Ask HN: English speakers, how many ways do you say “a”?

by steve_g on 12/22/2021, 12:04:47 PM with 9 comments
Since trying to find out how to say "omicron", I've fallen down a rabbit hole of pronunciation differences. I think I pronounce all these leading "a" sounds differently.

1. all, alternative 2. almond, amen (short a) 3. allowed, amend 4. allegory, apple 5. ale 6. ate, asynchronous

Maybe 5 and 6 are the same, but I don't think so.

Do you pronounce these differently? Are there even more leading "a" sounds?

  • by tacostakohashi on 12/22/2021, 2:58:20 PM

    English speakers don't all agree on how to pronounce things.

    The nature of vowels (as opposed to consonants) is that the vowels can be varied in length (in simple terms, anyway).

  • by sgerrand on 12/22/2021, 12:41:27 PM

    Even more confusingly, "ate" is pronounced differently depending on the temporal tense: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ate

  • by phekunde on 12/22/2021, 7:54:30 PM

    Add to that the pronunciation of 'o', "ch" and a lot more. I went into a rabbit hole on the same issue few years ago when I was trying to understand why "ch" in "chord" and "chore" are pronounced differently.

  • by robthebrew on 12/22/2021, 1:03:43 PM

    I think you need to confirm what nationality and even city the commentators come from

  • by petee on 12/22/2021, 12:10:57 PM

    I pronounce 'Almond' with the same sound as 'All'. Fyi I live on the East Coast of US

  • by AnimalMuppet on 12/22/2021, 5:12:33 PM

    I pronounce 1 and 2 the same. I pronounce 5 and 6 the same. I pronounce 3 as a schwa.

    Western US, if that matters...

  • by derbOac on 12/22/2021, 1:33:18 PM

    fwiw, I think I pronounce 1-3 the same, and 5-6 the same. I'm having trouble understanding how 1-3 would sound different.