Decoding the letter A

**IPA consonants**

In Received Pronunciation and in General American the **letter A** (lowercase **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, ask,**AmE* *bath**AmE* or *marry*.

Short a spelling, IPA phoneme /ɑː/*BrE* (broad a) as in *ask**BrE* or *bath.**BrE*
* So-called “long a”, IPA phoneme /eɪ/, as in *face*, *facing* or *famous*
* Long "ar" monophtong (short vowel spelling), IPA phoneme /ɑː/, as in *start*, *bar* or *barred*
* Long "ar" diphthong (long vowel spelling), IPA phoneme /eə/, as in *square, care, caring* or *parent*

It also can be pronounced /ɑː/*BrE* *AmE* as in *father* 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.

## Distinctions by dialect

Two important sounds of the letter A are /æ/ and /ɑː/. Some words that are pronounced with /æ/ in General American (e.g. bath /bæθ/*AmE*) are pronounced with /ɑː/ in Received Pronunciation (bath /bɑːθ/*BrE*). However most native British English speakers do, in fact, pronounce them with /æ/.

Another difference between American English and British English is the Mary-marry-merry merger. Here we present only the differences with respect to the letter A.

 Most American dialects (Mary-marry merger) | /e/ | /e/

## As /æ/

*See main article IPA phoneme /æ/.*

*See also So-called “short a”* and *Decoding and spelling exercises: /æ/ vs /eɪ/.*

* before final consonants: am, and, at, back, bad, bag, bat, cat, fan, ham, hand, land, man, map, sand, stand
* before double consonant or "ck": att**a**ck, battle, carry, cattle, channel, gallery, gr**a**mmar, happen, happy, jacket, passenger, traffic
* before single consonant: **a**verage, b**a**lance, d**a**mage, family, have, J**a**nuary, m**a**nage, n**a**tional, n**a**tural, value
* other: **a**bsolutely, **a**ctually, angry, aspect, capture, contract, factor, handle, transport

## As /ɑː/

*See main article Phoneme /ɑː/ in Received Pronunciation.*

Most words in this section are pronounced with /æ/ in General American, unless they are followed by "r".

* before *f*, *n*, *s* and *th*

before final consonants: ask, bath, branch, can't, chance, command, dance, demand, fast, France, glance, grant, half, implant, last, mask, past, path, plant, staff, task
before double consonant: class, giraffe, glass, pass, staffer
other: advantage, after, afternoon, answer, ban**a**na, basket, pastor, rather
* before other consonants (*m*): example, panorama, sample

**Pronounced /ɑː/ also in General American:**

* calm, dr**a**ma, fac**a**de, father, ko**a**la, l**a**ma, ll**a**ma, nuance, palm, spa
* before r: are, art, car, card, carpet, dark, far, garden, large, market, park, part, scar, scarf, start

## As /eɪ/

*See main article IPA phoneme /eɪ/.*

See also *So-called “long a”* and *Decoding and spelling exercises: /æ/ vs /eɪ/.*

* with magic e: ache, age, bake, blame, brake, cake, date, escape, fake, game, gate, hake, lake, late, male, make, name, pale, plate, sale, same, sane, shake, snake, stale, state, take, trade, wake, whale
* before a single consonant: agency, baby, basic, behavior,*AmE* behaviour,*BrE* education, information, label, major, nature, paper, patient, situation
* before two consonants and silent e: able, acre, arrange, cable, change, range, strange, table, taste
* other: ancient, apron, chamber, champ**a**gne, danger, fr**a**grance, tasty

## As /ɔ:/

*See main article* IPA phoneme /ɔː/

*See also* Decoding exercises: "al"

* before final "ll": all, ball, call, fall, hall, small, tall
* before /l/: already, also, almost, always, alter, salt
* after "w": walk, wall, war, ward, water
* other: chalk, talk

## As /ɒ/

*See main article IPA phoneme /ɒ/.*

* as /ɒ/: quality, restaur**a**nt, wander, was,*BrE* wasp, watch
* as /ɒ/,*BrE* /ɔː/*AmE*: wallet, want, warrant, warranty, wash

## As /ə/

*See main article* IPA phoneme /ə/.

* weak forms: a, am, can, shall, than, that
* at beginning

verbs: acquire, admire, afford, agree, allow, appeal, appear, approach, arise, arrive
nouns: accord, account, amount, appeal, approach
other: about, above, across, again, against, ago, alone, among, another, around, available, away
* at end: Africa, African, America, American, camera, China, data, extra, human, idea, India, Indonesia, legal, local, organ, several, woman
* as part of suffix -able: capable, comfortable, likable,*AmE* *BrE* likeable,*BrE* probable, suitable, variable
* as part of suffix -ate /ə/ or /ɪ/: chocolate, climate, fortunate, immediate, private
* other: Can**a**da, company, organise, relative

## As /ɪ/

*See main article* IPA phoneme /ɪ/

* furnace, octave, orange, spinach
* ending in -**a**ge: advantage, average, beverage, image, language, manage, percentage, village

## As /ɪ/ or /ə/

The words in this section appear with /ɪ/ in some dictionaries and with /ə/ in others.

* accessible, char**a**cter, chocolate, extrav**a**gant, indiscriminate, mass**a**cre, obstacle, receptacle

## Silent "a"

* automatic**a**lly, basic**a**lly, dramatic**a**lly, logically, romantic**a**lly, specifically, typically

Exceptions: "cally" as /kəliː/: locally, vocally
* varisyllabic words: Barb**a**ra, boundary, library,*BrE* Marg**a**ret, sep**a**rate
* only in British English: military, ordinary, secondary, secretary, voluntary

## These words don't rhyme

* /æ/ vs. /eɪ/: anger - danger; amber - chamber
* /eɪ/ vs. /ə/: primate - climate
* /eɪ/ vs. /æ,*AmE* ɑː*BrE*/: paste - caste

## Spelling anomalies

* as **/e/**: any, many, Thames
* as **/iː/**: Israel
* as **/ʌ/**: was*AmE*
* So-called long sound with short sound spelling, as **/eɪ/**: bass *(music)*

## Variant pronunciations

* data /ˈdeɪtə, ˈdɑːtə,*BrE* ˈdætə*AmE*/
* status /ˈsteɪtəs, ˈstætəs*AmE*/
* what /wɒt, wʌt*AmE*/

## Combinations

### "ai"

*Main article:* Decoding exercises: "ai"

* as /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

* as /e/: again (also /əˈɡeɪn/), said

"air"
* as /eə/: air, affair, chair, fair, hair, pair

### "ay"

*Main article:* Decoding exercises: "ay"

* as /eɪ/: day, pay, play, May, say, stay, tray
* as /e/: says

### "au"

*See main article* Decoding exercises: "au"

* as /ɔː/: auction, August, author, autumn, caught, cause, daughter, taught
* as /ɒ/: Aussie, austerity, Australia, Austria
* as /ɑː/ : aunt, draught, laugh

### "aw"

* as /ɔː/: draw, law, raw, saw
* "awy" as /ɔːj/ or /ɔɪ/: lawyer /ˈlɔːjər, ˈlɔɪər/
* In separate syllables

* aware, award

### "ae"

*Main article:* Decoding exercises: "ae"

* as /iː/ or /e/: aesthetic
* as /iː/: Caesar, paediatrician*BrE*
* as /ə/: gynaecologist*BrE*
* as /eɪ/ or /iː/: sundae
* as /eə/: aerobic, aeroplane*BrE*

### "ar"

*Main article:* Decoding exercises: "ar"‎
* /eə/

with magic e: aware, bare, care, compare, dare, Delaware, fare, hare, rare, scare, share, spare, square
other: area, careful, Mary, parent, rarely, Sarah, vary
* see As /ɑː/ above.
* /ɔː/: quarter, war
* /æ/: app**a**rent, ch**a**racter, charity, comparison, p**a**ragraph, p**a**rallel
* /ə/: arise, around, career, cigarette, prep**a**ration

### "arr"

*Main article:* Decoding exercises: "arr"‎
* /æ/: barrier, carry, emb**a**rrass, m**a**rriage, marry, n**a**rrative, narrow
* /ɒ/,*BrE* /ɔː/*AmE*: warrant, warranty
* /ə/: **a**rrange, arrest, arrive

## Homophones

* As /eɪ/: brake - break; grate - great; male - mail; place - plaice; plane - plain; rain - reign; sale - sail; stake - steak; tale - tail; Wales - whales; waste - waist; weigh - way; weight - wait; weighed - wade;
* As /eə/: bare - bear; hair - hare; pair - pear; stairs - stares;
* As /æ/: ad - add; band - banned; cash - cache;
* As /ɑː*BrE*, æ*AmE*/: passed - past;

Only in non-rhotic accents:

* As /ɑː/: aren't - aunt

Trademarks
* Waze - ways

## Different pronunciations in the same word

* Africa/African, America/American, Australia/Australian, Austria/Austrian, average, character, language

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

Many Spanish speakers will try, instinctively, to pronounce it either as /eɪ/ or as **/ʌ/** (which is quite similar, but often not quite enough, to the letter a in Spanish). This is particularly problematic for words such as *want*, *what* or *water* or for the schwa.

## References

1. ↑ Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary, accessible with /ɪ/.
2. ↑ *Dictionary.com Unabridged.* Random House, Inc. accessible with /ə/.
3. ↑ Collins English Dictionary, character with /ɪ/.
4. ↑ Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, character with /ə/.
5. ↑ *Dictionary.com Unabridged.* Random House, Inc. chocolate with /ɪ/.
6. ↑ Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary, chocolate with /ə/.
7. ↑ Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary, extravagant with /ɪ/.
8. ↑ Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, extravagant with /ə/.

## See also

* Decoding and spelling exercises: /æ/ vs /eɪ/
* Pronunciation exercises: /ʌ/ vs /æ/
* Decoding exercises: "al"
* Decoding exercises: "ao"
* Decoding exercises: "ar"
* Decoding exercises: "arV" and "arrV"
* Decoding exercises: "arr"
* Decoding exercises: "ea"
* Decoding exercises: "oa"
* Decoding exercises: "wa"