Hugh and hue

[abc]

I'm not convinced but I thought I'd ask.

I just heard someone claim they could hear a difference between
the name "Hugh" and the noun "hue".

In what variants is this supposed to happen?
Anyone in here who pronounces them differently?
If so, what difference?
abc

[CRNG]

On Thu, 08 Aug 2013 13:52:27 +0200, abc <a...@def.ghi> wrote in
<ku00q1$220$1...@news.albasani.net> Re Hugh and hue:

>I'm not convinced but I thought I'd ask.
>
>I just heard someone claim they could hear a difference between
>the name "Hugh" and the noun "hue".
>
>In what variants is this supposed to happen?
>Anyone in here who pronounces them differently?

I'm a native AmE speaker and I pronounce them exactly the same.
--
Web based forums are like subscribing to 10 different newspapers
and having to visit 10 different news stands to pickup each one.
Email list-server groups and USENET are like having all of those
newspapers delivered to your door every morning.

[Richard Owlett]

CRNG wrote:
> On Thu, 08 Aug 2013 13:52:27 +0200, abc <a...@def.ghi> wrote in
> <ku00q1$220$1...@news.albasani.net> Re Hugh and hue:
>
>> I'm not convinced but I thought I'd ask.
>>
>> I just heard someone claim they could hear a difference between
>> the name "Hugh" and the noun "hue".
>>
>> In what variants is this supposed to happen?
>> Anyone in here who pronounces them differently?
>
> I'm a native AmE speaker and I pronounce them exactly the same.
>

I can believe a trained listener detecting a difference.

Many years ago I took an introductory linguistics course at
Cornell University. The majority of the class were Yankees,
primarily from Upstate NY. The instructor did a demonstration
(know what the effect would be) by handing two fellows from the
same small town in the Deep South a piece of paper with two words
written on it. He asked each to pronounce one of the words and
have the other demonstrate he understood by spelling it. The
words were "pin" and "pen". They and the instructor had no
trouble identifying what was said. The class was left going "HUH" ;!

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

I'am a native BrE speaker and I may pronounce them slightly differently.
However the difference would be very slight.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

[Don Phillipson]

"abc" <a...@def.ghi> wrote in message news:ku00q1$220$1...@news.albasani.net...

> I'm not convinced but I thought I'd ask.
>
> I just heard someone claim they could hear a difference between
> the name "Hugh" and the noun "hue".

Did the person proffer any evidence (apart from context)? If not, what
suggested this claim was credible?

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[Bill McCray]

I would bet that I make no difference in them. I hear none even when I
speak them slowly.

Bill in Kentucky

[Ian Jackson]

In message <ku0sak$tic$1...@news.albasani.net>, Bill McCray
<billm...@mindspring.com> writes

I'm also a native BrE speaker and, to me, they're the same. In both
cases, the h is aspirated (ie "hue" isn't - or shouldn't be - "you").
However, there are those who might pronounce it that way.
--
Ian

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

If I speak them slowly they are identical. If there are tiny differences
they would occur only in the context of normal sentences.

[Swifty]

On 08/08/2013 20:42, Bill McCray wrote:
> I would bet that I make no difference in them. I hear none even when I
> speak them slowly.

When I practised on myself, I found that "hue" came out shorter than
"Hugh", and if I'd called my friend "hue" rather than "Hugh" he might
have thought I was being a bit abrupt.

It's a subtle difference, though

--
Steve Swift
http://www.swiftys.org.uk/

[John Varela]

A similar story, which I've posted before but, I think, to aue. I
had a college fraternity brother who was from some suburb of Boston;
it may have been Attleboro. We would ask him to pronounce "park",
"pack", and "pock". To us, they all sounded the same when he said
them. He insisted he was pronouncing them differently. Maybe he was,
to local people.

Incidentally, I am from the South and neither I nor any of my
relatives pronounce "pin" and "pen" at all alike. I have gone to
school with and worked with people from all over the South, and
though I believe I've heard that pin/pen equivalent accent, it's
certainly not common, at least, not among city folk.

--
John Varela

[John Varela]

On Fri, 9 Aug 2013 15:12:10 UTC, Swifty <steve....@gmail.com>
wrote:

> On 08/08/2013 20:42, Bill McCray wrote:
> > I would bet that I make no difference in them. I hear none even when I
> > speak them slowly.
>
> When I practised on myself, I found that "hue" came out shorter than
> "Hugh", and if I'd called my friend "hue" rather than "Hugh" he might
> have thought I was being a bit abrupt.
>
> It's a subtle difference, though

Now that you mention it, I think I may do the same.

--
John Varela

[Ian Jackson]

In message <51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-HZo1Qdgb3WUC@localhost>, John Varela
<newl...@verizon.net> writes

It's Antipodeans and South Afrikaners who pronounce "pen" very like
"pin" (etc).
--
Ian

[Richard Owlett]

My instructor was discussing just how localized
accents/pronunciations were. As I said, the two young men were
from the same _small_ town. I was also used as an example as I
was raised just outside of RAH-chester New York, the home of
Eastman KO-dak ;/


>

[Whiskers]

Same here. I think there's more emphasis on the /j/ in the person's name,
and the vowel feels as though it's lower in my mouth (if that makes any
sense).

Hue [hjU] and Hugh ['hju:] possibly exaggerates the differences.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[John Varela]

Could be, as everyone knows that those two groups talk funny.
However, the anecdote took place in New York and the speakers were
from "the Deep South". You can't get much deeper Deep South than New
Orleans.

--
John Varela

[abc]

Hmmm, interesting. Would that still hold if we removed the
possible context-induced differences in emphasis or duration?

Say your little niece named her two puppies Hugh and Hue.
Could they be told apart based on your pronunciation?
abc

[Whiskers]

Provided that the people using the names were aware of the need to
differentiate; lazy pronunciation might not make the difference clear
enough. The puppies almost certainly wouldn't be able to tell the
difference - but their sensitivity to human body language might well be
good enough for them to know which of them was being called.

I suppose if there were three puppies, the awkward niece could call the
third one "Hew". Then the niece could get down on her knees and offer
Nice biscuits in penance.