Date:  Mon, 3 Nov 1997 17:54:52 -0500
From:  Ron Butters <RonButters[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Ast for Ask

>Ron seemed to say that we move
>the apex of the tongue way back
>to make the [k]

Ron didn't say this (at least not this Ron).

I _did_ say that ASK --> AST can be explained as phonemic assimilation at the
word level.

Why doesn't it also happen with BASK (if it doesn't)? Well, historically,
phonological processes such as assimilation, dissimilation, and methesis are
by no means always regular.

*****cf.:
someone writes:

>>>>>Isn't ast for ask fairly easy to understand just in articulatory terms?
When you pronounce the s, you then have to move your tongue way back in your
mouth to do the velar k. But if (without really thinking about it) you kind
of naturally slip into making things a bit easier on yourself, tonguewise,
then from an "s" tongue-position in the mouth, the nearest voiceless stop for
an English speaker is t, not k.<<<<<

[Ron answers]: Yes. This is a the phonologial process known as ASSIMILATION.
It is why we
say MARBLE instead of MARMOL (B > M under the influence of the surrounding
nonasal sounds--as well as under the influence of the initial M).