It is used in the Khanty, Kildin Sami, and Hill Mari languages.

It corresponds to the Cyrillic letter schwa ⟨ә⟩ in modern Bashkir.

In Hill Mari and Gagauz this letter represents the near-open front unrounded vowel, /æ/.

In Kildin Sami this letter represents the open back unrounded vowel /a/ following a palatalized (sometimes also called "half-palatalized") velar nasal /nʲ/ or one of the alveolar stops /tʲ/ or /dʲ/.

In Khanty this letter represents the near-open central vowel /ɐ/.