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

#1

Post by steve_g » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 12:04 PM UTC

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?

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

#2

Post by petee » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 12:10 PM UTC

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

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

#3

Post by sgerrand » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 12:41 PM UTC

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

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

#4

Post by robthebrew » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

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

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

#5

Post by derbOac » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 1:33 PM UTC

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.

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

#6

Post by tacostakohashi » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 2:58 PM UTC

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).

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

#7

Post by toast0 » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 3:44 PM UTC

derbOac wrote: post #5

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.

1 and 2 are the same for me (although, I don't say amen often, so I usually try to say it like everyone else which varies). But for 3, it's more of uh-mend or uh-llowed.

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

#8

Post by AnimalMuppet » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

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...

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

#9

Post by phekunde » Wed, Dec 22, 2021, 7:54 PM UTC

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.

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

#10

Post by derbOac » Thu, Dec 23, 2021, 1:16 AM UTC

toast0 wrote: post #7

derbOac wrote: post #5

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.

1 and 2 are the same for me (although, I don't say amen often, so I usually try to say it like everyone else which varies). But for 3, it's more of uh-mend or uh-llowed.

Yeah after thinking about it some more I can see the difference. I'm not sure if I would pronounce 3 differently from 1-2 or not though. I think I might pronounce "allowed" the same as 1-2 but "amend" a little like you are suggesting.