VOA慢速英语2020--不发音字母

Today we answer a question from Ahmad in Iraq. He writes:

Question:

Why do we have some silent letters in English? Like these words: write, know, half, hide. So, tell me, why should we write them, although we don't pronounce them?

Thank you – Ahmad, Iraq.

Answer:

Dear Ahmad,

That is a great question. Like many of the unusual things about English, the answer is tied to history. Three of the reasons for the silent letters are changes in the language, borrowing words or terms from other languages and simplification of words.

If you pay close attention, you will find my answer to your second question: "Why should we write them?"

Language changes

The first reason is that language changes over time, and as people move from place to place. The English language has been written for over 10 centuries. We all know the way speakers of English pronounce words has changed over the years. However, the spelling of many of those words has not changed.

About 400 years ago, people said the "w" sound or /w/ at the beginning of your first example, "write." In the Northeast of Scotland¹, you may still hear the sound "v" at the beginning of the word.

You asked about the word "hide." That has a silent "e" because at one time, there were two syllables³ or separate parts to the word. In Middle English, one might say /heed-uh/. This word was part of a big change in the way people speak English. It came along between the years 1400 and 1700 and is called the Great Vowel⁴ Shift⁵. The vowels⁶ -- sounds you make with an open mouth – began to change. /Heed-uh/ became "hide." After that change, English speakers kept writing words with the silent "e" to show that the words have a long vowel sound within the word.

Borrowed words

Another reason for silent letters is that English has borrowed words from many other languages. Words that came from Greek may start with the letters "ph", but we say them with a "f" sound, /f/ as in "physical." Scholars decided⁷ to write them in the Greek way to show their roots.

Make it simpler

You can imagine that people want to make the language they speak simpler. That is true with pronunciation, but until today, there have been few major changes to the spelling of English words. Two centuries ago, Noah Webster tried to change American spelling in his dictionary. He is the reason Americans spell "color" without the letter "u" and spell "jail⁸" as j-a-i-l, not "g-a-o-l."

Ahmad, the second word you asked about -- "know" -- came from an old German word. In Old English and in old German, the "k" sound was heard at the beginning. But to make it simpler, people started to say the "n" at the beginning. Today, we write the word "know" as "k-n-o-w" to show that it is different from the word spelled n-o, or "no." The same is true for all other words that begin with the letters "kn."

I hope this helps you understand our strange way of writing words, Ahmad!

And that's Ask a Teacher for this week.

What question do you have about American English? Send us an email at [email protected]

Words in This Story

pronounce -v. to make the sound of (a word or letter) with your voice

spelling – n. the process of writing the letters of a word

syllable² – n. any one of the parts into which a word is naturally divided when it is pronounced

scholar – n. a specialist in a field of study, such as language or the humanities⁹

dictionary – n. a book or electronic guide that lists the words of a language and gives their meaning

1 Scotland   

n.苏格兰

参考例句：

• He has been hiking round Scotland for a month.他围着苏格兰徒步旅行了一个月。
• Scotland is to the north of England.苏格兰在英格兰之北。

2 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

3 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

4 vowel   

n.元音；元音字母

参考例句：

• A long vowel is a long sound as in the word"shoe ".长元音即如“shoe” 一词中的长音。
• The vowel in words like 'my' and 'thigh' is not very difficult.单词my和thigh中的元音并不难发。

5 shift   

n.交换，变化，移动，接班者；vt.更替，移转，变声；vi.改变，定责，更衣

参考例句：

• Lend me a hand to shift this box,will you?来帮一下忙，把这箱子搬开，好吗？
• A sudden shift in the wind warned of the coming storm.风向的突然改变预示暴风雨来临。

6 vowels   

n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Note the various sounds of vowels followed by r. 注意r跟随的各种元音的发音。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 jail   

n.监狱，看守所；vt.监禁，拘留

参考例句：

• The castle had been used as a jail.这城堡曾用作监狱。
• If she carries on shoplifting,she'll end up in jail.她如果还在店铺里偷东西，最终会被抓进监狱的。

9 humanities   

n.人文学

参考例句：

• Dalian University offers courses in science and in the humanities. 大连大学开设自然科学和人文科学课程。
• She has a background in humanities and modern languages. 她学过人文学科和现代语言。