Graphemes for /a/ and Related Phonemes
/a/ - open near-front unrounded vowel
| Writing System | Grapheme | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| apd-Latn | <a> | arᶁ ‘earth’ | |
| ar-Arab | <ا> | ابي ‘my father’ | word initial |
| ar-Arab | <ى> | مستشفى ‘hospital’ | word final only |
| ar-Arab | <◌َ> | كَيْفَ حا لُكَ ‘how are you’ | |
| ast-Latn | <a> | pata ‘leg’ | |
| bcy-Latn | <a> | atɨmtə ‘onion’ | |
| bec-Latn | <a> | akpa ‘box’ | |
| bec-Latn | <ia> | asiavɛl ‘fishing line’, cia ‘be afraid’ | After the palatalised allophone of ‹s›, ‹c› or ‹z› only. |
| blt-Tavt | <◌ꪰ> | ꪏꪰꪀ ‘to launder’ | See /aː/. The short /a/ has a quality contrast as well as a length contrast. The pronunciation may be close to [ɐ]. The short /a/ occurs only in closed syllables, without final /ʔ/. Various script dialects will favor either U+AAB0 or U+AAB7. |
| blt-Tavt | <◌ꪷ> | ꪏꪷꪀ ‘to launder’ | See /aː/. The short /a/ has a quality contrast as well as a length contrast. The pronunciation may be close to [ɐ]. The short /a/ occurs only in closed syllables, without final /ʔ/. Various script dialects will favor either U+AAB0 or U+AAB7. |
| de-Latn | <aa> | Saat ‘seed’ | |
| de-Latn | <ah> | mahlen ‘to grind’ | |
| de-Latn | <a> | was ‘what’ | |
| dv-Thaa | <◌ަ> | ދަނީ | |
| es-Latn | <a> | gato ‘cat’ | |
| fub-Arab | <ع◌َ> | عَلْکَوَلْ ‘promise’ | word initial |
| fub-Arab | <◌َ> | کَلْحَلْدِ ‘bull’, رٜىٰتَ ‘half’ | |
| fub-Latn | <a> | alkawal ‘promise’, kalhaldi ‘bull’, reeta ‘half’ | |
| ha-Latn | <a> | fari ‘white’ | |
| id-Latn | <a> | apa ‘what’ | |
| lbw-Latn | <a> | ata ‘slave’, bake ‘skeleton’ | |
| ne-Deva | <अ> | अगाडि ‘before’ | |
| ne-Deva | <आ> | आज ‘today’ | |
| ne-Deva | <◌ा> | नेपाल ‘nepal’ | |
| png-Latn | <a> | ara, atana | |
| ru-Cyrl | <а> | трава́ ‘grass’, анана́с ‘pineapple’, облака́ ‘clouds’, како́й ‘which’, сообража́ть ‘think’ | |
| ru-Cyrl | <о> | олигvа́рх ‘oligarch’, облака́ ‘clouds’, тропа́ ‘trail’, | When unstressed |
| ru-Cyrl | <я> | мя́со ‘meat’, говоря́т ‘they say’, пя́тый ‘fifth’ | When stressed, except when following those consonants that cannot be palatalized (ж, ш, щ, ц), or when unstressed and part of a grammatical ending |
| srr-Arab | <ا◌َ> | اَرْدَبَ ‘Wednesday’ | word initial |
| srr-Arab | <◌َ> | ڃَخْ ‘to chew’ | |
| srr-Latn | <a> | mal ‘association’ | |
| wo-Arab | <ا◌ࣵ> | اࣵدِّنَ ‘world, earth’ | word initial |
| wo-Arab | <◌ࣵ> | لࣵکّ ‘to speak a language’ | |
| wo-Latn | <a◌̀> | làkk ‘to speak a language’ | |
| xnz-Copt | <ⲁ> | ||
| xnz-Latn | <a> | ||
| yba-Latn | <a> | ala |
/ã/ - nasalized open near-front unrounded vowel
| Writing System | Grapheme | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ar-Arab | <◌ً> | عادةً ‘usually’ | |
| ne-Deva | <◌ा◌ँ> | यहाँ ‘here’ | |
| ne-Deva | <ॲ> | अँजुली ‘cupped hands in worship’ | |
| png-Latn | <an> | yan, hantana |
/aː/ - lengthened open near-front unrounded vowel
| Writing System | Grapheme | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| apd-Latn | <aa> | raajil ‘man’ | |
| apd-Latn | <ā> | rājil ‘man’ | Hillelson orthography |
| ar-Arab | <آ> | آب ‘August’ | word initial only |
| ar-Arab | <ا> | احتجاج ‘protest’ | |
| bcy-Latn | <aa> | baatə ‘father’ | |
| blt-Tavt | <ꪱ> | ꪀꪱ ‘crow’ | Tai Dam has length contrast only between /aː/ and /a/. |
| dv-Thaa | <◌ާ> | އާދެ | |
| fub-Arab | <ع◌َا> | عَلْعَادَ ‘custom’ | word initial |
| fub-Arab | <◌َا> | نَانٜ ‘previously’, وَلاَ ‘nothing’, بِلاَ ‘without’ | |
| fub-Latn | <aa> | naane ‘previously’, walaa ‘nothing’, bilaa ‘without’ | |
| ha-Latn | <a> | tare ‘together’ | |
| ha-Latn | <ā> | fāri ‘first’, gādo ‘inheritance’ | Macron is written only when meaning is not obvious. |
| png-Latn | <aa> | naa, hwaa | |
| srr-Arab | <آ> | آرࣹيرْ ‘peanut’ | word initial |
| srr-Arab | <ا◌َ> | وَاگّ ‘to be able’ | |
| srr-Latn | <aa> | maal ‘punish’ | |
| xnz-Copt | <ⲁ◌̄> | ||
| xnz-Latn | <aa> |
Sequences including /a/ - open near-front unrounded vowel
| Writing System | Phoneme Sequence | Grapheme | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| blt-Tavt | /ap/ | <ꪚ◌ꪾ> | ꪝꪾꪚ ‘to fold’ | short /a/ + /p/ (alternative) |
| blt-Tavt | /ap/ | <◌ꪷꪚ> | ꪝꪷꪚ ‘to fold’ | short /a/ + /p/ (alternative) |
| blt-Tavt | /aw/ | <ꪹꪱ> | ꪹꪔ꪿ꪱ ‘turtle’ | ligature: short /a/ + /w/ |
| blt-Tavt | /aj/ | <ꪼ> | ꪼꪜ ‘to go’, ꪼꪏ ‘teacher’ | ligature: short /a/ + /j/ |
| blt-Tavt | /an/ | <ꪽ> | ꪋ꪿ꪽ ‘beautiful’, ꪙꪽ ‘loud’ | ligature: short /a/ + /n/ |
| blt-Tavt | /ap/ | <◌ꪾꪚ> | ꪝꪾꪚ ‘to fold’ | short /a/ + /p/ |
| blt-Tavt | /am/ | <◌ꪾ> | ꪜꪾ꫁ ‘to cut down’, ꪙꪾ꫁ ‘water’ | ligature: short /a/ + /m/ |
| ru-Cyrl | /ja/ | <я> | я ‘i’, моя́ ‘my’, статья́ ‘article’ | When stressed and either word-initial or following a vowel |
Near-open
Section titled “Near-open”/æ/ - near-open near-front unrounded vowel
| Writing System | Grapheme | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| dv-Thaa | <◌ައ◌ި> | ސައި | In standard dialect, in which this vowel is long but has no short counterpart. In other dialects this vowel is /ai/. |
| en-Latn | <au> | laugh | |
| en-Latn | <a> | hat |
Open-mid
Section titled “Open-mid”/ɛ/ - open-mid near-front unrounded vowel
| Writing System | Grapheme | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| blt-Tavt | <ꪵ> | ꪵꪕ꫁ ‘true’ | |
| de-Latn | <e> | denn ‘because’; | Before double consonants |
| de-Latn | <äh> | wählen ‘choose’ | |
| de-Latn | <ä> | mächtig ‘powerful’ | |
| en-Latn | <ai> | again, mountain | |
| en-Latn | <a> | many | |
| en-Latn | <ea> | head | |
| en-Latn | <eo> | leopard | |
| en-Latn | <e> | bet | |
| en-Latn | <ie> | friend | |
| id-Latn | <e> | enak ‘tasty’, leher ‘neck’, apel ‘date’ | The sixth vowel, often accented in dictionary headwords; the six vowels are written with only 5 symbols, so the two e’s are not distinguished; pronounced [ej] in many loans from Portuguese such as meja ‘table’ |
| nat-Latn | <e> | eje ‘big termite house’, cenge ‘country’ | |
| png-Latn | <e◌̱> | e̱she̱, ce̱be̱ | |
| wo-Arab | <◌ࣹ> | سࣹتْ ‘clean’ | |
| wo-Latn | <e> | set ‘clean’ | |
| xnz-Copt | <ⲉ> | ||
| xnz-Copt | <ⲏ> | Obsolete for /ɛː/ or /i/ | |
| xnz-Latn | <e> | ||
| yba-Latn | <ɛ> | ɛnɛ |