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I was reading a book on English spelling (Dictionary of the British English Spelling System, by Greg Brooks) and it mentioned that the Short A sound (æ) can be spelled using the following graphemes:

  • a, as in cat
  • i, as in timbre
  • ai, as in plaid
  • al, as in salmon
  • ei, as in reveille (only in British English)

It also mentions in a table that the Short A sound can be spelled with the letters ae. But I didn't see any examples in the book.

Does anyone know of any words that have the letters "ae" used to make the Short A sound (æ)? A single example would be really helpful - and an exhaustive list would be even better.

Decapitated Soul
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kanamekun
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  • I often hear "anaesthetic" pronounced with a short A in the second syllable. It is not accented though, so is not clear. – Peter Apr 25 '21 at 14:36
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    I think of it as a silent "l" in "salmon", rather than "al" making the short "a" sound. Apparently, the "l" in "salmon" has never been pronounced but was introduced to bring the word closer to its Latin original. In French (where we got it from) it is still "saumon". – rjpond Apr 25 '21 at 21:52
  • Well, the A in your example "cat" is a short A, so it's either referring back to that example or maybe incorrectly referring to an A that makes a schwa (ə) sound. In the English name "Michael," "ae" has that sound. Your question is difficult to impossible to answer since either you or that book is incorrect in premise, making any answer, at best, a stab in the dark. – Benjamin Harman Apr 25 '21 at 21:53
  • Hello Benjamin, the grapheme A does make the /æ/ phoneme 50% of the time. The "A, as in cat" example was meant to refer to that. Sorry for the confusion if I worded it incorrectly! Let me know a better way to word it and I'm happy to edit. – kanamekun Apr 25 '21 at 22:47
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    The short æ sound was actually spelled "æ" (which was a single letter called "Ash", not the pair of letters "ae") in Old English. Ælfrik and Cædmon mentioned in the answer were of course Old English words which later fell out of use, and whose spelling was never "modernized." – alephzero Apr 26 '21 at 00:32
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    @BenjaminHarman the modern pronunciation of "Michael" is a typical example of English retainig the spelling of a foreign word but mangling the original pronunciation - compare "Michael" and "Israel" which are both Hebrew. In musical settings at least, Israel usually retains its correct 3 syllables, "Is-ra-el". – alephzero Apr 26 '21 at 00:40

1 Answers1

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It's not common for the digraph ⟨ae⟩ to represent /æ/. ⟨ae⟩ is usually pronounced:

  • /iː/ (encyclopaedia, aether, aeon)
  • /ɛ/ (aesthetics, aerial in AmE)
  • /eə/ or /ɛː/ (aeroplane, aerial in BrE).

The only word where ⟨ae⟩ represents /æ/ I've been able to find is Gaelic: /ˈɡæl.ɪk/. However, it's also pronounced with the diphthong /eɪ/: /ˈɡeɪ.lɪk/.

As @LPH pointed out in a comment, Caedmon and Aelfrik are two other words that have ⟨ae⟩ represent /æ/.

Decapitated Soul
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