NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Broad A

The trap-bath split is a vowel split that occurs mainly in southern varieties of English English, in the Boston accent, and in the Southern Hemisphere accents (Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English), by which the Early Modern English phoneme /æ/ was lengthened in certain environments and ultimately merged with the long /ɑː/ of father. (Wells 1982: 100–1, 134, 232–33) Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ... The Boston accent is characteristic not only of the city of Boston itself, but more generally of all of eastern Massachusetts. ... Australian English is the form of the English language used in Australia. ... New Zealand English is the dialect of English spoken in New Zealand. ... South African English is a dialect of the dialect of English spoken in South Africa and to some extent, in neighbouring countries with a large number of Anglo Africans living in them, such as Namibia and Zimbabwe. ... Early modern English is a name for the modern English language the way it was used between around 1485 and 1650. ...

Broad A is a name given to the pronunciation of the vowel sound of words that underwent the lengthening, such as laugh, can't, and dance, in the accents that were affected by the trap-bath split. Phonetically, the sound is the open back unrounded vowel [ɑː] in some older accents (such as Received Pronunciation (RP)) and the near-open central vowel [ɐː] or the open front unrounded vowel [aː] in most younger accents. For convenience, the symbol ɑː will be used on this page. Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... The open back unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. ... Received Pronunciation (RP) is a form of pronunciation of the English language, usually defined as the educated spoken English of southeastern England. This is a prescriptivist point-of-view — it is quite possible for an intelligent, educated individual to use a non-standard dialect. ... The near-open central vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. ... The open central unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. ...

Formerly, all dialects of the English language had the sound of [æ] as in cat ([kæt]) in all of these words. At some time, probably during the late eighteenth century, a sound change occurred in southern England that changed the sound of ([æ] to [ɑː] in words in which the former sound appeared before [f, s, θ, ns, nt, ntʃ, nd, mpl]. RP [pɑːθ] for path and [sɑːmpl] for sample are the result of this sound shift. It does not occur before other consonants; thus all varieties of British English, like American English, preserves the contrasting "flat a" in words like cat. The broad A was considered sub-standard or "Cockney" as recently as 1900 but is now a characteristic of the prestige Received Pronunciation and other accents now considered standard. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... A Cockney, in the loosest sense of the word, is a working-class inhabitant of the East End of London. ... Received Pronunciation (RP) is a form of pronunciation of the English language, usually defined as the educated spoken English of southeastern England. This is a prescriptivist point-of-view — it is quite possible for an intelligent, educated individual to use a non-standard dialect. ...

In some West Country accents of English English where the vowel in trap is realized as /a/ rather than /æ/, the vowel in the bath words was lengthened to /aː/ instead of merging with the /ɑː/ of father. In those accents, trap, bath and father all have distinct vowels /a/, /aː/ and /ɑː/. (Wells 1982: 346–47) The West Country is a name for the West of England. ... Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ...

Variations

The change did not happen in all eligible words. It is hard to find a clear reason why some changed and others did not. Roughly, the more common a word the more likely that the change from flat [æ] to broad [ɑː] took place. It also looks as if monosyllables were more likely to change than polysyllables. Here are some examples to illustrate the variety:

For speakers from the south of England, the As in all the above words are pretty consistently distinguished. The use of a broad A is one of the things that distinguish speakers in the south of England from more northerly speakers. However, broad As in the words half, calf, rather, aunt, can't and vase are more widespread in England.

There are some words in which both pronunciations are heard among southern speakers:

Use of broad A in mass is distinctly conservative and probably rare now. The other fluctuations are both common, but with further complications. While graph, telegraph, photograph can have either, graphic, graphology always have flat A. The broad A is more likely when the s is voiceless (thus transfer [trɑːnsfɜː], transport [trɑːnspɔːt]) than when it is voiced (thus translate [trænzleɪt], trans-Atlantic [trænzætlæntɪk]).

Southern Hemisphere accents

Evidence for the date of the shift comes from the Southern Hemisphere accents, those of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

In Australian English, there is generally agreement with southern British in words like path, laugh, class. But before N+consonant, as in dance, plant, most Australians use a flat A (aunt and can't are exceptions and are invariably pronounced with [ɐː]). Phonetically the broad A is [ɐː]. In Australia there is variation in the word castle, both pronunciations are commonly heard. For more information, see the table at Australian English – Regional phonology for the 'Broad A vs Flat A' difference. Australian English is the form of the English language used in Australia. ... Australian English is the form of the English language used in Australia. ...

South African and New Zealand accents have a similar distribution of sounds to Australian. New Zealand accents are more likely to use the broad version.

North America

The only areas of North America affected at all by the broad A are parts of New England (see Boston accent) and the Canadian Maritimes. In these areas, in the context where British speech has [aː] or [ɑː], both [æ] and [ɑː] tend to fall together into [aː] or [äː] (centralized /a/). This may preserve the conditions that led to the change in British English, but in fewer words such as can't; aunt; ask; bath; etc. Of these, the one in widest use is "aunt"; those who speak this way find calling a close relative "ant" jarring, and say that it's spelled differently from that word. A related, but distinct, phenomenon is the phonemic æ-tensing in the accents of New York and Philadelphia. World map showing location of North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is the third largest continent in area and in population after Eurasia and Africa. ... Modern New England, the six northeastern-most states of the United States, indicated by red The New England region of the United States is located in the northeastern corner of the country. ... The Boston accent is characteristic not only of the city of Boston itself, but more generally of all of eastern Massachusetts. ... The Maritimes or Maritime provinces are a region of Canada on the Atlantic coast, consisting of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. ... In the sociolinguistics of English, æ-tensing is a process that occurs in some accents of American English by which the vowel is raised and lengthened or diphthongized in various environments. ... The variety of the English language spoken in the New York City and North Jersey region is often considered to be one of the most recognizable accents within American English. ... Philadelphia is a village located in Jefferson County, New York. ...

References

Categories: English pronunciation | Phonology | Vowel John Christopher Wells (born March 11, 1939) is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher at University College London. ... 1982 is a number and represents a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar Events January January 6 - William Bonin is convicted of being the freeway killer. January 8 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions January 11 - Mark Thatcher, son of the British Prime... The city of Cambridge is an old English university town and the regional centre of the county of Cambridgeshire. ... The headquarters of the Cambridge University Press, in Trumpington Street, Cambridge. ...