Since trying to find out how to say "omicron", I've fallen down a rabbit hole of pronunciation differences. I think I pronounce all these leading "a" sounds differently.<p>1. all, alternative
2. almond, amen (short a)
3. allowed, amend
4. allegory, apple
5. ale
6. ate, asynchronous<p>Maybe 5 and 6 are the same, but I don't think so.<p>Do you pronounce these differently? Are there even more leading "a" sounds?
English speakers don't all agree on how to pronounce things.<p>The nature of vowels (as opposed to consonants) is that the vowels can be varied in length (in simple terms, anyway).
Even more confusingly, "ate" is pronounced differently depending on the temporal tense: <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ate" rel="nofollow">https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ate</a>
Add to that the pronunciation of 'o', "ch" and a lot more. I went into a rabbit hole on the same issue few years ago when I was trying to understand why "ch" in "chord" and "chore" are pronounced differently.