489. One vowel sound, 15 different spellings: The /ɑ/ as in FATHER vowel

So clearly the Oz in father can be spelled with the letter A as in the words father, spa, drama, wander, calm. Can you hear it? Ah. Ah. Not every time you see an A, it's the Oz and father could be hat, as in cat, also a could be bait. A as in day, also a. So not every time you see the letter A, you'll hear Oz and father. But the Oz and father can be spelled with the let A. Hey, you're listening to the Influency podcast. I'm Hadar, your host, a pronunciation expert, fluency coach, and a proud non native speaker. With over 16 years of experience teaching, I am here to share with you all my secrets on how to show up in English clearly with confidence and freedom. On this podcast, I'll provide step by step strategies, lessons, stories and practical tips to keep you inspired and motivated on your English journey. Are you ready? Let's do it. Hey everyone, it's Hadar. Today we are going to talk about the A as in father and and the 15 different ways to spell this specific sound. Ah as in father. If you're new to my channel, then hi, my name is Hadar. I'm a non native speaker of English and I'm here to help you speak English with clarity, with confidence and with freedom. If you want to learn more with me, go check out my website@hadar shemesh.com and you can also follow me on social media for a lot of great daily content. So as you know, if you've been learning English for a while, then you know that English is not a phonetic language. So a certain spelling pattern doesn't necessarily mean that it's always going to sound the same and vice versa. A specific sound in English, just the sound of it, A, E, ooh, may have several different spelling patterns. So today, to allow you to open up your brain and start seeing the difference between spelling and sounds pronunciation, I'm going to walk you through the 15 different spelling patterns of the ah as in father. So clearly the oz in father can be spelled with a letter A, as in the words father, spa, drama, wander, calm. Can you hear it? Ah. Ah. Now, not every time you see an A, it's the oz. And father could be hat as in cat, right? Also A could be bait. A as in day, also a. So not every time you see the letter A, you'll hear oz and father, but the oz in father can be spelled with the letter A. The oz and father can also be spelled with two A's, as in Afrikaans and ar as part of the R vowel sound. R as in car, start, farm, march. Now, I feel that the oz and father is a little different. When there is an R right after, I feel like it's more rounded. Listen. Spa. Car. Right. Like the lips are a little bit more rounded. Now, this is only in American English because in British English or other dialects where the R is not pronounced in our vowels, non rhotic dialects, then you would just pronounce an ah sound. Caw, start, march instead of march. Okay, so that's a subtle nuance here between different dialects. So subtle. Not so subtle. Also aar. Bizarre. Bizarre. Right. But the pronunciation is the same. Okay. It's only the spelling pattern that changes. We also find the oz and father spelled with E, A, r. And I know that when we see the spelling pattern, we want to say ear. Right? Just like the word ear, but still, think about it. Heart. Heart. Right. We have the ah as in father and then an R sound. Heart. Also er. Sargent, sergeant. Listen. Sar. Sar. Sar. Again, R as in car. But we see the letter E here still, as in father. Also just the letter E as in entrepreneur or entree. Right? Words that are loan words from French. So even though it's spelled with e, it's a entrepreneur. Now, of course, not every time you see an E, it's an ah sound. Right? Like I do I still need to say it. I hope not. Because the letter E could be E as in bed. The letter E could also be as in elite. But in this case, the letter E can also be oz and father. Ach, yacht. We don't pronounce the ch here, by the way. Also my favorite, the letter o, that's probably the most common spelling pattern. And even though when you see the letter O, you might want to go into a more rounded sound like o, but it's actually ah. Honest. Stop. Job. Body problem. Okay, remember this one, because this is probably the most common spelling pattern that is associated with the ah as in father. Oa, broad, aw, don, pawn. Now, in some dialects, some people might pronounce it with a slightly different sound, more rounded. Aw, dawn, pawn. But in other dialects, there is this thing called the back vowel merger, where the open oz in father and the as in daughter, they merge. And all of these words that I'm about to teach you are actually pronounced with the oz in father. West Coast Midwest. Okay, But east coast dialect usually pronounce the following spelling patterns with a more rounded sound, ah versus aw. So again, aw, don. If we want to follow the ozen father pattern. Pawn, hawk, law. But again, you might hear it in a more rounded version, dawn pawn but I like to simplify things and we will just keep it as Oz and Father Al talk chalk walk Also a U author fault sauce A U G H caught taught daughter and the last one ough fought bought okay, so these were the 15 different spelling patterns of the ah as in father. Now, the most important thing is that you read, recognize the sound, you hear it, and you start associating it with these words. Like I said, the most common spelling pattern is the letter O. After that, all the au, aw, a l, l, a l k right that we see in those words. Especially like I said, if we are following the back vowel merger. And that's it. And I think it's a fun practice and it helps you understand the difference between spelling and pronunciation. If you found this helpful, I'm inviting you to follow me and also go to my website. Sign up for the weekly newsletter so you can get my weekly lessons to your inbox every single week. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.