Changes in pronunciation are neither unique nor new
BRIAN Quail (Letters, December 27) bemoans the demise of the pronunciation of “ch” (as in “loch”). But this is not new. For some time, in north-east Scotland, Garioch has been pronounced as Gairy or Geery, Banchory as Bankory, Strachan as Strawan. Even when I was a wee boy in Greenock 100 years ago, many people said “Trossacks.” My hearing is not as acute as it was, but even some Gaelic speakers seem to me to pronounce “ch” almost like “h”.
I have often wondered why some English people seem to find the “ch” sound difficult to pronounce. Most English people are of Germanic origin (Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Vikings, Danes, Normans, etc.). The “ch” sound seems alive and well in modern German, and surely the early German settlers must have brought it to England with them. When did they lose it? (Mind you, the Normans had already abandoned their Scandinavian tongue for French before they got round to invading England.)
Some Irish people are said to substitute “t” for the “th” sound (as in “think”). One explanation is that the “th” sound does not exist in Gaelic – although Scots Gaelic speakers do not seem to share this difficulty.
As Mr Quail says, everything changes. After all, Latin has changed into Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Romanian and other modern languages. Archie White, 63 Hallydown Drive, Jordanhill, Glasgow.