[General] Pronounce "Back" as "Bark" BBC News

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EngFan

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One british lady was interviewed by BBC, she pronounced "back" as "bark", is it a common pronunciation in Britain?
 

BobK

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No. I'd need to hear it, but my guess is that it might be a hypercorrection (maybe she went to school in the North, where she would've been told to say /ba:θ/ rather than [bæθ]* - and she's mistakenly extended the rule).

b

PS [æ] isn't quite right, but it's nearer than any other English phoneme, so I've used this in a phonetic trancription.
 

Tdol

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I've not heard it.
 

emsr2d2

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If you can tell us what the interview was about, we might be able to find it online. Or you could post the link.
 

BobK

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:up: We're all a bit in the dark. Another possibility (apart from the one I mentioned before) is (mistaken) assimilation to a nearby vowel in a borrowed word; I've heard /gra:nd pia:nəʊ/.

But there's not much point guessing... ;-)

b
 
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