Pronouncing A
It makes at-least 7 sounds!
short, long, a diphthong, r-controlled, or a schwa.
Sounds of A
| Type | Example |
|---|---|
| Short A æ TRAP ae | cat, apple, map, trap |
| Long A eɪ - FACE, BAKE - FACE | cake, name, late, say, rain |
| Broad - Open ɑː for a - Father, Palm, Calm BATh | father, car, park, palm |
| Schwa A ə COMMA | about, ago, banana, sofa (un-stressed vowel sound) |
| Aw/Short O sound ɔː or ɒ THOUGHT | ball, call, water, talk |
Air/Care sound (/ɛər/) SQARE |
care, share, parent, air |
Short I sound in unstressed endings (/ɪ/) |
village, chocolate, damage |
John Wells lexical set
| Environment | TRAP lexical set | BATH lexical set | PALM lexical set | THOUGHT lexical set | FACE lexical set |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| _[m] | alms, balm, calm, palm, psalm, qualm | shawm | |||
| _[mp] | champion, rampant, stamp* | example, sample | |||
| _[mb] | amber | chamber | |||
| _[mf] | pamphlet | ||||
| _[nt] | ant*, lantern, phantom, rant, scant | advantage, aunt, can't*, chant, grant, plant, slant, vantage | daunt, flaunt*, gaunt*, gauntlet, haunt, jaunt*, saunter, taunt, vaunt | ||
| _[nd] | abandon, grand, random | command, demand, Flanders, remand, reprimand, slander | jaundice, laundry, Maundy | ||
| _[n(t)ʃ] | franchise | avalanche, blanch, branch, ranch*, stanch, stanchion | haunch, launch, paunch, staunch | ||
| _[n(d)ʒ] | evangelist, phalange | angel, arrange, change, danger, grange, mange, range, strange | |||
| _[ŋk] | bank ("bench/financial institution"), canker, flank, plank, ranco(u)r, sanctity | ||||
| _[ŋɡ] | anger*, angle, strangle | ||||
| _[ns] | ancestor, finance, ransom, romance | answer*, chance, chancellor, dance, enhance, France, lance, lancet, prance, stance, trance, transfer (trans-) | launce | ancient | |
| Other | salmon | almond |
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