Why is it that alot of African/nigerian people say pronounce 'ask' as 'aks'? I'm always so curious about this, i notice it so much!
2006-10-15 00:06:40 · 10 answers · asked by smugsy 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
This alternation of "ask" and "aks" is NOT African-American, it is BRITISH !!! The alternation is 1500 years old at least and dates all the way back to Old English ascian and axian. It is the same alternation that took original tascian and gave us two words--"task" and "tax".
And to eliminate a common urban legend, the original form is "ascian" NOT "axian". Compare Old Frisian askia, Old Saxon escon, Old High German eiscon, all coming from Proto-West Germanic *aiskojan. The metathesis of sk to ks originated in Old English.
2006-10-15 04:12:29 · answer #1 · answered by Taivo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When teaching English as a second language we teach some strange things - did you know that that we teach people to pronounce Fish and Chips as "fission chips". So it probably comes down to the way people are taught. Also in some parts of the world children grow up not being able to pronounce certain sounds - because they are not in the language that they use. For example the Hong Kong Chinese - first generation - often have problems with "r"s and I have know Iraqi people who have problems with pronouncing "V"s.
Equally so people pronounce this word differently throughout the UK.
2006-10-15 07:21:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes very strange, I have just realised that now you mentioned it!!
My answer is I don't know! But as a matter of interest I used to work with a guy from Louisiana, he used to say "Axe" I never 'Axed' him why, just an accent thing I suppose!!
Perhaps folk from Louisiana have something in common with African/ Nigerians??
(Just joking in case you were thinking of setting the blood hounds on me)!!
2006-10-15 12:27:14 · answer #3 · answered by budding author 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
'Axe' for 'ask' is actually the original form in the English language - you can find it in Chaucer.
Most of the words in English with 'sk' come to us from Norse, the language of the Vikings (related to modern Scandinavian languages). At the beginning of a sentence, the s usually always stays before the k, but at the end of the word it can occur either way.
I think you'll find that 'ask' and 'axe' have always co-existed. But in the case of Nigerian, it may well be that a terminal '-sk' is much less common than a terminal '-ks', so a second-language speaker of English might find 'axe' easier to say than 'ask'.
This would be similar to how in English 'ks-' at the beginning of a word is very rare, so in words like 'xylophone' or 'xenophobia', we've dropped the 'k' sound originally present in the Greek.
2006-10-15 07:25:25 · answer #4 · answered by XYZ 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I've been wondering that for years. It's the same in the British West Indies, where it's pronounced more like "axe".
2006-10-15 07:54:44 · answer #5 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I expect that was the way they were taught to say it like the Americans dont pronounce tomato properly they say tamato
2006-10-15 07:09:12 · answer #6 · answered by carla s 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I noticed that as well, especially just recently on eastenders - I wondered why too - so your not on your own!!
2006-10-15 07:11:59 · answer #7 · answered by darkhorse 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am African and I have never heard that.
2006-10-15 07:08:38 · answer #8 · answered by riettebotha2 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Don't know why they do it either, but I have seen it loads on tv.
2006-10-15 07:14:18 · answer #9 · answered by Ally 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
ITS AX,NOT AKS SIS ; )
2006-10-15 07:15:24 · answer #10 · answered by GANJI 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋