Pronunciation of "ask" in late 1800's Engand, Scotland, and Wales
Check out this map I made.
Map link
My favourite part is that "ask" was only reported in 7 out of the 87 wordlists I had (London had no wordlist with "ask" (or equivalents) in it, so I added it to the map myself). I also like the regional patterns of "ast" being common on the southeast coast, and "ass" being very common around Cumberland.
The pronunciation "ash" (which I attributed to Ayr, though I'm only like 80% sure that's where it was recorded, cuz Ellis was vague about that one) is interesting: at first, you might assume it to be a typo. However, if you look a little closer, it becomes clear that this could very well be authentic and interesting.
The general rule with Old English-derived words in Standard/Modern English (such as ask) is that Old English ⟨sc⟩ /sk/ becomes Modern English ⟨sh⟩ /ʃ/. This is true in words such as ship (from OE scip), but NOT ask (from OE ascian). If ascian had gone through the usual sound changes, we would expect to have "ash", not "ask". So this Scottish pronunciation as "ash" actually isn't so unlikely, all things considered. In fact, its existence provides a neat little insight into the nuances of English's history blah blah blah it's 1AM and I need a concluding sentence.
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