Spelling patterns for the letter A
In Received Pronunciation (RP) the letter A (lower case a, pronounced /eɪ/), as most vowel letters in English, has four main pronunciations:
- So-called “short a”, IPA phoneme /æ/, as in trap, bat, batting, rapid or marry.
- So-called “long a”, IPA phoneme /eɪ/, as in face, facing or famous
- “Short” "ar" sound, phoneme /ɑː/ in Received Pronunciation, as in start, bar or barred
- “Long” "ar" sound, IPA phoneme /eə/, as in care, caring or parent
It also can be pronounced /ɑː/ as in bath and /ɔː/ as in all — plus other, less common pronunciations, sometimes in combination with other letters, and, of course, it can be used as schwa. There are some helpful rules (to be taken with the habitual pinch of salt).
It is also very much one of those cases in which teachers, whichever their preferences might be, need to point out the differences between RP (/ɑː/) and American (/æ/) pronunciations regarding, particularly with words like bath and past, while pointing out, of course, that most native British English speakers do, in fact, pronounce them /æ/.
Contents
As a single letter[edit]
æ | ɑː | |
trap | father - start | |
e | eɪ | eə |
dress | face | square |
ɪ | iː | ɪə |
kit | fleece | near |
ɒ | əʊ | ɔː |
lot | goat | taught |
ʊ | uː | ʊə |
foot | goose | mature |
juː | jʊə | |
cute | cure | |
ʌ | ə | ɜː |
strut | comma | nurse |
aɪ | aʊ | ɔɪ |
price | mouth | choice |
Normal sound: /b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z/ | ||
ʃ | tʃ | ŋ |
show | church | sing |
ʒ | dʒ | j |
usual | judge | you |
θ | ð | s |
think | that | see |
IPA | Stress |
---|---|
ˈ | Primary stress hotel /həʊˈtel/ |
ˌ | Secondary stress understand /ˌʌndərˈstænd/ |
IPA | Syllabification |
---|---|
. | nitrate /ˈnaɪ.treɪt/, night-rate /ˈnaɪt.reɪt/ |
See main article IPA phoneme /æ/.
At the beginning or the middle of a word[edit]
One syllable[edit]
- /æ/: am - and - at - bag - bat - can - cat - fan - ham - hand - land - man - map - sand - stand
- /ɑː/. Before /f, n, s/ and /θ/: advantage - ask - bath - can't - chance - class - dance - fast - France - grass - half - last - pass - past - path - staff - task
- Other: calm - palm
- /ɔː/: Before /l/: all - ball - call - fall - hall - salt - small - tall
- after "w": walk - wall
- other: chalk - talk
Several syllables[edit]
One consonant[edit]
The following words have "a" followed by one consonant sound.
- Last syllable
- /æ/: exam, Japan - program
- /ə/: African, American, dollar, final, human, legal, local, organ, popular, several, similar, total, woman
- Other syllable
- /æ/ balance - damage - January - manage - natural - rapid - value
- /eɪ/: basic - capable - Danish - famous - label - nature - paper - razor - tomatoAmE
- /ɑː/: banana - tomatoBrE
- /ɒ/: equality - qualify - quality
- /ɔː/: water
- /e/: any - many - Thames
- /ə/: about - above - again - alone - among - another
- Unstressed /ɪ/: garbage - spinach
Double consonant[edit]
The following words have "a" followed by the same duplicate consonant (or "ck").
- /æ/: channel - classic - gallery - grammar - happy - jacket - passage - passenger - programmeBrE - traffic
- /ɑː/: giraffe
- /ɒ/: wallet
- /ə/: afford - appeal - appear
Several consonants[edit]
The following words have "a" followed by two or more different consonant sounds.
- /æ/: anger - angry - attack - battle - capture - factor - relax
- /ɑː/: advantage - after - answer - basket - example - father - rather
- /ɔː/: almost - already - also - alter - always
- /ɒ/: quantity - wander
- /ə/. At beginning (including many verbs): acquire - admire - agree
- as part of suffix -able: capable - likeable - probable;
- /eɪ/: able - ancient - danger - stranger - table
- Derived forms: changing - pasted - pasting - tasted - tasting - wasted - wasting
At the end of a word[edit]
One syllable[edit]
- /ɑː/: bra - spa
Several syllables[edit]
- /ə/: area - camera - comma - formula - idea - opera
- Africa - America - Argentina - Barbara - China - Colombia - Jessica - Montana - Russia
Silent A[edit]
- basically - logically - practically - typically
Combined with another letter[edit]
With magic e[edit]
- So-called “long a”, /eɪ/: ache - age - bake - blame - brake - cake - date - escape - estimate (v.) - face - fake - game - gate - late - lake - male - make - name - pale - plate - sale - same - sane - shake - snake - state - take - trade - wake - whale
- Two consonant sounds (unusual use of magic e): change - paste - strange - taste - waste
With silent e[edit]
- /ɪ/: advantage - average - garbage - image - language - manage - village
- /ə/: chocolate - estimate (n.) - private - purchase
- The word "forbade".
- The past tense of "forbid" has several variants.
- British English: forbade /fərˈbæd/
- American English:
- forbade /fərˈbæd, fərˈbeɪd/
- forbad /fərˈbæd/
"ae"[edit]
- /eɪ/: Mae - reggae /ˈreɡeɪ/ - sundae /ˈsʌndeɪ, ˈsʌndɪ/
"ae" in words of Greek origin[edit]
In words derived from Greek via Latin "ae" is pronounced /iː/, /ɪ/, /e/ or /ə/. Alternative spellings are "æ" (as in "æstetics") in British English and "e" (as in "esthetics") in American English. Some "ae" words can only be spelled with "e" in American English (such as "hemoglobin").
- "ae" in British English
- /iː/ or /ɪ/: archaeology
- /iː/: aesthetic (also /e/) - anaesthesia or anesthesia - Caesar /ˈsiːzər/ - haemoglobinBrE - hyena or hyaena - orthopaedic or orthopedic - paediatricianBrE
- /ɪ/: Caesarean section
- /e/: aesthetic (also /iː/)
- /ə/: gynaecologistBrE
- Corresponding words in American English
- /iː/ or /ɪ/: archaeology or archeologyAmE
- /iː/: aesthetic or estheticAmE - anesthesia or anaesthesia - Caesar /ˈsiːzər/ - hemoglobinAmE - hyena or hyaena - orthopedic or orthopaedic - pediatricianAmE
- /ɪ/: CesareanAmE section or Caesarean section
- /e/: aesthetic or estheticAmE
- /ə/: gynecologistAmE
"ai"[edit]
- /eɪ/: Adelaide, afraid, aid, aim, available, brain, campaign, chain, claim, complain, contain, daily, detail, entertain, explain, fail, faith, gain, hail, Haiti, jail, mail, main, Maine, maintain, paid, pain, paint, rail, rain, raise, remain, retail, snail, Spain, stain, straight, train, trait, wait
- /e/: again (also /əˈɡeɪn/) - said
"ay"[edit]
- /eɪ/: day - pay - play - May - say - stay - tray
- /e/: says
"au"[edit]
See main article Decoding exercises: "au"
- /ɔː/: August - author - autumn - caught - cause - daughter - taught;
- /ɒ/: Aussie - Australia - Austria;
- /ɑː/ : aunt - laugh
"aw"[edit]
"ar"[edit]
- /ɑː/: are - art - car - card - carpet - dark - far - garden - large - market - park - part - start
- /ɔː/: quarter - war
- /eə/
- area - Mary - parent - various
- With magic e: aware - care - compare - declare - prepare - rare - share - software - square - stare
- /æ/: apparent - character - charity - comparison - paragraph - parallel
- /ə/: arise - around - career - cigarette - preparation
- "arr"
- /æ/: barrier - carry - embarrass - marriage - marry - narrative - narrow
- /ɒ/: warrant - warranty
- /ə/: arrange - arrest - arrive
Homophones[edit]
- /æ/: ad - add;
- /ɑː/: aren't - aunt;
- /eɪ/: brake - break; grate - great; male - mail; plane - plain; rain - reign; sail - sale; stake - steak; tale - tail; waste - waist; Wales - whales; way - weigh; wait - weight; wade - weighed
- /eə/: bare - bear; pair - pear;
- /ɔː/: clause - claws; pause - paws;
Different pronunciations in the same word[edit]
- Africa/African - America/American - Australia/Australian - Austria/Austrian - average - character - language
Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1[edit]
Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.
Spanish[edit]
Many Spanish speakers will try, instinctively, to pronounce it either as /eɪ/ or as [a] (which sounds similar to /ʌ/ or /æ/). This is particularly problematic for words such as want, what or water or for the schwa.
Many cognates that have /eɪ/ in English have [a] in Spanish. If the word is not common, such as "matrix" (Spanish matriz) it is very likely that Spanish speakers will try to pronounce it with */æ/. Even some loan words are transcribed using spelling pronunciation in Spanish. For example the spelling cáterin[1] was proposed as a transcription of "catering", but *quéiterin would be more similar to the English pronunciation.