however, the dropping of the "h" was left to the less-educated classes, particularly those in London, which, as the court and official center, had of course been more affected by the French non-aspiration than the more truly English north country. |