Word-initial h- in Middle and Early Modern English

In this contribution, I investigate the status of word-initial /h/- in Middle and Early Modern English. I propose that this phoneme is weak, in the sense of being deleted from the output in some contexts, though being present as a consonantal phoneme in the underlying representation. Different varieties of Middle and Early Modern English are distinguished on the basis of the different degrees of ‘weakness’ of word-initial /h/-. I also discuss the vari- ous steps towards the modern situation, namely the full re-establishment of /h/-.