Why do some people pronounce the word ....?

Question

'ASK' as 'ARKS'?
I first noticed this a long time ago, but it seems to be even more prevalent now. Even some TV presenters/reporters have said it.
Why have they never been corrected by their teachers/parents/mployers?

It really irritates me!

Answer 1

Ok.. this is a bit tricky to try to explain, but I'll give it a go..
I want you to VERY SLOWLY say the word, "Ask" and feel the position of your tongue inside your mouth. The "aaah" vowel sound begins at the back of your mouth without any touching together of your tongue or lips. Now make the "ssssss" (like a snake hissing sound) The location where the sound is made in your mouth jumps all the way to the FRONT of your mouth, with your tongue placed just inside your teeth. Finally, make the "k" sound. This time, the place where the sound is made moves about halfway back toward the back of your mouth, and is made with the center of your tongue just barely touching the center of the top of your mouth.
So, when you say 'ask' the RIGHT way, the location of generated sound moves 1) from open mouth at the back of the mouth, to 2) just inside your upper front teeth, to 3) the center of the mouth,.
Hmmm---what about this abnormal way to say 'ask' that you are hearing? I.e., 'ARKS' Try it and see how LAZY it is!
1) The 'a' sound in the back of the mouth
2) The 'r' sound is a glide and is made with the tongue and roof of the mouth near the back of your mouth.
3) Next comes the 'k' sound; again, just a little bit more forward and with the mouth a bit more closed than in the 'k' sound.
4) Finally, the 's' sound at the front of the mouth.
The answer to your question is that everything we do or try will end up taking the easiest route unless we stay intentional about the 'right' way. It is just plain easier and more 'efficient' to say "A-R-K-S", than "A-S-K." It is more fluid sounding, too.

I am a linguistics major. The question you pose is answered in the sub-areas of linguistics called "phonology," (the study of the sounds of language.)

Answer 2

The answer is found in knowing a bit about the early history of American dialects.

The pronunciation 'arks' is just 'aks' with a slightly different quality to the a-vowel. Since this vowel change is a fairly common thing in certain English dialects, I suggest we set that aside and look at the basic difference - "aks" vs. "ask".

You are correct that this is not "standard" English in either Britain or America. But is is NOT an ignorant mistake NOR is it about "laziness" as some have asserted.

Rather, it is simply a dialectal variation within English. In fact, BOTH "aks" and "ask" are found in Old English and in the Middle English writing of Chaucer.

As far as the appearance of "aks" in AMERICAN English, the story is as follows --

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

As a result, the pronunciations "aks" and "arks" are found in parts of the American South and groups that came from those areas. (The three other major British migrations of the colonial period -- also discussed in the link above -- pronounced it "ask"... and that became the national standard.)

Some have been particularly critical of certain groups of black Americans who say "aks". Though I would always advise people to learn the "standard' form of the language (in this case "Standard American English"), we should observe that it was NOT their own invention, NOT some ignorant mistake they made.

Rather, they learned it from the British immigrant group mentioned above, which happens to be the very group that held most of the black slaves in the American South. Thus THEIR dialect --including "aks"-- is the source of that pronunciation among certain parts of the black population today.
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One final thought -- beware of arguing about the "correct" pronunciation SIMPLY from spelling. This is always dangerous in English! But with dialectal variations it is particularly tricky. It is not uncommon for the spelling of ONE dialect of English to become the standard one for some word, while the pronunciation of a DIFFERENT dialect or group becomes the standard, or for an OLDER pronunciation to be reflected in the spelling, i.e., spelling may not be updated to reflect changes. (That's part of how we end up with our unusual pronunciations of "colonel", "Wednesday" and "comfortable")

Answer 3

I think you meant ARSK, not ARKS right? I don't know the answer. Another annoying pronunciation of the word ask is AX. I don't think it's a regional thing. I've heard people from all over the US mis-pronounce it. It's right up there with pronouncing nuclear as NUKE-YOU-LER.

Answer 4

Good question. It's just how some people are raised. They have heard the word pronounced that way by everyone around them so they pronounce it that way. I think the main reason the people who should be correcting the mispronunciation do not is that they are afraid that they will offend the person.

Answer 5

For TV presenters to be doing this it is ridiculous, in saying that I have never noticed myself.:)

Answer 6

Other people pronounce the word "ask" as "axe." When people mispronounce such an easy word, to me, it indicates that they don't care if they get ahead in life. Surely, people who speak this way will never be really successful and unhappily, they will pass their ignorance and lack of self-esteem on to their children.

Answer 7

My bosses say ast and dest (desk) it really annoys me,i assume one of them has always said it and the other just picked it up.they have been married for 30 years though.

Answer 8

I had a friend who couldn't say ASK when I tried correcting her she just couldn't say it correctly. THey just cant no matter how hard they try.

Answer 9

It's their accent. You should never correct or demorralise people by the way they speak.

Answer 10

my friend from New Jersey pronounced "ask" "aks". Very weird.