English speakers, how many ways do you say “a”?

Question

Since trying to find out how to say "omicron", I've fallen down a rabbit hole of pronunciation differences. I think I pronounce all these leading "a" sounds differently.1. all, alternative 2. almond, amen (short a) 3. allowed, amend 4. allegory, apple 5. ale 6. ate, asynchronousMaybe 5 and 6 are the same, but I don't think so.Do you pronounce these differently? Are there even more leading "a" sounds?

tacostakohashi · Accepted Answer

English speakers don't all agree on how to pronounce things.The nature of vowels (as opposed to consonants) is that the vowels can be varied in length (in simple terms, anyway).

sgerrand · Answer

Even more confusingly, "ate" is pronounced differently depending on the temporal tense: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ate

phekunde · Answer

Add to that the pronunciation of 'o', "ch" and a lot more. I went into a rabbit hole on the same issue few years ago when I was trying to understand why "ch" in "chord" and "chore" are pronounced differently.

robthebrew · Answer

I think you need to confirm what nationality and even city the commentators come from

petee · Answer

I pronounce 'Almond' with the same sound as 'All'. Fyi I live on the East Coast of US

AnimalMuppet · Answer

I pronounce 1 and 2 the same. I pronounce 5 and 6 the same. I pronounce 3 as a schwa.Western US, if that matters...

derbOac · Answer

fwiw, I think I pronounce 1-3 the same, and 5-6 the same. I'm having trouble understanding how 1-3 would sound different.