Please see a quote from Noel below:

"Many English people use 'an' before some words beginning with 'h',
but my experience is that this only occurs (apart from the cases
where the 'h' is mute anyway) when the first syllable is not
accented. Thus 'a history' but 'an historian'.

Is this true that since the initial syllable is unaccented 'an' should
precede 'historian' and since it is accented, 'a' should precede
'history' ?

Is this the norm in R.P too?

Paul

Paul schrieb:
> Please see a quote from Noel below:
> 
> "Many English people use 'an' before some words beginning with 'h',
> but my experience is that this only occurs (apart from the cases
> where the 'h' is mute anyway) when the first syllable is not
> accented. Thus 'a history' but 'an historian'.
> 
> Is this true that since the initial syllable is unaccented 'an' should
> precede 'historian' and since it is accented, 'a' should precede
> 'history' ?
> 
> Is this the norm in R.P too?
> 
I don't think so - it may be a generational thing. As I've already said, 
the pronunciation of the "h" is relatively recent and the phenomenon 
being described is probably a remnant of the old pronunciation or even a 
hyper-correction.

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan