Linked Questions
12 questions linked to/from Sounds of the letter a
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English pronunciation of the letter "a" [duplicate]
I heard the letter a was pronounced /ei/, and sometimes it was pronounced as /ə/. So, can you tell me when is it pronounced as /ei/, and when as /ə/?
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Is there a rule for when to pronounce "ah" instead of "ae" in RP versus GA? [duplicate]
I would like to know if there is a rule when to pronounce ah in RP versus ae in GA.
Is it a question of vocabulary or is there a rule for that?
Examples:
dance- in RP is pronounced ah
but in GA it ...
- 11
1
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0
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556
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How to pronounce al- at the start of a word? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Sounds of the letter a
I was wondering if there is a general pronunciation rule for how to pronounce A and L when they start the word. I noticed words
Also
Almost
Always
...
- 19
1
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0
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What is the rule for pronouncing the "a"? [duplicate]
While British people mostly seem to speak a hard "a", American people tend to make an "ae" in some cases. Here are some examples of what I mean, grouped by pattern:
glass/grass
cast/past/vast/drastic
...
- 667
1
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0
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64
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How Should 'Are' be Pronounced? [duplicate]
According my second grade teacher, when you have an e in your word, the letter 'one skip' behind it is pronounced hard. For example, the word name. In 'name', the fourth letter is e, the letter behind ...
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94
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124
answers
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What words are commonly mispronounced by literate people who read them before they heard them?
Quite a few words are mispronounced by under-educated people, or people learning English as a second language. Some words are often mispronounced by quite educated people who read, and began reading ...
26
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4
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Why do written English vowels differ from other Latin-based orthographies?
Written English vowels differ from other Latin-based orthographies. Consider what the written vowels in the romance languages represent. Also, for example, consider this simple comparison between a ...
- 6,107
34
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4
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Why did only English undergo the Great Vowel Shift, making pronunciation stray so far from spelling?
Lots of people have wondered why English seems to be one of very few languages with such irregular spelling, far from its pronunciation. The answers include the Norman invasion, and the Great Vowel ...
- 1,123
17
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7
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How can I practice differentiating between the /æ/ and /ɛ/ sounds in English phonology?
For a non-native English speaker like me, it's always been hard to sound /æ/ and /ɛ/ differently. For example, "salary" and "celery" are two words that I tend to pronounce ...
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7
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4
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Pronunciation of "Sarah", "Sara" and other names with the letter "a" before "r"
In Britain (or perhaps just Scotland) the names "Sara" and "Sarah" are pronounced different.
Sara: Sah-rah ("a" as in "bat")
Sarah: Se-rah ("a" as in "air")
In the US and Canada, Sarah and ...
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2
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1
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Are there other words in American English that use the same vowel sound as the "as" in "Pasta"?
Obviously, pasta is a loanword, but generally loanwords are pronounced with the closest vowels which already exist in the language.
In American English, the "a" in pasta is the same vowel that I hear ...
- 1,151
1
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0
answers
295
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Why is "wand" not pronounced simiarly to "hand" and "sand"? [duplicate]
Having a bit of a discussion about this with a friend.
The only reason I know to pronounce "wand" like "want" and not "hand" is because that's how I've heard it, and I've just copied that. But from a ...
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