Editing H-dropping (section)

===H-insertion===
The opposite of H-dropping, called ''H-insertion'' or ''H-adding'', sometimes occurs as a [[hypercorrection]] in English accents that typically drop H. It is commonly noted in literature from late [[Victorian times]] to the early 20th century that some lower-class people consistently drop ''h'' in words that should have it, while adding ''h'' to words that should not have it. An example from the musical ''[[My Fair Lady]]'' is, "In [[Hertford|'Artford]], [[Hereford|'Ereford]], and [[Hampshire|'Ampshire]], [[hurricane|'urricanes]] 'ardly '''h'''ever 'appen".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUQpoyfbWJ0 |title=ln Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen|website=[[YouTube]] |date=2009-09-20|accessdate=2024-12-25}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Another is in [[C.&nbsp;S. Lewis]]'s ''[[The Magician's Nephew]]'': "Three cheers for the [[Empress|Hempress]] of [[Colney Hatch|Colney 'Atch]]". In practice, however, it would appear that ''h''-adding is more of a stylistic prosodic effect, being found in highly emphasized words, regardless of whether those words are h-initial or vowel-initial in the standard language.

Some English words borrowed from [[French language|French]] may begin with the letter {{angbr|h}} but not with the sound {{IPA|/h/}}. Examples include ''heir'', and, in many regional pronunciations, ''hour'', ''hono(u)r'' and ''honest''. In some cases, [[spelling pronunciation]] has introduced the sound {{IPA|/h/}} into such words, as in ''humble'', ''human'', ''hotel'' and (for most speakers) ''historic''. Spelling pronunciation has also added {{IPA|/h/}} to the [[British English]] pronunciation of ''herb'', {{IPA|/hɜːb/}}, while [[American English]] retains the older pronunciation {{IPA|/ərb/}}. [[Etymology]] may also serve as a motivation for H-addition, as in the words ''horrible'', ''habit'' and ''harmony'': these were borrowed into Middle English from French without an {{IPA|/h/}} (''orrible, abit, armonie''), but as all three derive from Latin words with an {{IPA|/h/}}, they would later acquired an {{IPA|/h/}} in English as an etymological "correction".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/wordfrom/aitches/?view=uk |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120719222025/http://www.askoxford.com/worldofwords/wordfrom/aitches/?view=uk |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 19, 2012 |title=World of words - Oxford Dictionaries Online |publisher=Askoxford.com |access-date=2013-08-01}}</ref> The name of the letter H itself, "aitch", is subject to H-insertion in some dialects, where it is pronounced "[[haitch]]". (In [[Hiberno-English]], "[[haitch]]" has come to be considered standard, consistent with their not being H-dropping dialects). Various dialects of [[Newfoundland English]] exhibit the same pattern.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11642588 |title='Haitch' or 'aitch'? How do you pronounce 'H'? |work=BBC News |date=28 October 2010 |access-date=2017-06-19}}</ref>