gogul: Yes. ^ represents the sound short a as in BUS or CUP.

Using phonetic symbols gives people the ability to distinguish sounds from eachother. For example in a word such as examplification there are to letters represented by 'a' symbol in alphabetical letters. But do they both sound the same? No.

If you write that word in phonetical alphabet, it's easily shown that the two A's are not the same in pronunciation.