The pronunciation of 'no' in some accents

[Mehrgan]

Hi,
Naturally there are various ways of pronouncing 'no' in different accents. Kris Marshal, in 'My Family', keeps pronouncing it as /næ/. This interests me because this is how we say 'no' in persian! What accent has he got? Or maybe it's an informal way of saying 'no'?



thanks a lot!

[konungursvia]

In AmE, we have "nah" which is a bit like "yeah" (these are synonyms of 'no' and 'yes' but aren't the same words). Could he be saying "nah?"

[Mehrgan]

In AmE, we have "nah" which is a bit like "yeah" (these are synonyms of 'no' and 'yes' but aren't the same words). Could he be saying "nah?"

Yes, he could! Indeed, I suppose the last letter is not clearly voiced, or maybe it shouldn't. I thought it was more commonly used in some accent or so. Many thanks!

[konungursvia]

It should probably be noted that to North Americans, nah and no are not exact synonyms, as 'nah' tends to show a sense of distaste, fed-up, enough, lack of enthusiasm, or other emotion related to apathy, whereas 'no' is usually more neutral, meaning it answers in the negative without necessarily showing such a reason.

That's why teens often use 'nah' (you're right, the h is silent), as they frequently express a lack of interest.