I was out with my friend last Friday. We were at Daiso as she wanted to look for a vase (can you see where this post is going? :D). My friend is a fellow EL major (just fyi) and she said to me, "I'm going to go look at the /
vɑz/."
It immediately reminded me of Emmalyn' s
post about the /vɑz/-/
veɪs/ distinction.
So because we're linguists-in-training, I decided that I could talk to her about it without being judged.
Me: Eh actually I pronounce it as /
veɪs/.Friend: Huh? Why?
Me: I don't know. I think it has something to do with the British-American distinction.
Friend: But that's so weird, I've never heard anyone use /
veɪs/ before.
Me: Ya, I think I watch too much
American TV.
Friend: *laughs*
So I went to
Merriam Webster later at night (dictionary.com has failed me yet again!), and found that indeed, /
vɑz/ is the British pronunciation, whereas /veɪs/ is the American one. (For a guide to the AHD transcriptions, check out yahoo dictionary's pronunciation key here).
I've asked around and it seems that most of my peers use
/vɑz/ more, which I attribute to our British-based education system. I'm sure that long ago, when I was still in secondary school/JC, I would have said /vɑz/. But I guess my American TV influences are too strong (ie: I watch too much TV :s) after I left and entered uni.
On a related note, my sister pronounces "dance" as /dans/
, instead of
/dAns/. I thought it was pretty strange! Haha.
And then I realise that I pronounce words like "dance" and "can't" the Brit way, but when I sing along to songs, I pronounce it the American way. Even British singers alter their pronunciations to the American pronunciations in songs. Compare the way Craig David speaks and sings for example!
Which reminds me of this reading I, urm, read for a module last year. It talked about how British singers in the 60s alter their pronunciations in songs so as to sound more American and break into the market. The American music scene was booming back then, while the British one wasn't as established.
So while I admit that I am Americanised in some ways, such as saying /veɪs/, at least I'm not so Americanised as to say /dans/ or /cant/ :D
Y'all have a good day now, y'hear?