Language |
Word |
IPA |
Meaning |
Notes
|
Afrikaans |
Standard |
daar |
[dɑːr] |
'there' |
The quality varies between open near-back unrounded [ɑ̟ː], open back unrounded [ɑː] and even open back rounded [ɒː]. See Afrikaans phonology
|
Äiwoo
|
kânongä
|
[kɑnoŋæ]
|
'I want'
|
|
Arabic |
Standard |
طويل / ṭawīl |
[tˤɑˈwiːl] |
'tall' |
Allophone of long and short /a/ near emphatic consonants, depending on the speaker's accent. See Arabic phonology
|
Essaouira
|
قال / qāl
|
[qɑːl]
|
'he said'
|
One of the possible realisations of /ā/.
|
Armenian |
Eastern |
հաց / hacʿ |
[hɑt͡sʰ] |
'bread' |
|
Azerbaijani |
qardaş |
[ɡɑ̝ɾˈd̪ɑ̝ʃ] |
'brother' |
Near-open.
|
Bashkir
|
ҡаҙ / qað
|
[qɑð]ⓘ
|
'goose'
|
|
Catalan |
Many dialects |
pal |
[ˈpɑɫ] |
'stick' |
Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants. See Catalan phonology
|
Some dialects |
mà |
[ˈmɑ] |
'hand' |
More central ([ɑ̟], [ä]) in other dialects; fully front [a] in Majorcan Catalan.
|
Some Valencian and Majorcan speakers |
lloc |
[ˈʎ̟ɑk] |
'place' |
Unrounded allophone of /ɔ/ in some accents. Can be centralized.
|
Some southern Valencian speakers |
bou |
[ˈbɑw] |
'bull' |
Pronunciation of the vowel /ɔ/ before [w]. Can be centralized.
|
Chinese |
Mandarin |
棒 / bàng |
[pɑŋ˥˩]ⓘ |
'stick' |
Allophone of /a/ before /ŋ/. See Standard Chinese phonology
|
Dutch |
Standard |
bad |
[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 [ɑ̝̈]. See Dutch phonology
|
Leiden |
[bɑ̝t] |
Near-open fully back; can be rounded [ɒ̝] instead. See Dutch phonology
|
Rotterdam
|
Amsterdam |
aap |
[ɑːp] |
'monkey' |
Corresponds to [aː ~ äː] in standard Dutch.
|
Antwerp
|
Utrecht
|
The Hague |
nauw |
[nɑː] |
'narrow' |
Corresponds to [ʌu] in standard Dutch.
|
English |
Cardiff |
hot |
[hɑ̝̈t] |
'hot' |
Somewhat raised and fronted.
|
Norfolk
|
General American |
[hɑt] |
May be more front [ɑ̟ ~ ä], especially in accents without the cot-caught merger. See English phonology
|
Cockney |
palm |
[pɑːm] |
'palm' |
Fully back. It can be more front [ɑ̟ː] instead.
|
General South African |
Fully back. Broad varieties usually produce a rounded vowel [ɒː ~ ɔː] instead, while Cultivated SAE prefers a more front vowel [ɑ̟ː ~ äː]. See South African English phonology
|
Cultivated South African |
[pɑ̟ːm] |
Typically more front than cardinal [ɑ]. It may be as front as [äː] in some Cultivated South African and southern English speakers. See English phonology and South African English phonology
|
Received Pronunciation
|
Non-local Dublin[27] |
back |
[bɑq] |
'back' |
Allophone of /a/ before velars for some speakers.[27]
|
Estonian |
vale |
[ˈvɑ̝le̞ˑ] |
'lie' |
Near-open. See Estonian phonology
|
Faroese |
Some dialects |
vátur |
[ˈvɑːtʊɹ] |
'wet' |
Corresponds to /ɔɑ/ in standard language. See Faroese phonology
|
Finnish |
kana |
[ˈkɑ̝nɑ̝] |
'hen' |
Near-open, also described as open central [ä].[30] See Finnish phonology
|
French |
Conservative Parisian |
pas |
[pɑ] |
'not' |
Contrasts with /a/, but many speakers have only one open vowel [ä]. See French phonology
|
Quebec |
pâte |
[pɑːt]ⓘ |
'paste' |
Contrasts with /a/. See Quebec French phonology
|
Galician |
irmán |
[iɾˈmɑŋ] |
'brother' |
Allophone of /a/ in contact with velar consonants. See Galician phonology
|
Georgian |
გუდა / guda |
[k̬ud̪ɑ] |
'leather bag' |
Usually not fully back [ɑ], typically [ɑ̟]to[ä].[38] Sometimes transcribed as /a/.
|
German |
Standard |
Gourmand |
[ɡ̊ʊʁˈmɑ̃ː] |
'gourmand' |
Nasalized; often realized as rounded [ɒ̃ː]. See Standard German phonology
|
Many speakers |
nah |
[nɑː] |
'near' |
Used by speakers in Northern Germany, East Central Germany, Franconia and Switzerland. Also a part of the Standard Austrian accent.[42] More front in other accents. See Standard German phonology
|
Greek |
Sfakian |
μπύρα / býra |
[ˈbirɑ] |
"beer" |
Corresponds to central [ä ~ ɐ] in Modern Standard Greek. See Modern Greek phonology
|
Hungarian |
Some dialects |
magyar |
[ˈmɑɟɑr] |
'Hungarian' |
Weakly rounded [ɒ] in standard Hungarian. See Hungarian phonology
|
Inuit |
West Greenlandic |
oqarpoq |
[ɔˈqɑpːɔq̚] |
'he says' |
Allophone of /a/ before and especially between uvulars. See Inuit phonology
|
Italian
|
Some Piedmont dialects
|
casa
|
[ˈkɑːzɑ]
|
'house'
|
Allophone of /a/ which in Italian is largely realised as central [ä].
|
Kazakh |
alma |
[ɑ̝ɫ̪ˈmɑ̝] |
'apple' |
Can be realised as near-open.
|
Kaingang |
ga |
[ᵑɡɑ] |
'land, soil' |
Varies between back [ɑ] and central [ɐ].
|
Khmer |
ស្ករ / skâr |
[skɑː] |
'sugar' |
See Khmer phonology
|
Limburgish |
bats |
[bɑ̽ts] |
'buttock' |
The quality varies between open back [ɑ], open near-back [ɑ̟] and near-open near-back [ɑ̽] (illustrated in the example word, which is from the Maastrichtian dialect), depending on the dialect.
|
Low German |
al / aal |
[ɑːl] |
'all' |
Backness may vary among dialects.
|
Luxembourgish |
Kapp |
[kʰɑ̝p] |
'head' |
Near-open fully back. See Luxembourgish phonology
|
Malay |
Kedah |
mata |
[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
|
[qɑ.ri]
|
'qari'
|
Found only in certain Arabic loanwords and used by speakers who know Arabic. Normally replaced by [ä]. See Malay phonology
|
Norwegian |
hat |
[hɑːt] |
'hate' |
The example word is from Urban East Norwegian. Central [äː] in some other dialects. See Norwegian phonology
|
Portuguese |
Some Azorean dialects |
semana |
[sɨ'mɑnɐ] |
'week' |
See Portuguese phonology
|
Paulista
|
vegetal
|
[veʒe'tɑʊ]
|
'vegetable'
|
Only immediately before [ʊ].
|
Russian |
палка / palka |
[ˈpɑɫkə] |
'stick' |
Occurs only before the hard /l/, but not when a palatalized consonant precedes. See Russian phonology
|
Scottish Gaelic |
Lewis |
balach |
[ˈpɑl̪ˠəx] |
'boy' |
Allophone of [a] in proximity to broad sonorants.
|
Sema |
amqa |
[à̠mqɑ̀] |
'lower back' |
Possible realization of /a/ after uvular stops.
|
Swedish |
Some dialects |
jag |
[jɑːɡ] |
'I' |
Weakly rounded [ɒ̜ː] in Central Standard Swedish.[63] See Swedish phonology
|
Toda |
ஆந |
[ɑ̝ːn] |
'elephant' |
Near-open.
|
Turkish |
at |
[ɑt̪] |
'horse' |
Also described as central [ä]. See Turkish phonology
|
Ukrainian |
мати / maty |
[ˈmɑtɪ] |
'mother' |
See Ukrainian phonology
|
Vietnamese
|
Some dialects in North Central and Central
|
gà
|
[ɣɑ˨˩]
|
'chicken'
|
See Vietnamese phonology[67][68]
|
West Frisian |
Standard |
lang |
[ɫɑŋ] |
'long' |
Also described as central [ä]. See West Frisian phonology
|
Aastersk |
maat |
[mɑːt] |
'mate' |
Contrasts with a front /aː/. See West Frisian phonology
|