"Ah," "au," and "aw" each are to sound like "crawdad" and "debacle." I admit. however, that "laughter" and "slaughter" are indeed pronounced differently, for "laughter" is pronounced "laffter" unless of course you're of the England persuasion due to the vowels each having one set sound, but the controversy with the word "aunt...." If it is pronounced the same as the insect, is there a reason for the dropped "u?" I've always used phonics to pronounce words of all languages--from English (American and British alike) and Spanish to Japanese. Try to keep in mind that you can't always rely on how family words things. You may want to sound like your peers, but honestly as long as it's written correctly on paper, then it really shouldn't matter.