Pronunciation of the letter "a"

English spelling is famous for its complex rules and the different ways in which it is connected to pronunciation. In today's exercise we are dealing with the pronunciation of "a".

Ex. 1. Look at the following words containing the letter "a" and put them in groups according to the sound that the letter "a" represents (sometimes together with letters next to it). The options include short vowels, the schwa, long vowels and diphthongs.

1. /ɑː/   2. /æ/   3. /ə/   4. /eɪ/   5. /eə/

above, air, among, ago, baker, bass, class, dance, father, gran, grant, mat, mate, mare, mayor, nag, part, sofa, stare, start, state, tan


Ex. 2. How does the pronunciation of the stressed vowel change in the following words?

1. nation - national   2. status - statutory   3. class - classic/classical   4. mass - massive
5. photograph - photography (consider both o's and the a)   6. base - basic
7. compare - comparison   8. parent - parental (consider the a and the e)


KEY
Ex. 1. 
1. /ɑː/  dance, father, grant, part, start
2. /æ/   class, gran, mat, nag, tan
3. /ə/   above, among, ago, sofa,
4. /eɪ/  baker, bass, mate, state
5. /eə/ air, mare, mayor, stare

Ex. 2.
1. /eɪ/ - /æ/

2. /eɪ/ - /æ/
3. /ɑː/ - /æ/

4. /æ/ Correction: no change ("mass" does not have /ɑː/)

5. first "o" /əʊ/ - /ə/, second "o" /ə/ - /ɒ/, "a" /ɑː/ - /ə/

6. /eɪ/ no change

7. /eə/ - /æ/

8. "a" /eə/ - /ə/, "e" /ᵊ/ - /e/ (the upper index schwa means it is optional)

When in doubt, I used the Cambridge Dictionary at https://dictionary.cambridge.org.