Sound Right
All sounds
› /ɑ/
/ɑ/ — the FATHER vowel
as in hot, stop, father
Main spellings (~95%)
⟨o⟩ ~70%
h
o
t
s
t
o
p
g
o
t
n
o
t
j
o
b
b
o
x
l
o
t
t
o
p
d
r
o
p
o
n
⟨a⟩ ~25%
Regular after /w/ (want, watch, wash). Also in "father."
f
a
th
er
w
a
n
t
w
a
tch
w
a
s
Unusual spellings (~5%)
⟨ach⟩
y
ach
t
⟨au⟩
c
au
s
e
⟨aw⟩
r
aw
⟨ough⟩
b
ough
t
⟨augh⟩
c
augh
t
⟨awe⟩
awe
s
o
m
e
/ɑ/ vs /ɔ/
Cot-caught merger:
Many Americans pronounce /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ the same way. If "cot" and "caught" sound identical to you, that's normal! See the
LAW vowel
for /ɔ/.