Why do African Americans say 'Aks' instead of 'Ask'?

Question

Wow, who would of thought it possible to infuriate so many people with a simple linguistic question! It looks like there are a some seriously sensitive people out there, imagine if I had actually made a racist comment...It looks like being politicaly correct has reached new hights! I guess any question about a minority group is automaticaly viewed as racist!

Answer 1

This is NOT an African American thing. It is called metathesis and has been in English for the ks/sk switch long before there were Africans in America or even Americans. In Old English (1000 years ago), the verb was either axian ("aks") or ascian ("ask"). There was another verb that this worked on as well, taxian ("taks") or tascian ("task"). In Middle English times, this verb actually became two verbs in English, "task" and "tax". The same hasn't happened for "aks" and "ask" probably because the other verb "axe" has prevented it.

Answer 2

I answered this question a little while ago on Y!A. I'll just repeat my answer here.

Actually "aks" was the original pronunciation that was used in English hundreds of years ago. It's only through natural linguistic changes that happen in all languages that it became "ask" for some dialects of English. The transposition of sounds as happened from aks -> ask is called methathesis. Other words in English that have metathesized are hros -> horse and brid -> bird.

Therefore, there are two possibilities:
1. African-Americans preserved the original pronunciation in their dialect of English, never making the change that other speakers did.
2. It changed to "ask", and then changed back again by the same process.

In neither case should this be considered a degredation of the language, since change is not always for the worse. As I mentioned, this type of change is active in all languages.

Answer 3

Though I believe your question is racially discriminate and many of the answers are appalling, I do sympathize with the question. Many people, caucasions included, speek with an uneducated slur. It's interesting to see so many of the racist answers mispelled and error-filled. If you are interested in the way people communicate, maybe you should observe a more unbiased and varied group of people. White, black, hispanic, Native American, and oriental people all have accents influenced by society. Some are more obvious than others. Try to be more sympathetic and compassionate towards those with speech impediments and disadvantages. Also, do not stereotype any non-specific group of people. This is an immature perspective on a complex topic.

Answer 4

I am black Americans and I say ask. Now if you tried to understand some of the struggle that some blacks have gone through then you would understand. When Africans came here, they didn't speak English. Most were not taught correct English at all. Well, even though, we can get get an education now, some black Americans and African Americans are still progressing and it will take time. The big picture of racism has just ended about 40 years ago, so it will take time. I speak correctly, because my parents wanted better for me and wanted me to have a successful future, so I was a part of certain groups that would helped me accomplish that.

Answer 5

not all of 'em do. ya know what? it seems like you are very young or you just don't have much experience with the outside world. I know from working with many diverse cultural groups, that some consenant combinations are impossible to say, depending on where one is from. For example, one group(and I'm not EVEN gonna say which country)found it impossible to say "Tuesday" because the "z" sound is right next to the "d" sound= they would say "Tuesaday". The same way with the word "next"(would say nek) or any other word with consenants right next to each other, like "float" for example would be "faloat". So, you see, sometimes it is just cultural, and depending on which country in Africa ones ancestors are from and what language they spoke, "ask" might just have been a hard word to say, and then when the original people that first learned to speak English have children, the children learn the word they way their parents said it. It's not from being ignorant, that's just the way it is with language sometimes. And really, words themselves are just sounds, symbols. Think about it-- has anyone here ever said or written a word over and over and then you realize it doesn't even seem to mean anything anymore?

Answer 6

I think you should be a bit more open minded. Not all African Americans speak that way. A lot of us are very intelligent. It's just that some people put us in a category before we began to speak. Therefore causing them to miss out on what we have to say. Speaking in a proper manner is not a black or white thing. It has a lot to do with where and how a person was raised. Please don't stereotype against the African American race.

Answer 7

It originates from mistakes in grammar that many african americans were never corrected on as children. And as these children become adults they unaware of the fact that they are allowing their kids to do the same thing.

Generally, as a child grows up and learns the language of his parents, naturally he will mispronounce words in an attempt to mimic what he hears even though he may be oblivious to the minor details of what he hears.

And then I also believe that it is a result of lazyness. Its much harder and takes more practice to say, ASK rather than saying AX. Which is similar to how many people say "I dunno" or "Iowno" when they really mean "I don't know"

Answer 8

Well you are generalizing the population by saying "African Americans" . I know very unarticulated and uncouth people that talk in such a way and I have to say, they are not all African Americans by ANY means. Also, some people have accents or different words they use, it could be a regional issue as well. But categorizing just African Americans is incorrect and unfair.

Answer 9

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
"I don't appreciate the stereotyping. I don't have time to further chasten you as I must attend a birfday party. Know what I'm saying? Know what I'm saying?"
the best part is he switches in midsentence from chasten to birfday. for all the white people scared of offending blacks (including mr. Ph.D. down there) YES THEY DO SAY AX. and yes, obviously not ALL blacks say ax and not ALL white people say ask, but thats an extremely simplistic response and proves nothing. all you p.c. whiteys should hang out in the 'hood at 3 am by yourself with a big wad of cash and see how much the black people like you then.

Answer 10

because they want to?

why does it affect you? why do you care?

and most importantly, why don't you recognize that there are many different linguistic groups in the u.s., each having their own accents, slang, etc.?

and since you understand that what many african-americans pronounce as 'aks' is the word you pronounce as 'ask', it doesn't hurt understanding, does it?

i'm sure that if you visited london, there'd be quite a few people there who'd snicker upon hearing your pronunciation of the english language. accept difference, and accept that language changes.

[and realize that generalizing about a very large racial group makes you look ridiculous.]