[General] The '' a '' sound

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Dear teachers and members:

I know that the '' a
'' sound is an open or low vowel that it always occurs in diphthongs and triphthongs as in the words:

LIKE /laɪk/

TIE /taɪ/

COW /kaʊ/

MOUTHS
/maʊðz/

OUR /aʊər, ˈaʊ
thinsp.png
ər
/

TOWER /ˈtaʊ
thinsp.png
ər
/

BUYER /ˈbaɪ
thinsp.png
ər
/



I would like to know if this vowel is front, central, not fully front or slightly central.


Regards,


The Apprentice
 
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Odessa Dawn

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" a "
I would like to know if this vowel is front, central, not fully front or slightly central.
***NOT A TEACHER***

It is a low central vowel (tense).

Note: Leave a space before and after quotation marks, but only outside them. (emsr2d2)
 

5jj

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Cardinal Vowel 4, [a] is a front vowel. In the RP diphthong /aɪ/, the glide begins a little behind this front position - it is close to [[FONT=&quot]ä][/FONT]. In RP, the glide begins in a more central position, slightly in front of [FONT=&quot][[/FONT]ɑ].

These two diphthongs are pronounced in a variety of ways in BrE, I have mentioned only standard RP.
 

Odessa Dawn

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Cardinal Vowel 4, [a] is a front vowel.

:up:

If you mean the sound a in the word father, we have no problem here. However, if it is the sound in the word stop, then a question has to be raised.

I have a copy from a book by name An Intensive Personalized Program in Perception, Pronunciation, Practice in Context - written by Joan Morley says that a in the word stop is a low central tense. That note has been extracted from unit two. That copy is not going to be worthy from now on. Thank you, 5jj.

 
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5jj

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If you mean the sound a in the word father, we have no problem here. However, if it is the sound in the word stop, then a question has to be raised.
Neither of these sounds is exactly the same as Cardinal Vowel 4.
 
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