A

A

The "short" or flat "a" sound, more or less the noise the doctor asks you to make during your throat exam, usually functions as a simple or neutral connector for other letters and their sounds. Sometimes, though, it's "flatness" can serve to help emphasize or modify the effects of adacent letters. Some examples are shown below.

abandon

Here the two flat a’s work in conjunction with the b and n to create a sense of rejection and disposal. These are short a’s, so their flatness works well with and upon the b sound to create  a sense of uselessness and/or flimsiness.  (The mere addition of the s in “abs”can turn this sense around, just as exercise might change flab into muscle. And the addition of the bookends ru and er can turn that flimsy b sound into the usefully contortionist “rubber.”) But the two flat a’s surrounding the b, cemented by the n and further emphasized by the energetic “don,”  all work together to make  the feeling of rejection and disposal quite strong.