Learn English – Pronunciation of “a” in “cat”

american-englishpronunciation

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:

/kæt/

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:

Weak forms and strong forms

Certain very common words, for example at, and, for, can, have two pronunciations. We give the usual (weak) pronunciation first. The second pronunciation (strong) must be used if the word is stressed, and also generally when the word is at the end of a sentence. For example:

  • Can /kən/ you help?
  • I’ll help if I can /kæn/.