From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhtsa!alice!danny
Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.followup
Title: Re: Re: Heighth
Article-I.D.: alice.1222
Posted: Wed Dec  1 10:49:53 1982
Received: Sat Dec  4 08:32:48 1982
References: burl.111

In pointing out the analogy between 'heighTH' and 'widTH'/'breadTH',
I wasn't, as Curtis Jackson suggests, saying that one SHOULD use
'heighTH', merely that its origin is explainable.

Furthermore, there is reason to believe that heighTH is the ORIGINAL
form and that heighT was originally a "sloppy" pronunciation.
Reason: we know that -th is a suffix used to form noun from adj's;
now the gh in high was originally pronounced as a velar fricative
(like ch in German 'Bach'); the difficulty of gh followed by
th is likely to have led to heighT (at sometime before the
other "sloppy" pronunciation, the dropping of 'gh', became standard.

An aside to those of you who think there are absolute "right"
and "wrong" pronunciations:
1. Very often what people call "wrong" is simply the standard
pronunciation of a different region.  Where heighTH is standard,
heighT sounds "wrong", like pronouncing 'both' as 'boat'.
Where there are regional differences, how do we know which one to
choose?  There is certainly no THEORETICAL basis on which to do this.
The answer is clear: when YOU are speaking, use pronunciations
which sound "correct" to your ear; when the other guy is speaking,
accept his pronunciations as equally valid.
2. Do you have a silent k in knee and knight?  A silent gh in high
and though?  Do you pronounce the final gh of cough and laugh as
an f?  All these were considered "wrong" "sloppy" or "uneducated"
pronunciations at one time.  One must accept the fact that it is
in the nature of human language to change with time.  And there
is absolutely no evidence that change does any harm.
Does this mean you have to use pronunciations you feel uncomfortable
with, just because they seem to be becoming more popular?
Of course not; at any point in time any given person will
feel that certain usage is "right" or "wrong" for him.
Just give the rest of us a break!

				Dan Kahn
				Bell Labs
				Murray Hill, NJ