When two vowels are blended, the result is a diphthong; when two other
letters unite, the result is usually called a DIGRAPH.
H may give trouble to some persons when speaking their mother tongue; as
to the Briton, who should, and to the Frenchman, who must not aspirate;
but the digraphs of H are universally admitted to be among the most
serious difficulties that beset a man who is trying to acquire the
pronunciation of a language not his own. The German _ich_ is liable to
dwindle into “ik” in the mouth of an Englishman, and into “ish” in that
of a Frenchman; with Italians and some others it is unutterable. The
modern Greek delta, and more especially χθ, often undergo cacophonic
metamorphoses when entrusted to the care of well-meaning philhellenists;
a digraph of H enters into the phonetic composition of most of the
shibboleths of Eastern tongues; and, in the estimation of many
foreigners, the bugbear of our English pronunciation is spelt TH. In
Britain, the _ch_ of lo_ch_ and Au_ch_termu_ch_ty remains the Caledonian
pass-word.