Last weekend, in addition to us starting fires and certaian unnamed individuals making light of my problems with spiders, we went into a discussion regarding the way we pronounce things and our preferences for certain words over others. Language is something I am passionate about, and I am sure it is a topic I've brought up many times before.
Wikipedia has a section on the bottom half of the page about how different cities pronounce a certain sound in certain words. Somewhere above is an explanation on the difference between /a�/ and /æ/. Make sure you understand it before posting your own results.
/æ/ is the A in trap, lad, had.
/a�/ is the A in bath, palm, start, bard, hard.
For me...
Graph - Always /æ/.
Chance - I use both, but usually /æ/ when speaking casually with the fast Australian slur.
Demand - /æ/ as a verb, but /a�/ as a noun. We demand that you meet our demands!
Dance - As above.
Castle - Always /a�/.
Grasp - Always /a�/.
Contrast - Always /a�/.
Is there a nuclear wessel in the house?