My book about American English pronunciation (General American) says that to pronounce the a (whose sound is /æ/), I should drop my jaw down as to say [ä], but then (from that position) try to say [ε]. (The book doesn't use IPA; the [ä] sound is the one present in bought, and the [ε] sound is the one present in bet.)
When I listen to the pronunciation of words containing the /æ/ sound, that seems closes to an a (the Italian one), and sometimes a combination of e and a (such as in man), while bought contains a /ɔː/ which to my ears is closer to the Italian o.
How is exactly the pronunciation of cat?
Best Answer
This link to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary has a nice audio example. In IPA notation, it is pronounced:
I believe the word man is subject to a "weak form" depending on its placement in the sentence. From this link on the OALD website: