Silent gh is sometimes combined with the letter i to form the long i vowel sound. This
igh pattern is most frequently found in the middle of words, commonly followed by the
letter t to represent the sound /īt/. Words such as right, might, flight, and sigh all use
this spelling pattern.
The igh spelling of /ī/ comes from Middle English, the form of English spoken when the
Tartars converted to Islam, the Black Plague stalked across Europe and the Hundred
Years War began. It was a long time ago. During that time, igh was pronounced as a
long i sound followed by an unvoiced, breathy sound made when the middle of the
tongue arches toward the hard palate, as in the German sound “ich.”1
Spellings and pronunciations changed frequently in the 14th and 15th centuries. Our
Modern English vowel pronunciations resulted from the Great Vowel Shift of the 16th
century, however, spellings were preserved from the earlier centuries, when silent
letters were pronounced. 2
Many ask why don’t we change all igh words to i_e spelling. There is a reason for
hanging on to the igh spelling. In 1690, the New England Primer was published in
Boston as the first American textbook for school children. It continued to be printed
for more than 100 years and formed the basis of spelling instruction for generations of
Americans. Combine that with the 1755 publication of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of
English, containing 40,000 words, and modern English’s standard, fixed spelling
patterns were set. At the time, authors of books were motivated to follow the spellings
put forth in these publications, because they feared their literary works could become
relics of a past age if the spellings included in their books became obsolete and unreadable to most people. This use of standardized spelling in literacy works
reinforced the uniform spelling of words, including the igh spelling pattern. 3
An additional reason not to change all igh words to i_e spelling of the long i has to do
with word meanings. The Igh spelling of homonyms carries the intended meaning of
the word. The word might conveys the meaning of something possibly, but not
definitely occurring. The word mite indicates a small bug or small, nearly worthless
coin. The reader can instantly discern which definition the author intends by how the
word is spelled. Homogenizing the spelling of words robs the reader of this instant
understanding, and requires readers to rely on contextual clues to ascertain the
author’s intent.
Hopefully, these reasons will help your students see beyond what appears to be a
capricious sprinkling of gh into words as one might sprinkle salt onto eggs. English
isn’t crazy after all!
1 The English Language of Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow by Daniel Donoghue
2 Speech to Print by Eliza Moats, p. 85-89
3 Speech to Print by Eliza Moats, p. 85-89. 3
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