THEORY(?): ARSE (was: RE: [CONLANG] Latin (was Language universal?)

John:
> Raymond Brown scripsit:
>
> > Doesn't work so well in Brit English where an ass is just an archaic word
> > for "donkey".  (I assume the American 'ass' did actually start out as a
> > euphemism for the old fashion 'arse').
>
> I don't know if it was a euphemism, or just an ordinary sound change
> [ars] > [a:s] > [&s].
Have any other words in US English undergone such a change?

Or is the idea that the phonology of this taboo word has been borrowed
into high prestige rhotic accents from low prestige nonrhotic accents
(New England Proletarian, Southern, AAVE), as has happened, for instance
among young southern Brits who tend to replace local /bA:st@d/ with
'hard' 'gritty' northern /b&st@d/?

--And.

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