| Ipa Symbol: | ɑ |
| Ipa Number: | 305 |
| Decimal: | 593 |
| X-Sampa: | A |
| Kirshenbaum: | A |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x0251.svg |
| Braille: | ch |
pronounced as /vowels/
The open back unrounded vowel, or low back unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|ɑ), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is A. The letter (IPA|ɑ) is called script a because it lacks the extra hook on top of a printed letter a, which corresponds to a different vowel, the open front unrounded vowel. Script a, which has a full length linear stroke on its right, should not be confused with turned script a, pronounced as /ɒ/, which has the linear stroke on its left and corresponds to a rounded version of this vowel, the open back rounded vowel.
In some languages (such as Azerbaijani, Estonian, Luxembourgish and Toda) there is the near-open back unrounded vowel (a sound between cardinal pronounced as /[ɑ]/ and pronounced as /link/), which can be transcribed in IPA with (IPA|ɑ̝) or (IPA|ʌ̞).
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Afrikaans: [[Afrikaans alphabet|d'''aa'''r]] | pronounced as /[dɑːr]/ | 'there' | The quality varies between open near-back unrounded pronounced as /[ɑ̟ː]/, open back unrounded pronounced as /[ɑː]/ and even open back rounded pronounced as /link/. See Afrikaans phonology | |
| Äiwoo | pronounced as /[kɑnoŋæ]/ | 'I want' | |||
| Standard | Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|طويل]]|rtl=yes / ṭawīl | pronounced as /[tˤɑˈwiːl]/ | 'tall' | ||
| Essaouira | / qāl | pronounced as /[qɑːl]/ | 'he said' | One of the possible realisations of pronounced as //ā//. | |
| Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|հ'''ա'''ց]] / hacʿ | pronounced as /[hɑt͡sʰ]/ | 'bread' | |||
| Azerbaijani: [[Azerbaijani alphabet|q'''a'''rd'''a'''ş]] | pronounced as /[ɡɑ̝ɾˈd̪ɑ̝ʃ]/ | 'brother' | Near-open. | ||
| Bashkir | Bashkir: [[:wikt:ҡаҙ|ҡ'''а'''ҙ]] / Bashkir: q'''a'''ð | 'goose' | |||
| Many dialects | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan alphabet|p'''a'''l]] | pronounced as /[ˈpɑɫ]/ | 'stick' | Allophone of pronounced as //a// in contact with velar consonants. See Catalan phonology | |
| Some dialects | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan alphabet|m'''à''']] | pronounced as /[ˈmɑ]/ | 'hand' | More central (pronounced as /[ɑ̟]/, pronounced as /link/) in other dialects; fully front pronounced as /link/ in Majorcan Catalan. | |
| Some Valencian and Majorcan speakers | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan alphabet|ll'''o'''c]] | pronounced as /[ˈʎ̟ɑk]/ | 'place' | Unrounded allophone of pronounced as //ɔ// in some accents. Can be centralized. | |
| Some southern Valencian speakers | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan alphabet|b'''o'''u]] | pronounced as /[ˈbɑw]/ | 'bull' | Pronunciation of the vowel pronounced as //ɔ// before pronounced as /[w]/. Can be centralized. | |
| [[Chinese characters|棒]] / [[Pinyin|b'''à'''ng]] | 'stick' | Allophone of pronounced as //a// before pronounced as //ŋ//. See Standard Chinese phonology | |||
| Standard | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|b'''a'''d]] | pronounced as /[bɑt]/ | 'bath' | Backness varies among dialects; in the Standard Northern accent it is fully back. In the Standard Belgian accent it is raised and fronted to pronounced as /[ɑ̝̈]/. See Dutch phonology | |
| pronounced as /[bɑ̝t]/ | Near-open fully back; can be rounded pronounced as /link/ instead. See Dutch phonology | ||||
| Rotterdam | |||||
| Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|'''aa'''p]] | pronounced as /[ɑːp]/ | 'monkey' | Corresponds to pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|aː}} ~ {{IPAplink|äː}}]/ in standard Dutch. | ||
| Antwerp | |||||
| Utrecht | |||||
| Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|n'''auw''']] | pronounced as /[nɑː]/ | 'narrow' | Corresponds to pronounced as /[ʌu]/ in standard Dutch. | ||
| pronounced as /[hɑ̝̈t]/ | 'hot' | Somewhat raised and fronted. | |||
| Norfolk | |||||
| pronounced as /[hɑt]/ | May be more front [{{IPA|ɑ̟}} ~ {{IPA link|ä}}], especially in accents without the cot-caught merger. See English phonology | ||||
| pronounced as /[pɑːm]/ | 'palm' | Fully back. It can be more front pronounced as /[ɑ̟ː]/ instead. | |||
| Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [{{IPA link|ɒː}} ~ {{IPA link|ɔː}}] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel pronounced as /[{{IPA|ɑ̟ː}} ~ {{IPAplink|äː}}]/. See South African English phonology | |||||
| pronounced as /[pɑ̟ːm]/ | Typically more front than cardinal pronounced as /[ɑ]/. It may be as front as pronounced as /link/ in some Cultivated South African and southern English speakers. See English phonology and South African English phonology | ||||
| Received Pronunciation | |||||
| Non-local Dublin[1] | pronounced as /[bɑq]/ | 'back' | Allophone of pronounced as //a// before velars for some speakers. | ||
| Estonian: [[Estonian orthography|v'''a'''le]] | pronounced as /[ˈvɑ̝le̞ˑ]/ | 'lie' | Near-open. See Estonian phonology | ||
| Some dialects | Faroese: [[Faroese orthography|v'''á'''tur]] | pronounced as /[ˈvɑːtʊɹ]/ | 'wet' | Corresponds to pronounced as //ɔɑ// in standard language. See Faroese phonology | |
| Finnish: [[Finnish alphabet|k'''a'''n'''a''']] | pronounced as /[ˈkɑ̝nɑ̝]/ | 'hen' | Near-open, also described as open central pronounced as /link/.[2] See Finnish phonology | ||
| Conservative Parisian | French: [[French orthography|p'''a'''s]] | pronounced as /[pɑ]/ | 'not' | Contrasts with pronounced as /link/, but many speakers have only one open vowel pronounced as /link/. See French phonology | |
| French: [[French orthography|p'''â'''te]] | 'paste' | Contrasts with pronounced as /link/. See Quebec French phonology | |||
| Galician: irm'''á'''n | pronounced as /[iɾˈmɑŋ]/ | 'brother' | Allophone of pronounced as //a// in contact with velar consonants. See Galician phonology | ||
| Georgian: [[Georgian alphabet|გუდ'''ა''']] / Georgian: gud'''a''' | pronounced as /[k̬ud̪ɑ]/ | 'leather bag' | Usually not fully back pronounced as /[ɑ]/, typically pronounced as /[ɑ̟]/ to pronounced as /[ä]/. Sometimes transcribed as pronounced as //a//. | ||
| German: [[German alphabet|Gourm'''and''']] | pronounced as /[ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɑ̃ː]/ | 'gourmand' | Nasalized
| ||
| Many speakers | German: [[German alphabet|n'''ah''']] | pronounced as /[nɑː]/ | 'near' | Used by speakers in Northern Germany, East Central Germany, Franconia and Switzerland. Also a part of the Standard Austrian accent. More front in other accents. See Standard German phonology | |
| Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek orthography|μπύρ'''α''']] / býra | pronounced as /[ˈbirɑ]/ | "beer" | Corresponds to central pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ä}} ~ {{IPAplink|ɐ}}]/ in Modern Standard Greek. See Modern Greek phonology | ||
| Some dialects | Hungarian: [[Hungarian orthography|m'''a'''gy'''a'''r]] | pronounced as /[ˈmɑɟɑr]/ | 'Hungarian' | Weakly rounded pronounced as /link/ in standard Hungarian. See Hungarian phonology | |
| Kalaallisut; Greenlandic: oq'''a'''rpoq | pronounced as /[ɔˈqɑpːɔq̚]/ | 'he says' | Allophone of pronounced as //a// before and especially between uvulars. See Inuit phonology | ||
| Italian | Some Piedmont dialects | Italian: [[Italian orthography|c'''a'''s'''a''']] | [ˈkɑːzɑ] | 'house' | Allophone of pronounced as //a// which in Italian is largely realised as central pronounced as /[ä]/. |
| Kazakh: '''a'''lm'''a''' | pronounced as /[ɑ̝ɫ̪ˈmɑ̝]/ | 'apple' | Can be realised as near-open. | ||
| g'''a''' | pronounced as /[ᵑɡɑ]/ | 'land, soil' | Varies between back pronounced as /[ɑ]/ and central pronounced as /link/. | ||
| Central Khmer: [[Khmer script|ស្ករ]] / | pronounced as /[skɑː]/ | 'sugar' | See Khmer phonology | ||
| Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish: b'''a'''ts | pronounced as /[bɑ̽ts]/ | 'buttock' | The quality varies between open back pronounced as /[ɑ]/, open near-back pronounced as /[ɑ̟]/ and near-open near-back pronounced as /[ɑ̽]/ (illustrated in the example word, which is from the Maastrichtian dialect), depending on the dialect. | ||
| Low German; Low Saxon; German, Low; Saxon, Low: '''a'''l / Low German; Low Saxon; German, Low; Saxon, Low: '''aa'''l | pronounced as /[ɑːl]/ | 'all' | Backness may vary among dialects. | ||
| Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: K'''a'''pp | pronounced as /[kʰɑ̝p]/ | 'head' | Near-open fully back. See Luxembourgish phonology | ||
| Malay: [[Malay alphabet|mat'''a''']] | pronounced as /[ma.tɑ]/ | 'eye' | See Malay phonology | ||
| Kelantan-Pattani | Allophone of syllable-final /a/ in open-ended words and before /k/ and /h/ codas. See Kelantan-Pattani Malay | ||||
| Standard | qari | pronounced as /[qɑ.ri]/ | 'qari' | Found only in certain Arabic loanwords and used by speakers who know Arabic. Normally replaced by [{{IPA link|ä}}]. See Malay phonology | |
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|h'''a'''t]] | pronounced as /[hɑːt]/ | 'hate' | The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Central pronounced as /link/ in some other dialects. See Norwegian phonology | ||
| Some Azorean dialects | Portuguese: [[Portuguese alphabet|sem'''a'''na]] | pronounced as /[sɨ'mɑnɐ]/ | 'week' | See Portuguese phonology | |
| Paulista | Portuguese: [[Portuguese alphabet|veget'''a'''l]] | pronounced as /[veʒe'tɑʊ]/ | 'vegetable' | Only immediately before pronounced as /[ʊ]/. | |
| Russian: [[Russian orthography|п'''а'''лка]] / palka | pronounced as /[ˈpɑɫkə]/ | 'stick' | Occurs only before the hard pronounced as //l//, but not when a palatalized consonant precedes. See Russian phonology | ||
| Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: [[Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography|b'''a'''lach]] | pronounced as /[ˈpɑl̪ˠəx]/ | 'boy' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ in proximity to broad sonorants. | ||
| amq'''a''' | pronounced as /[à̠mqɑ̀]/ | 'lower back' | Possible realization of pronounced as //a// after uvular stops. | ||
| Some dialects | Swedish: [[Swedish orthography|j'''a'''g]] | pronounced as /[jɑːɡ]/ | 'I' | Weakly rounded pronounced as /link/ in Central Standard Swedish. See Swedish phonology | |
| '''ஆ'''ந | pronounced as /[ɑ̝ːn]/ | 'elephant' | Near-open. | ||
| Turkish | Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|'''a'''t]] | pronounced as /[ɑt̪]/ | 'horse' | Also described as central pronounced as /link/. See Turkish phonology | |
| Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian orthography|м'''а'''ти]] / maty | pronounced as /[ˈmɑtɪ]/ | 'mother' | See Ukrainian phonology | ||
| Vietnamese | Some dialects in North Central and Central | Vietnamese: [[Vietnamese orthography|g'''à''']] | pronounced as /[ɣɑ˨˩]/ | 'chicken' | See Vietnamese phonology |
| Standard | Western Frisian: l'''a'''ng | pronounced as /[ɫɑŋ]/ | 'long' | Also described as central pronounced as /link/. See West Frisian phonology | |
| Aastersk | Western Frisian: m'''aa'''t | pronounced as /[mɑːt]/ | 'mate' | Contrasts with a front pronounced as /link/. See West Frisian phonology | |
pronounced as /navigation/