And why is the W silent anyways?

  • @cybervseas
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    English
    113 months ago

    By the argument, is the w in “two” actually silent? What would it sounds like when pronounced? I think it would sound like “two” already does.

    • @cannedtuna
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      253 months ago

      It would sound like “twu” as in “twu wuv”

    • @[email protected]
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      fedilink
      123 months ago

      It sounds exactly like “to” which means the w is silent.

      It is not pronounced at all like any of the other example words given.

    • @over_cloxOP
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      83 months ago

      I don’t necessarily think so. If the W was pronounced, I think it would sound something more like ‘tawoo’ or ‘teewoo’

    • Chozo
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      fedilink
      63 months ago

      I wonder if perhaps an older dialect used to pronounce the W. Lots of words have changed spelling or pronunciation over the years, so I’m curious if that might be the case with “two”, too.

      • Lvxferre [he/him]
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        fedilink
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        edit-2
        3 months ago

        I wonder if perhaps an older dialect used to pronounce the W.

        That’s correct, and it isn’t even that old - based on the [o:]→[u:] change it should be from 1500 or so. And the modern Scots cognate ⟨twa⟩ /twɑ:/~/twɔ:/ still has it.