Multisyllable ae Sound Word List
The Page Vowel Sounds - Multisyllable now has the /ae/ sound list added to it, again in the form of a PDF file that can be downloaded. This list is close to 500 word long, and is organized like the other lists.
I think (hope) the number of words will become more manageable for the rest of the vowel sounds yet to be covered, but we’ll see.
Here’s a little side note about the notation I use for the /ae/ sound (the vowel sound in name, play and sleigh.) I chose it because of the parallel to /ee/, /ie/, /oe/ and /ue/ which represent the other “long” vowel sounds. In the case of those four choices, words can easily be found which use those particular spellings, like, for example, bee, lie, toe and cue.
Well, about the only examples I could honestly come up with for the long-a being spelled ae were names like Mae and Rae, but I liked the parallel with the others, and also the parallel to the a-e spelling.
Then someone comes on a website discussion and asks why I chose a symbol for the long-a sound that usually represents the /ee/ sound. Turns out that besides the word algae, there are several pretty arcane words that do use the ae spelling for /ee/, but you really have to dig to find them. So I figured Mae West was better known than algae and it’s compatriots and stayed with the symbol ae for the long-a sound. Besides, I also have a relative named Jae.
The things we spend time thinking about when we dig into the English language. Sheesh!