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What was the pronunciation of the a in “trap” in early to mid Modern English in the UK?

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I have often read that in Old and Middle English the "a" sound in words like "trap" was pronouned /a/. When it comes to modern English, Wikipedia suggests that this was raised to /æ/ in early Modern English and later lowered to /a/ again. See here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8a%E2%9F%A9#Changes_in_realization_of_/a/

So the idea here is that /a/ changed to /æ/ across the whole of Britain, and then changed back to /a/, but was retained for a little longer in RP as /æ/.

To me that sounds a little odd, considering that literally the only accents with /æ/ that I can think of (and this is agreed by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel) are from the Southeast of England. For example, RP, Essex, Cockney, Norfolk. In fact, in Scottish English, it can be closer to /ɐ/.

Outside of the UK, Australian English, New Zealand English and American English have /æ/, and these all had heavy migration from Southeast England (especially the former two). It's not found in the Carribean (see the first Wikipedia link) and as far as I know it's not found in traditional Indian English or African accents, although these were all colonised at fairly similar times.

So, using a simple Occam's Razor argument, wouldn't it make more sense if /æ/ was only ever a form found in Southeast England, while the rest of Britain and Ireland retained /a/, which is now simply spreading back to London and the Southeast?

phonetics vowels early-modern-english

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

sumelic

50.5k8121227

asked 8 hours ago

Tim FosterTim Foster

630113

add a comment | 

0

1

I have often read that in Old and Middle English the "a" sound in words like "trap" was pronouned /a/. When it comes to modern English, Wikipedia suggests that this was raised to /æ/ in early Modern English and later lowered to /a/ again. See here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8a%E2%9F%A9#Changes_in_realization_of_/a/

So the idea here is that /a/ changed to /æ/ across the whole of Britain, and then changed back to /a/, but was retained for a little longer in RP as /æ/.

To me that sounds a little odd, considering that literally the only accents with /æ/ that I can think of (and this is agreed by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel) are from the Southeast of England. For example, RP, Essex, Cockney, Norfolk. In fact, in Scottish English, it can be closer to /ɐ/.

Outside of the UK, Australian English, New Zealand English and American English have /æ/, and these all had heavy migration from Southeast England (especially the former two). It's not found in the Carribean (see the first Wikipedia link) and as far as I know it's not found in traditional Indian English or African accents, although these were all colonised at fairly similar times.

So, using a simple Occam's Razor argument, wouldn't it make more sense if /æ/ was only ever a form found in Southeast England, while the rest of Britain and Ireland retained /a/, which is now simply spreading back to London and the Southeast?

phonetics vowels early-modern-english

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

sumelic

50.5k8121227

asked 8 hours ago

Tim FosterTim Foster

630113

add a comment | 

I have often read that in Old and Middle English the "a" sound in words like "trap" was pronouned /a/. When it comes to modern English, Wikipedia suggests that this was raised to /æ/ in early Modern English and later lowered to /a/ again. See here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_%E2%9F%A8a%E2%9F%A9#Changes_in_realization_of_/a/

So the idea here is that /a/ changed to /æ/ across the whole of Britain, and then changed back to /a/, but was retained for a little longer in RP as /æ/.

To me that sounds a little odd, considering that literally the only accents with /æ/ that I can think of (and this is agreed by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel) are from the Southeast of England. For example, RP, Essex, Cockney, Norfolk. In fact, in Scottish English, it can be closer to /ɐ/.

Outside of the UK, Australian English, New Zealand English and American English have /æ/, and these all had heavy migration from Southeast England (especially the former two). It's not found in the Carribean (see the first Wikipedia link) and as far as I know it's not found in traditional Indian English or African accents, although these were all colonised at fairly similar times.

So, using a simple Occam's Razor argument, wouldn't it make more sense if /æ/ was only ever a form found in Southeast England, while the rest of Britain and Ireland retained /a/, which is now simply spreading back to London and the Southeast?

phonetics vowels early-modern-english

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

sumelic

50.5k8121227

asked 8 hours ago

Tim FosterTim Foster

630113

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

sumelic

50.5k8121227

asked 8 hours ago

Tim FosterTim Foster

630113

share|improve this question

edited 8 hours ago

sumelic

50.5k8121227

asked 8 hours ago

Tim FosterTim Foster

630113

edited 8 hours ago

sumelic

50.5k8121227

edited 8 hours ago

sumelic

50.5k8121227

asked 8 hours ago

Tim FosterTim Foster

630113

asked 8 hours ago

Tim FosterTim Foster

630113