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' | |
Bashkir | ҡаҙ (qađ) | [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 ([ä] or [ɐ̞]) in other dialects; fully front [a] in Majorcan Catalan. See Catalan phonology |
Majorcan and Valencian (some speakers) | lloc | [ˈʎ̟ɑk] | 'place' | Unrounded allophone of /ɔ/ in some accents. It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology |
Southern Valencian | bou | [ˈbɑw] | 'bull' | Pronunciation of the vowel /ɔ/ before [w]. It can be centralized. See Catalan phonology |
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 |
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 | General American | hot | [hɑt] | 'hot' | May be more front [ɑ̟ ~ ä], especially in accents without the cot-caught merger.[clarification needed] 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[22] | back | [bɑq] | 'back' | Allophone of /a/ before velars for some speakers.[22] |
Faroese | Some dialects | vátur | [ˈvɑːtʊɹ] | 'wet' | Corresponds to /ɔɑ/ in standard language. See Faroese 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].[31] 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.[35] 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]. |
Irish | Munster Dialect | áit | [ɑːtʲ] | 'place' | See Irish phonology |
Kaingang | ga | [ᵑɡɑ] | 'land, soil' | Varies between back [ɑ] and central [ɐ]. |
Khmer | ស្ករ (skâr) | [skɑː] | 'sugar' | See Khmer phonology |
Low German | al / aal | [ɑːl] | 'all' | Backness may vary among dialects. |
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 | nada | [ˈnɑðɐ] | 'nothing' | See Portuguese phonology |
Paulista | vegetal | [veʒeˈtɑw] | 'vegetable' | Only immediately before [w]. |
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.[53] See Swedish phonology |
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[57][58] |
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 |