Quoting "J. 'Mach' Wust" <j_mach_wust@...>:
> The local pronunciation is often coloured by the standard orthography
> itself. I live in a region where the local dialects really distinguish /e/
> and /æ/, and some apply this to the pronunciation of the standard as well.
> But they will pronounce a word like _Städte_ (cities) with /æ/ even though
> historically, it had an /e/ (_stete_ in Middle High German; the original
> umlaut of /a/ was /e/, not /æ/!), and even though this /e/ is still
> preserved in the dialect word _Stedt_ (though the standard orthography even
> begins to influences the local dialect pronunciation, so that some say
> _Städt_ instead of _Stedt_).
Where did /æ/ come from?
Andreas