The Null Hypothesis: Nowhere!
Certainly non-rhoticity, both of Joyce's Dublin English and the English of his typically readers, allowed Joyce, the pun-master, especially in Finnegans Wake, to pun haw-hoor-hoer with "whore". In fact, he punned "haw" and "whore" in the "Circes", the "whore" chapter of Ulysses. Even "hear"-"whore".
On the other hand, the idea that Joyce could see "hoe" (or "ho") as punning with "whore" is improbable.
While essentially immaterial to the argument, it should be noted that
- the modern day term "ho" for "whore" can only be traced to the 1960's,
- and no one in the literature has ever suggested that Joyce was making such a pun, which suggests none of Joyce's reader see such a pun!
But it is not about the rhoticity, rather, is is about vowel pronunciation!
Consider the two words Joyce commonly uses for whore, "whore" ("haw") and "hoer", and compare them to "hoe" and "ho".
whore as in oar
hoer as in lure
hoe as in oh
ho as in oh
No English speaker, let alone Irish English speaker, would every pronounce "ho" (oh) or "hoe" (oh) with the same vowel sound as the would "whore" (oar) or "hoer" (lure).
Hence Joyce would never have heard these words be pronounced sufficiently closely for him to see a pun.
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