Re: Aks
| From: | R A Brown <ray@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, October 22, 2007, 18:49 |
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James W. wrote:
> FWIW, 'aks' is a pretty common pronunciation of 'ask'
> in Belizean english (at least is was 15-16 years ago
> when I was there...) Probably in Caribbean English in
> general.
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.
Such metathesis was not uncommon in former times. When I was boy in
Sussex I still people calling the _Vespa vulgaris_ a 'wops'. If you
consult an Old English dictionary you'll find the insect was called a
_wæsp_ by some and a _wæps_ by others.
It seems old habits die hard :)
--
Ray
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