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the "A" sound

 

"A" (named eɪ, plural aes) is the first letter and vowel in the basic Latin alphabet.

 

Minuscule form (also called lowercase):    a

Majuscule form (also called uppercase or capital letter): A

 

"A" is the third-most-commonly used letter in English (after "E" and "T")

 

Pronouncing the various sounds of the letter A.
The long "a"
The long "a" is a 2-sound vowel.
 
 
The É‘: sound

 

 

The reduced vowel sound called schwa is the most common vowel sound in spoken English. Schwa is a quick, relaxed, neutral vowel pronunciation very close to a short u. The purpose of schwa is to allow unstressed syllables to be said more quickly so the main beats of spoken words are easier to place on the stressed syllables.

Schwa does not have an exact and standard pronunciation. Due to the near-identical pronunciation of schwa and short u, many dictionaries merge the transcription of the two sounds and strictly use /É™/. Separate symbols are retained here to indicate whether a vowel sound falls on a stressed or unstressed syllable.

Schwa occurs in two different circumstances:

  • in an unstressed syllable of a multi-syllable word

  • as a reduced vowel sound in a function word

English spelling and pronunciation can be very different, and there are often several ways to 

pronounce the same groups of letters. In the examples above, are these letters pronounced

/Éœ:/ /cccc:/ or /É‘:/ ?

or ar wor war ur ir au aw al alm

So, now you have some spelling guidelines, how do you think we say these words?

yawn worm flirt squawk award thorn curse barge laundry 

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