Differences between English and American
Could someone explain how the differences between the two have occurred
Ma'am (Spam) short for madam in American English
Marm (Arm) short for madam in British English
As you can see the British write and pronounce the shortened form as Marm, or is it that I spelling it wrong i.e. ma'am is pronounce marm.
Also can't find out why madam is shortened to marm over here. The American varation actually makes more sense as all that is removed is a 'd', but you know those British.
>>Could someone explain how the differences between the two have occurred
Ma'am (Spam) short for madam in American English
Marm (Arm) short for madam in British English
As you can see the British write and pronounce the shortened form as Marm, or is it that I spelling it wrong i.e. ma'am is pronounce marm.
Also can't find out why madam is shortened to marm over here. The American varation actually makes more sense as all that is removed is a 'd', but you know those British.<<
The matter, though, is that if "madam" because of the trap-bath split became [m@"dA~:m] or ["mA:d@~m] and then the [@d] or [d@~] were elided, it would be just [mA~:m] (assuming that the following /m/ would renasalize the /A/ in the second case) in southern English English dialects. Considering that most southern English English dialects are nonrhotic, "marm" would represent /mA:m/, would be [mA~:m] and thus identical with the pronunciation of "madam".
I've usually seen it written as "ma'am" in British English, too.
>>I've usually seen it written as "ma'am" in British English, too.<<
One note, though, is that even though it is spelled that way, which would imply /"m{@m/ or /m@"{m/ (or maybe you could consider that to be /"m{{m/ or /m{"{m/), it is really pronounced monosyllabically in North American English, being [mE{~:m] here and [m{~:m] in General American.
I was watching "The Queen" the other day, and in it, Tony Blair is told to address the Queen pronouncing "Ma'am" as in "ham" ([m{m]] and not as in "farm" ([mA:m]).
Of course, Tony Blair was born in Edinburgh and is not well-known for speaking cut glass RP, so that could be a factor. Even if what I said were true, it would still only apply to southern English English dialects (and not even English English in general).
I know that when addressing the queen, you say "your majesty" 1st then ma'am pronounced 'mam' like jam. when addressing british armed forces officers it's pronounced 'marm' like farm. i guess that doesn't really help much!
but many accents in Southern England have /a/ instead of /A/, so marm/ma'am is /ma:m/, like Chicagoan MOM ;)
I'm laughing at the thought of pronouncing "ma'am" as in "farm," because when you say it like that with an English accent it sounds like you're saying "mom" (Brit Eng mum). Good times. I would NOT call the Queen that.
"Of course, Tony Blair was born in Edinburgh and is not well-known for speaking cut glass RP, so that could be a factor. Even if what I said were true, it would still only apply to southern English English dialects (and not even English English in general)."
Have you read "Life at the Bottom" by Theodore Dalrymple? Blair's accent and why he speaks that way is discussed.