bash, cash, dash, flash, gash, hash, lash, mash, nash, rash, sash, slash, stash, trash.
2007-01-23 14:39:59 · 7 answers · asked by Laughing Libra 6 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
It appears to be the effect of the "w" sound before the a. Note that when you pronounce the W the sound is at the front of your mouth, with the lips rounded. To make the "a" sound of "ash" changes the mouth position significantly. But to pronounce it "ah" (as in "wash") is not such a big change. (This change does not always occur, but certainly does in many cases.)
There are several examples of this sort of thing In each of the following, the (a) sets have a W-sound just before the short a and it ends up sounding more like "ah" or "uh"; in the (b) sets, when another sound precedes the a, the a is spoken as in "cat". (Note that the W-sound in these words is represented not just by the letter w standing alone, but also by "sw" "qu" and "squ".)
(a) squabble
(b) babble, dabble, rabble
(a) wad, quad,squad, waddle, swaddle
(b) bad, cad, dad, fad, saddle, padde...
(a) waft, quaff , waffle
(b) aft, daft, raft(er), baffle, raffle
(a) swamp
(b) camp, damp, lamp...
(a) wan, swan, wand, wander, squander, want, quantity
(b) ban, can, fan, land, sand, pander, pant, rant...
(a) swap
(b) cap, lap, tap...
(a) was, wast
(b) gas, lass, sass, cast, past...
(a) wash, quash, squash, swashbuckling
(b) ash, bash, cash, dash..
(a) swat, squat
(b) bat, cat, fat...
(a) watch, swatch
(b) batch, catch, latch, match ratchet
also with "gu" when it makes the sound /gw/
(a) guacamole, guano, guanine, guava
Something similar happens with the following, though the R that follows changes the vowel sound a bit too:
(a) war, quarry, warble, ward, warm, warp, wart
(b) bar, car, far, marble, bard, card, hard, arm, charm, carp, tarp, art, part...
2007-01-24 15:44:14 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The English language is one of the latest languages to adopt standard spellings. Because of the delay in standardized spelling, many words with similar spellings have vastly different pronunciations. Think of words that end with -ough(t). Dough is not pronounced the same as tough; a long o-sound versus an -uff sound. And there's the word plough, pronounced plow. You add a 't' to the end to though, and the pronunciation changes significantly.
2007-01-23 22:45:57 · answer #2 · answered by Joy M 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The vowel sounds are different. Wash and quash have a short vowel sound while ash has a long one (that's the best way I can explain it without going into boring pedagogues of the English language.)
2007-01-23 22:44:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are a lot of inconsistencies in the spelling and pronunciation of the English language. Thats the simple answer.
2007-01-23 22:43:23 · answer #4 · answered by suzanne 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
(-: Welcome to the wonderful world of English. It doesn't because it doesn't. You forgot about squash. And Swash(buckling). Maybe every "ash" that comes after a "w" sound is pronounced that way? (Squash sounds more like skwash.)
In a perfect world, it would be wush and quush. But man, that looks funny!
2007-01-24 00:41:40 · answer #5 · answered by Madame M 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They would rhyme if you would just pronounce them differently.
2007-01-23 23:12:06 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
well for starters, rhyming is when words sound alike, not when they are spelled alike.
2007-01-23 22:43:08 · answer #7 · answered by Barbara C 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋