| halt malt quad quaff quash salt scald squab squad squash squat swab swamp swan swap swash swat swatch wad waft Wally Walt wan wand want was wash wasp watch | alter diamante equality flambe Malta petanque quadrangle quadrant quadruped quadruple quagga qualify quality quantify quantity quantum quarantine quarrel quarry restaurant scallop squabble squadron squalid squalor squander squatter swaddle swallow swashbuckling swastika twaddle waddle waffle Wagga wallaby wallet wallop wallow wander wanton warrant warren warrior wattle what wigwam wrath yacht |
10 responses to “a as in want”
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The Spelfabet shop has affordable, downloadable spelling teaching resources.
scallop is /æ/ and/ə/
was and what is /ʌ/
watt is /ɑ/, as are the rest of the words
Not in everyone’s accent!
Hi, I notice that all these words have the ‘w’ sound before the a except for halt, malt, scald, salt. Is there a reason for these words spelt this way? Is it to do with the letter L changing how it sounds, similar to the words like ‘all’ and (also) talk?
Hi Tali, yes, the semivowel consonant sound /w/ messes with this vowel’s spelling, and with a couple of others (ar as in war, warm, wardrobe and or as in work, worm, worst). The semivowel /l/ does the same thing in wall, fall, ball, and I guess in salt, malt etc. Most funny spelling stuff like this relates to changes in pronunciation over time, particularly as a result of the Great Vowel Shift. The spellings we have today reflect pronunciations from the past. The last couple of episodes of the History Of English podcast are about the Great Vowel Shift, but I don’t remember the salt, halt, malt spelling getting a mention, it might. Here’s the podcast link, highly recommended: https://historyofenglishpodcast.com. There is also a delightful little YouTube video that lets you listen to how Queen Elizabeth I’s pronunciation differed from Queen Elizabeth IIs here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fvmcnRhTP8. Again I don’t think malt, salt etc specifically get a mention but you get the general idea, pronunciation is always changing but spelling is less flexible. You can look these words up in an etymology dictionary and that might shed more light too, though we can’t go back in time and actually hear how words were pronounced so a lot of the linguistics detective work draws conclusions about speech from what was written at the time. All the best, Alison
Absolutely love your site. It is my go to planning my intervention lessons. Love that it is Australian also. We definitely say all that list with the /o/ sound. I heard a speechy calling them w influenced vowels?
A built in seat banquette, not the feast, also pronounces the a as an o sound.
To easy. Need more words
Feel free to suggest some! I am not including derived forms in these lists, but you can add affixes to create many more words e.g. wanted, wanting, unwanted.
Did I miss swallow? or is it here?
Good point, it wasn’t but I have added it. Thanks! Alison