How to Pronounce the /ɒ/ Sound 

How to Pronounce the /ɒ/ Sound

In this lesson, we are going to learn how the sound /ɒ/ is produced by looking at the articulatory organs.

What Type of Sound Is /ɒ/?

/ɒ/ is the rounded form of /ɑ/ and it is mainly used in the British dialect.

How to Produce /ɒ/?

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To produce it, drop the jaw just a little and round the lips, unlike the unrounded /ɑ/ sound. Push your lips together and make a short, voiced sound. As you can see in the picture, the mouth is slightly more open than the /æ/ sound and less rounded than when producing the /ɔ/ sound.

Which Letters are Pronounced as /ɒ/?

The sound /ɒ/ is represented by the following letters:

o:

Example

on /ɒn/

from /frɒm/

problem /ˈprɒb.ləm/

a:

Example

what /wɒt/

watch /wɒtʃ/

Example

because /bɪˈkɒz/

restaurant /ˈres.tər.ɒnt/

/ɒ/ Around the World

As you can see in the table below, almost all of the common languages around the world do not have this sound. Therefore, you need a little practice to produce it.

Existence

Example

Mandarin

x

-

Spanish

x

-

Hindi

x

-

Bengali

x

-

Portuguese

x

-

Russian

x

-

Japanese

x

-

Vietnamese

x

-

Turkish

x

-

French

x

-

German

x

-

Italian

x

-

Persian

تا

Standard Arabic

x

-

Korean

ᄌᆞ주

Indonesian

x

-

Filipino

x

-

Hungarian

hat

Dutch

x

-

Polish

x

-

Romanian

x

-

Swedish

x

-

Czech

x

-

Greek

x

-

Ukrainian

x

-

Urdu

x

-

Listening

Let's listen to the pronunciation of the /ɒ/ sound which has been mentioned below:

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Down below, there are two other sounds similar to the /ɒ/ sound. At first, listen to the /æ/ sound and then listen to the /ɔ/ sound:

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