1

Possible Duplicate:
Sounds of the letter a

I was wondering if there is a general pronunciation rule for how to pronounce A and L when they start the word. I noticed words Also Almost Always Alright Almighty Already Although.. etc. That is, al- is followed by a consonant, A is pronounced more like O.

where as in words where L is followed by a vowel, A is pronounced more like A, not O. For example: Alone Alike Along Aluminium etc.

then I thought of 'Ale' where its pronounced even differently. or the word Ally (allies) where L is followed by a consonant but pronounced as if followed by a vowel.

My confusion is then between /ɔl/ and /el/ Is there a rule and what is it?

Community
  • 1
gendalfas
  • 19
  • 2
  • 2
    Questions about pronunciation are difficult to answer, partly because pronunciation is so variable. For example, do you have in mind British or American English? And it's also very difficult to show how words are pronounced without using phonemic symbols. – Barrie England Dec 28 '12 at 11:47
  • i was not aware of differences of pronunciation in American/British with the al- prefix. From my experience it's pretty universal (am i wrong?)

    My question is pretty narrow and precise. the 'possible duplicate' question does not answer my question, and it is even stranger that mine gets closed, but the question about terminal -al pronunciation does not. Well, let us look for answers elsewhere where moderators are more sensible :)

     – gendalfas Dec 28 '12 at 12:10
  • Accents for words like Always differ within the US, and are different from BrE too. And, indeed, a Scotsman saying Always would be different from a southern-Englishman. – Andrew Leach Dec 28 '12 at 12:13
  • However when i heard my girlfriend pronouncing 'also' as /el/ I shivered. Neither an Alabaman nor a Scotsman would pronounce it that way, to the best of my knowledge after my travels :)

    but then am I to understand, there is no specific rule?

     – gendalfas Dec 28 '12 at 12:16
  • For example, the American pronunciation of ‘always’ can begin with /ɔl/ or /ɑl/. In British English, it’s /ɔːl/. See the problem? – Barrie England Dec 28 '12 at 12:20
  • Thank you Barrie - but Alas! (Alas? thats even stranger al-). These pronunciations are still defined by something then, if you made them as finite as that. So there must be some rule defining it? So that students would not pronounce Also as /el-/.

    I couldn't find it in the '..for dummies' series :)

    I was probably most interested in the precise pronunciation for British (Queens) English, or Oxridge english if you like, simply because I spent many years in England. But really 'a rule' would be appreciated. any :)

     – gendalfas Dec 28 '12 at 12:23
  • re your original post, gendalfas - I've not checked, but, to my ear, 'pronounced even differently' tries to extract a meaning from even even it doesn't allow: differently (yet) again or in yet another way are certainly OK. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 28 '12 at 12:35
  • Oh, and if you want a really quirky one, almond can be pronounced ol - mənd, ahl - mənd or ah - mənd. (I tried, Barrie.) – Edwin Ashworth Dec 28 '12 at 12:42
  • There is no rule, except that unstressed ‘a’ will tend to become /ə/ (see RegDwighт’s rule 8 in the link at top). English pronunciation has changed in various directions since its spelling was (sort of) fixed in the 14th century; we’ve borrowed all sorts of words, with their spellings, which don’t follow English models; and depending on when those words came into the language, their pronunciations have changed in different directions, too — often different directions in different places. There’s just too much historical contingency to look for ‘rules’ with more than statistical significance. – StoneyB on hiatus Dec 28 '12 at 13:54

0 Answers0