Grant

[pne]

As I was reading Anne of Green Gables, I came across the name “Priscilla Grant”.

I realised that my first impulse was to pronounce her family name /grænt/ (with the TRAP vowel), and I wondered why that should be, since I pronounce the verb /grɑːnt/ (with the BATH=PALM vowel).

A bit of thought made me realise that whenever it’s a family name, I’d use the TRAP vowel—even for RP speakers such as Hugh /grænt/ (who, I suppose when I think about it now, probably calls himself /grɑːnt/). Odd.

(In an SQL context, it’s BATH=PALM, because it’s obviously the verb. Similarly in “take something for granted” or the sentence adverbial(?) “granted”.)

Comments

[ewx]

I remember shifting from one side of TRAP-BATH to the other while at school (with “graph” being the main driver, that being a word used a lot due to maths lessons l-)