Decoding the letter A

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, bath or marry.
 * Short a spelling, IPA phoneme /ɑː/ (broad a) as in ask or bath.


 * 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/ as in father and  as in all &mdash; plus other, less common pronunciations, sometimes in combination with other letters, and, of course, it can be used as schwa. In Spelling patterns for the letter A there are some helpful rules (to be taken with the habitual pinch of salt).

Distinctions by dialect
Teaching the letter A is 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 words like bath and ask, while pointing out, of course, that most native British English speakers do, in fact, pronounce them /æ/. When teaching American English pronunciation the Mary-marry-merry merger can be explained.

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": attack - battle - carry - cattle - channel - gallery - grammar - happen - happy - jacket - passenger - traffic
 * before single consonant: average - balance - damage - family - have - January - manage - national - natural - value
 * other: absolutely - actually - 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, s and th
 * before final consonants: ask - bath - half - last - past - path - staff - task
 * before double consonant: giraffe - staffer
 * other: basket - pastor - rather


 * before n: answer - can't - France - implant


 * Pronounced /ɑː/ also in General American:
 * calm - facade - father - koala - lama - llama - 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 single consonant: behavior - behaviour - education - information - label - nature - paper - patient
 * Other: able - ancient - arrange - change - fragrance - range - strange - table

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 - restaurant, wander,, wasp, watch
 * as /ɒ/, /ɔː/: wallet, want, warrant, warranty, wash

As /ə/
See main article IPA phoneme /ə/.


 * weak forms: a - am - can - shall - than
 * 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 - likeable probable - suitable - variable
 * as part of suffix -ate /ə/ or /ɪ/: chocolate - climate - fortunate - immediate - private
 * other: Canada - company - organise - relative

As /ɪ/
See main article IPA phoneme /ɪ/
 * furnace - octave - orange - spinach
 * ending in -age: 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 - character  - chocolate  - extravagant  - indiscriminate - massacre - obstacle - receptacle

Silent "a"

 * automatically, basically, dramatically, logically, romantically, specifically, typically
 * varisyllabic words: Barbara, boundary, library, Margaret, separate
 * only in British English: military, ordinary, secondary, secretary, voluntary

Spelling anomalies

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

Variant pronunciations

 * data /ˈdeɪtə, ˈdɑːtə, ˈdætə/
 * what /wɒt, wʌt/

"ai"
Main article: Decoding exercises: "ai"
 * as /eɪ/:
 * 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
 * as /ə/: gynaecologist
 * as /eɪ/ or /iː/: sundae
 * as /eə/: aerobic - aeroplane

"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/: apparent - character - charity - comparison - paragraph - parallel
 * /ə/: arise - around - career - cigarette - preparation

"arr"

 * Main article: Decoding exercises: "arr"‎


 * /æ/: barrier - carry - embarrass - marriage - marry - narrative - narrow
 * /ɒ/, /ɔː/: warrant - warranty
 * /ə/: arrange - 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 //: bare - bear; hair - hare; pair - pear; stairs - stares;
 * As /æ/: ad - add; band - banned; cash - cache;
 * As /ɑː, æ/: 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
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
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.