the diphthong /eɪ/ as in ace and main, generally when ⟨a⟩ is accompanied by one particular, or from time to time two, consonants and after that another vowel letter—this results from Center English lengthening followed by The nice Vowel ShiftDuring the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨a⟩ is used for the open front unrounded vowel, ⟨ä