In Ebonics the word "ask" is pronounced "aks".?

Question

is there a speciffic reason for this occurance?
(question coppied)

Answer 1

Actually, the source of this pronounciation was SLAVEHOLDERS... but we'll get to that in a minute.

It is true that in Standard English "aksed" is now incorrect. But most of the assertions about it being the result of ignorance or laziness are themselves ignorant.

This form is simply a dialectal variation within English -- a VERY OLD variation. In fact, BOTH "aks" and "ask" are found in Old English and in the Middle English writing of Chaucer.

In 17th century England, "aks" was the standard in one of the four major British dialects of the early American settlers.

"From 1642-1675 the Royalists, also called Cavaliers, fled from the south and southwest England with their indentured servants and settled in Virginia when the English Civil War against Charles I began. They brought with them their south England drawl (a drawing out of the vowels); they also brought such phrases as aksed (instead of asked), and ain't (instead of isn't). Royalists later settled the Carolinas as well. Southern English speech laid the foundation for the development of American Tidewater speech, or Coastal Southern English."
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test3materials/AmericanDialects.htm

Since it was this group that held most of the black slaves, their dialect --including "aks"-- is the source of that pronunciation among certain parts of the black population today. Hence its inclusion in "ebonics".

Note that in this case it's not even possible to say that "ask" or "ask" is the "original form". But even if one or the other is, what may have happened is something quite common and widely accepted in language. . . a re-ordering of the sounds of words (often to make them easier to pronounce), that is formally called "metathesis". If you go back to Old English you will discover the words "brid", "thridde" and "hros". But now, through this process, we say "bird", "third" and "horse".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics)
http://sps.k12.mo.us/khs/linguistics/lingtrms.htm#M

Answer 2

Metathesis is a sound change that alters the order of phonemes in a word. The most common instance of metathesis is the reversal of the order of two adjacent phonemes. Many languages have words that show this phenomenon, and some use it as a regular part of their grammar The process of metathesis has altered the shape of many familiar words in the English language, too. Metathesis is one of the most common types of speech errors.

Answer 3

i think its just become popular because aks is easier to say then ask, the same way that people dont announciate all words when they speak (ahm sittin here, instead of im sitting here), aks has just become accociated with ebonics.

interesting trivia, i read that the original pronounciation of the word was aks several hundred years ago

Answer 4

Like any "dialect" the pronunciation of the actual word gets bastardized through either laziness or physical limitations.

Answer 5

aks or axe are not ebonics they are just bad pronounciation of words. My teacher taught me that in preschool unfortunately not everyone had that benefit.

Answer 6

It's called dyslexia (which comes either from ADD or ignorance)

Answer 7

It is merely that was in that 'language.'