Pronunciation of “master” and “plaster” in Northern England

Question

A pattern I've noticed in Northern England is that people of my age (born in the '90s) pronounce words like “master” and “plaster” with a short A (/a/), whereas anyone of my parents' generation (born in the '60s) or older will use a long A (/ɑː/). The distinction is similar to the trap-bath split, though all speakers mentioned in this question would pronounce both “trap” and “bath” with the same vowel (/a/). Furthermore, all would pronounce “faster” with the short A. I've noticed this pattern mostly around South and West Yorkshire, but also in people from Tyneside.

Have any of these features been documented or remarked on before? What other words share this feature? What is the geographical extent, and is my perception of a generation-based shift accurate and widespread? How did the long A pronunciation come about, and is the move towards short A part of a more general shift?

Answer 1

Northern English dialects typically use a short vowel /æ/ for "a" before an "s" or "th" where southern English dialects would use a longer, further back vowel /ɑ/. However there seem to be exceptions, of which "master" and "plaster" stand out for often having a southern English pronunciation. "master" is explicable as a word associated with education and authority, which therefore is sometimes pronounced in a sort of imitation of Received Pronunciation or other higher-status dialects, but "plaster" seems a bit of a mystery.

The British Library has a page on dialects which notes this. It says the pronunciation of "master" and "plaster" varies in the North of England, unlike in other words ("past", "blast", "cast", "castor", etc) which have a short vowel.

[ah is used in "plaster" and "caster" by] speakers in the north – notably on Tyneside and in Yorkshire and Lancashire – although these speakers favour 'a’ in all other instances. This gives rise to the intriguing combination of vowel sounds in words such as plastercast (‘plahstercast’) and elastoplast (‘elastoplahst’) and the Stevie Wonder song 'Master Blaster' becomes ‘mahsterblaster'. ‘Mahster’ and ‘plahster’ do not seem to occur on Merseyside, in Manchester nor in the flat-BATH areas of the Midlands, where pronunciation of the TRAP~BATH sets is consistently ‘a’.

The BBC Voices project, which records dialects across the UK, notes:

There are, however, two words that many northerners pronounce with a 'southern' long vowel: master and plaster. It's possible that the former has undergone change as a result of its association with school, education and notions of 'prestige' pronunciation, although the latter is harder to explain.

Sources don't discuss specific reasons for a generational change in "master" in the north of England. But pronunciations are constantly shifting, and you would expect a regularisation of pronunciations so "master" would tend to be pronounced like "castor", and all the other words with "-ast", which is what the OP describes. (Annoyingly the recorded voices on the BBC website don't work for me.)

Answer 2

I'm from the Midlands, but have lived in the North West and have now re-located to North Yorkshire and I would always pronounce plaster and master with a short a. However I have noticed and questioned the long a in plaster that my Father in Law uses. I would not say that it is the same as the southern English way.

I don't think the short / long version is an age thing, but maybe more class/trade related. Most tradesfolk in my area would say "plaaaster" regardless of their age. I doubt the long pronunciation has anything to do with education as more highly educated people around here are more likely to say "plaster", with a short a. In fact suggesting that using a long southern "a" indicates a better education would be seen as insulting.

Southern: Plarster (long a)

Midlands/North West: Plaster (short a)

Yorkshire/North East: Plaaaster (more like a stretched short a than the southern variant).