Is there a rule for how to pronounce words such as "dance ...

Pronunciation is one aspect of dialect. It's true that Americans and Southern Englishmen pronounce dance differently, although both can be ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Istherearuleforhowtopronouncewordssuchas"dance","prance","castle"? AskQuestion Asked 8years,1monthago Active 1yearago Viewed 10ktimes 1 Isthereagrammaticalruleforthepronunciationofwordssuchasdance,castleandprance?IbelievetheBritishEnglishpronunciationis"ah",whileinAmericanEnglishitisashort"a"sound. pronunciationpronunciation-vs-spellingvowelstransatlantic-differencesae-raising Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedJan2'21at0:30 tchrist♦ 126k4848goldbadges348348silverbadges540540bronzebadges askedNov22'13at5:28 lizziereedlizziereed 2111silverbadge22bronzebadges Addacomment  |  2Answers 2 Active Oldest Votes 2 Sorrytobepedantic,butit'snotgrammar.Inlinguistics,grammaristhesetofstructuralrulesthatgovernsthecompositionofclauses,phrases,andwordsinanygivennaturallanguage[Wikipedia].Thewaywordsarepronouncedisphonetics:thebranchoflinguisticsthatcomprisesthestudyofthesoundsofhumanspeech.[Wikipedia]. Pronunciationisoneaspectofdialect.It'struethatAmericansandSouthernEnglishmenpronouncedancedifferently,althoughbothcanberepresented/dɑːns/becausethe/ɑː/symbolbetweenslashesisabroadtranscriptionaldevice.AmoreaccuratetranscriptionoftheAmericandancemightbe[däns]or[dɐns].NorthernEnglishmakestheaindancemuchshorterthanSouthernEnglishandit'smorelike/dæns/.IntheEnglishWestCountryit'sdifferentagain:[dɐᵊns]. Asforrules,well,no:it'scustomandpractice.TheAmericanpronunciationofmassisdifferenttotheEnglish,butNorthernandSouthernEnglisharegenerallyalmostidenticaltoeachother,withashortvowel(someSouthernerspronounceit/mɑːs/butitsoundsaffectedthesedays).Becausepronunciationofvowelsinparticularisnotmatchedtospelling—thinkofbough,cough,dough,toughasobviousexamples—it'sdifficulttocomeupwithanyrulesforhowtodifferentiatebetween[ä][ɑː][ɐ][æ]and[ɐᵊ]indance.Andtherearesomewordswhererulessimplydon'tapply:onetext-to-speechprogramIusedinsistedonpronouncingwithoutas/woʊ'ʒiːtɑ/!Istilldon'tknowifthereisanydialectofEnglishwhichactuallydoesthat. Theonlywayoflearningpronunciationtrulyaccuratelyisimmersionandpractice. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredNov22'13at7:36 AndrewLeach♦AndrewLeach 93k1111goldbadges180180silverbadges290290bronzebadges 4 1 Veryimportantthatnon-UKdwellersunderstandhowdifferentpronunciationcanbenorthandsouthoftheMidlands.Itisoftenthatweourselvesforget.OnlylastweekwewereinManchesterandmywife,askinginTescowhereshecouldfinda'bathmat',gotflummoxedlooksfromtheassistant. – WS2 Nov22'13at9:05 4 HowcantheAmericanworddanceberepresentedas/dɑːns/?TheIPAsymbol/ɑ/canbeusedforfather,spa,pot,and,insomedialects,caught.Butwedon'tpronouncedancewithavowelanywhereclosetothat. – PeterShor Nov22'13at15:49 1 @PeterShorIdon’tknowthatI’veheardaNorthAmericansaydanceanyotherwaythat/dæns/.Isupposetheremaybesomenasalizationinsomespeakers,orsomebag–begtypecollisionsinothers,butIdon’tthinkitreallychangesthatmuchhere.Outsideofcertainchoralperformances,I’mprettysureitisneverthe/ɑ/asinnot:thatsoundspretentiousasallgetout. – tchrist ♦ Dec28'13at15:13 IamfromWiltshire,acountythatisundoubtedlypartoftheWestCountryandthedialecticalpeculiaritiesofthatregionareoftenoverlooked.ThisisaparticularsorepointastheplacenameBathisahomonymwithbathandoftenusedasagaugeofwhetherornotsomeoneis'southern'.PeopleactuallyfromBathpronouncebathwithneitherofthecommonlyacceptedvariants.Andthataccentisdifferentagaintomine. – TomW Dec29'13at0:58 Addacomment  |  0 Alinguisticabstractionforcomparisonofvowelpronunciationindifferentdialectsiscalledlexicalsets,forUKandUSEnglishthereareWellslexicalsets,ofwhichyouneedBATHset.Somerulesabouttrap-bathsplitshowwhichwordsmayfallintoBATHset,thoughitisunpredictable.InthetablethereisamixofBATHandPALMwords,astheyareindistinguishableinUKaccentalone,soseealsoamorecorrectexamplelistbasedonWells'AccentsofEnglishorthebookitself. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJan12'16at20:02 answeredJan12'16at19:48 se0808se0808 43744silverbadges1313bronzebadges Addacomment  |  YourAnswer ThanksforcontributingananswertoEnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchange!Pleasebesuretoanswerthequestion.Providedetailsandshareyourresearch!Butavoid…Askingforhelp,clarification,orrespondingtootheranswers.Makingstatementsbasedonopinion;backthemupwithreferencesorpersonalexperience.Tolearnmore,seeourtipsonwritinggreatanswers. Draftsaved Draftdiscarded Signuporlogin SignupusingGoogle SignupusingFacebook SignupusingEmailandPassword Submit Postasaguest Name Email Required,butnevershown PostYourAnswer Discard Byclicking“PostYourAnswer”,youagreetoourtermsofservice,privacypolicyandcookiepolicy Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedpronunciationpronunciation-vs-spellingvowelstransatlantic-differencesae-raisingoraskyourownquestion. FeaturedonMeta We’vemadechangestoourTermsofService&PrivacyPolicy-January2022 Newpostsummarydesignsongreatesthitsnow,everywhereelseeventually Linked 1 Istherearuleforwhentopronounce"ah"insteadof"ae"inRPversusGA? 1 ArethereotherwordsinAmericanEnglishthatusethesamevowelsoundasthe"as"in"Pasta"? Related 17 IstherearuleinBritishEnglishabouthowtopronounce"either"? 3 differencebetweenAmericanandBritish/ӕ/sound 1 pronunciationruleforgrapheme"a"inwordslike"nefarious,""variation"and"temporary" 12 Howdo"you"pronounceeczema? 3 Istherearuleforthepositionoftheaccent(stressedsound)inwordsendingwith-ative? 3 Howtopronounce'almond'inAmericanEnglish 9 PronunciationRulefor"nt"intheMiddleofWords 1 Donativespeakerspronounceallwordswithæalwaysinasimilarway? 0 What’stheruleforthesoundoftheletterAinthemiddleofthree-letterwords? HotNetworkQuestions Doyouincludecodingassignmentsinanintrotocomplexityandcomputationcourse? HowtotranslateStackExchange’s“upvote”? Cananyonetellmewhatclimate-cuddlingmean? 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