How preceding nasal affects a vowel?

Question

I heard some people in America pronouncing the /æ/ followed by a /?/ as /e?/.
For example, blank /blæ?k/ -> /ble??k/; tank/tæ?k/ -> /te??k/; thank/?æ?k/ -> /?e??k/

In the Oxford Online Dictionary, the word tank is marked as /tæ?k/ in both BrE and NAmE. However, the NAmE speaker clearly pronounces it as /te??k/, which differs from the BrE speaker. Check this out.
oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/tank

I wonder if it is a good thing to learn. I want to know what you think of this sound changes. And, is this a popular phenomenon? Do you do this in your speech?

Dave_anon · Accepted Answer

Hi

In UK English, I think we would just put that down to differences in region - or even generation. The vowels shift slightly but I can't think of an example where it would really make a difference to meaning

Dave

CharmYou · Answer

dave_anonHiIn UK English, I think we would just put that down to differences in region - or even generation. The vowels shift slightly but I can't think of an example where it would really make a difference to meaningDave

Thanks, which version of pronunciation do you encourage me, who learn English as a second language, to use?
/tæ?k/ or /te??k/

Dave_anon · Answer

Hi

That's really difficult

I tend to use longer vowels, maybe with the 'h'

Younger people would probably use shorter vowels - so I think I'd go with the shorter sound

Dave

KJinCali79 · Answer

I'm a native AmE speaker, and blank, tank, and thank all have the exact same vowel sound.  Tank wouldn't be pronounced any differently.  Unless you are saying that collectively all of them have a different pronunciation.  The only region in the U.S. that would seem to pronounce it as mentioned in the recording would be the upper Midwest which exhibits a well-documented vowel shift known as the "Northern Cities Vowel Shift of Inland North American English." That would not be representative of General American pronunciation.

CharmYou · Answer

KJinCali79I'm a native AmE speaker, and blank, tank, and thank all have the exact same vowel sound. Tank wouldn't be pronounced any differently. Unless you are saying that collectively all of them have a different pronunciation. The only region in the U.S. that would seem to pronounce it as mentioned in the recording would be the upper Midwest which exhibits a well-documented vowel shift known as the "Northern Cities Vowel Shift of Inland North American English." That would not be representative of General American pronunciation.

Thanks, so you are saying the /æ?/ -> /e??/ shift is accented. But the wiki says "The General American accent is most closely related to a generalized Midwestern accent".

In Rachel's English (A YouTube Channel teaching American pronunciation)

youtu.be/a39KLbiPSl4?t=3m41s
Rachel says "If you look it up in a dictionary, it will say it's the /æ/ as in bat vowel. But as you know, when the /æ/ is followed by the nasal consonant /?/, it's not the /æ/ vowel, it's more like the /e?/ as in say."

And in Oxford Online Dictionary, blank, tank, and thank are all marked with the same phonetic symbols but are pronounced differently by the British speaker and American speaker. The American spaker do shift /æ?/ ->/e??/
oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/blank
oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/tank
oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/thank

Which pronunciation do you think is better? To English learners that want to learn AmE, which pronunciation do you recommend? /æ?/ or /e??/

CharmYou · Answer

And in EnglishPod, Mark from New York pronounces it as /te??k/ , while Eric from Canada pronounces it as /tæ?k/

Which pronunciation do you think is better for non-native speaker to learn?

KJinCali79 · Answer

CharmYouBut the wiki says "The General American accent is most closely related to a generalized Midwestern accent".

Not necessarily anymore. That is the origin of General American, but it is not necessarily the same as saying that the Midwestern English of today is the General American pronunciation.
See specifically in the same wiki article:
"It is commonly believed that General American English evolved as a result of an aggregation of rural and suburban Midwestern dialects, though the English of the Upper Midwest can deviate quite dramatically from what would be considered a "regular" American Accent. The local accent often gets more distinct the farther north one goes within the Midwest, and the more rural the area, with the Northern Midwest featuring its own dialect North Central American English. The fact that a Midwestern dialect became the basis of what is General American English is often attributed to the mass migration of Midwestern farmers to California and the Pacific Northwest from where it spread. Since the 1960s,... much of the... the Inland North ha been affected by the Northern Cities Vowel Shift (abbreviated "NCS")."

KJinCali79 · Answer

This might help you: Non-phonemic æ-tensing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_short_A#Non-phonemic_.C3.A6-tensing

CharmYou · Answer

Thanks <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

How preceding nasal affects a vowel?

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