au In British English
'au' as a digraph has five sounds that we are going to talk about here.
Digraphs are a set of two letters that stand together and produce a new sound.
Digraph | au |
---|---|
Name | au (pronounced /ˈeɪ ˈyou/) |
Common Sound(s) | /ɔː/, /ɒ/, /a:/, /əʊ/ |
The Digraph 'au'
Sound 1: /ɔː/
'au' always comes at the beginning or in the middle of words and it sounds /ɔː/:
Example
sauce /sɔːs/
August /ɔːˈɡʌst/
laundry /ˈlɔːndri/
Sound 2: /ɒ/
'au' also sounds /ɒ/ in the middle or at the beginning of a word:
Example
because /bɪˈkɒz/
sausage /ˈsɒs.ɪdʒ/
Sound 3: /a:/
'au' can stand in the middle or at the beginning of a word and sounds /a:/:
Example
aunt /ɑːnt/
laugh /lɑːf/
Sound 4: /əʊ/
'au' sounds /əʊ/ in French loanwords:
Example
aubergine /ˈəʊ.bə.ʒiːn/
mauve /məʊv/
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