American English article “a” pronunciation

The full pronunciation of the word “a” is used for emphasis. It’s also the citation form of the word, although you could also just use the schwa or (in the accents that have it) /ʌ/ for the citation form. You will almost always hear it pronounced in speech as a schwa.

I have said that the stress pattern is an indicator but a For me is always the short (Schwa) even when stressed

Everyone is different but generally speaking, I use /ə/ like 99% of the time and only use /eɪ/ if I am really over-articulating (like reading something to a toddler)

1) regional/personal preference 2) many speakers use /eɪ/ for emphasis: Anna: I need a volunteer to come with me to the candy store and get more Fun Size Snickers. Beth: Ooh I'll go! Carlito: Yeah, me too! "I said /eɪ/ volunteer, thank you very much. Carlito, you can stay here and put up decorations."

Because /eɪ/ is a longer vowel sound, it is used less the more fast-paced speech becomes/in the middle of other phrases/clauses: *"There's really not much difference between* ***a*** *long-haired cat and* ***a*** *short-haired cat"* — I struggle to imagine anyone saying this with /eɪ/ sounds. But also, IME most American speakers just don't use /eɪ/ much at all. We are kind of obsessed with turning vowel sounds into /ǝ/.

It's almost always a schwa sound. The only time you'd use the long a sound is if you wanted to put stress/emphasis on the word. It's similar to pronouncing the with a long e. Example: "Did you see those cats?" "I saw _a_ cat."

It's nearly always a schwa for me, even when emphasizing it. I only pronounce it /ei/ if I'm saying the name of the letter.

When I was in first grade back in the dark ages, parents were allowed to serve a substitute teachers when a teacher had to be absent for just part of the day. My mother volunteered to sub on the day we were to have our spelling test. Remember: this was first grade. The words were very simple. Of course, the teacher had been calling out the words to us, having us take turn spelling them, and so on. As my mother walked around the room reading from the list, when she got to the word "the," she pronounced it "THEE". My first grade self wished before would open up and swallow me. Nobody wants to be the girl whose mom can't even say the word "the". If it's on the first grade spelling test, all the mom should be able to spell it! FWIW:I went to school that year at the elementary school on a military base.

The long sound is mostly used for emphasis. "Did you see the kids in their costumes? "I saw a kid in costume", meaning you only saw 1 kid and not a bunch of kids.

Use /ə/ unless you are emphasizing the article. - /ə/: My grandmother was a teacher. - /eɪ/: My grandmother was *a* teacher (that is, not *the* teacher, and not several teachers)

As other comments have said, to put emphasis. It's also used when we pause to think, e.g. My grandmother was a.....teacher.

I use both naturally depending on meaning and syntax. I've been thinking about this because there was a recent thread (that I can't find now) which said something about broadcasters being told to always use the schwa sound for a. This seems problematic to me, and not realistic. I do a lot of transcription, and I can tell you that many speakers mumble both "a" and "the" into the same schwa sound. It's a problem, because the articles have different meanings.