Stock vs Stalk

Rom   Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:31 pm GMT
Are they pronounced the same or different?
Frances   Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:32 pm GMT
Different for me.
american nic   Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:34 pm GMT
Same for me. /sta:k/
Kirk   Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:38 pm GMT
I say them the same, as I have the "cot-caught" merger. They're both [stAk] for me.
Ryan   Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:38 pm GMT
This is another cot-caught question. They are pronounced either the same or differently in the US depending upon what region one lives in.
Brennus   Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:42 pm GMT
In Anglo-Saxon they would have been pronounced differently. Today they are the same.
Al   Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:07 pm GMT
Different for me:

stock - /stAk/
stalk - /stOk/
Frances   Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:09 pm GMT
"In Anglo-Saxon they would have been pronounced differently. Today they are the same."

For some Americans maybe, not for me.
SpaceFlight   Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:13 pm GMT
They're both /stAk/ for me.
Kirk   Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:31 pm GMT
<<In Anglo-Saxon they would have been pronounced differently. Today they are the same.>>

Only for "c-c" mergers, Brennus. Read below:

According, to etymonline.com, here's "stalk":

<<"pursue stealthily," O.E. -stealcian, as in bestealcian "to steal along," from P.Gmc. *stalkojanan, probably from a frequentative of the root of steal (cf. hark from hear, talk from tell). Or it may be from a sense of stalk (v.1), (stealcung)>>

Whether from "bestealcian" or "stealcung," the vowel represented by orthographical "ea" was probably pronounced [{a] in Old English. "Stalk" in its current written form was probably /stalk/ and then eventually /stauk/ by Middle English (/al/ sometimes turned into /au/ before consonants in that time), and then the Great Vowel Shift of the late 1400s and 1500s, which turned /au/ into /O:/, left it as /stO:k/ in early Modern English. Since then various accents later would modify it a bit from its early Modern form. Australian English has /sto:k/, and many North American accents which have merged "cot-caught" have /stAk/ there, while others have /stOk/. RP tends to still have /stO:k/, altho its vowel too has changed a bit (but is still transcribed as /O:/).

"Stock" would have been pronounced /stQk/ or /stOk/ in Old English, a vowel which has pretty much stayed consistent to Modern English (the Great Vowel Shift left this one untouched), tho changing a bit in different dialects. Modern AusE has /stOk/ or /stVk/ for it, RP has /stQk/, and most North Americans have /stAk/ there (tho not all!).

I have /stAk/ for both of the words, and my vowel may be anything in between [A] and [O] there, tho usually closer to [A].
Tiffany   Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:44 pm GMT
Same for me. I also have the cot-caught merger.
vit   Fri Oct 07, 2005 1:25 am GMT
different for me, as I do not have the cot-caught merger.
Lazar   Fri Oct 07, 2005 2:49 am GMT
They're both [stQk] for me.
Geoff_One   Fri Oct 07, 2005 2:53 am GMT
different
Ned   Fri Oct 07, 2005 2:57 am GMT
"Modern AusE has /stOk/ or /stVk/ for it, RP has /stQk/, and most North Americans have /stAk/ there (tho not all!)."

stock - /stOk/ but can be realised as [stQk] or [stOk].
stuck - /stVk/
stalk - /sto:k/