> T. A. McLeay wrote:
> > R A Brown wrote:
> [snip]
> >>
> >> It was also a common pronunciation of 'ask' in some Brit English
> >> dialects, at least until the early part of the 20th century - not
> >> sure if it still survives. In older dialect texts it is usually
> >> spelled 'ax'. Dutton adopted this form in his Speedwords.
> >>
> >> Such metathesis has a long history in English. Both _acsian_ and
> >> _ascian_ occurred in Old English.
> >
> > In Australia some people metathesise "ask" too, but I doubt this is a
> > part of a long tradition, but a more recent change probably
> > influenced by other dialects of English as the result is /a:ks/. In
> > British English in areas that have a broad "a" in "ask", if there's a
> > metathesised form, is the vowel broad or flat?
>
> AFAIK it was (is?) /&ks/ which, in the north of England would be [aks],
> but [&ks] in the south (more or less).
>
> On checking I find that _ax_ /&ks/ was used in the Sussex dialect at
> least till the 19th century & possibly into the 20th (but tho I heard
> _wops_ as a boy in West Sussex, I don't recall hearing _ax_ - but
> linguistically the eastern part of the county was always more
> conservative). According to my "Glossary of the Provincialisms in use in
> the County of Sussex" (1853), _ax_ was also used in Yorkshire, East
> Anglia, Somerset, Devon, and Heredfordshire.
>
> It also occurs in Wycliff's NT "Jhesus axide hem" (Jesus asked them),
> and in Chaucer "Our host him axed, what man art thou?" [Ploughman's Tale].
>
> As many of the early settlers of the Caribbean and American states came
> from East Anglia & from Somerset and Devon, I suspect the _ax_ which
> apparently characterizes speech of Afro-Caribbeans & Afro-Americans (if
> I've understood replies correctly) was learnt from sailors and slave
> owners of long ago.
>
> --
> Ray
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>
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>