“Ash” [æ] sound then and now
An overview of the current state of knowledge
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1344/efe-2022-31-163-167Keywords:
ash sound, received pronuntiation, General American, English vowels, vowel systemAbstract
The objective of this article is to review the existing studies on the British Received Pronunciation “ash” [æ] sound, as well as its variations outside the United Kingdom. It starts with a short analysis of sociolinguistic aspects of the Received Pronunciation accent, then it points out the most conspicuous differences between the Received Pronunciation and General American vowel systems. Then, it presents the early beginnings and the further developments of [æ], and finally, it discusses the alternations in the pronunciation of this sound and the most important examples of phonological variations for [æ] outside the UK.
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