The document discusses the phoneme /ʌ/ in English. It represents the vowel sound in words like "strut", "nut", and "bus". When unstressed, it sounds like /ə/, and a stressed /ə/ sounds like /ʌ/. The document provides many examples of words containing the /ʌ/ sound and discusses some spelling variations. It also notes potential pronunciation difficulties for learners based on their native language, such as Spanish speakers tending to rhyme "null" with "full" and "pull".
The document discusses the phoneme /ʌ/ in English. It represents the vowel sound in words like "strut", "nut", and "bus". When unstressed, it sounds like /ə/, and a stressed /ə/ sounds like /ʌ/. The document provides many examples of words containing the /ʌ/ sound and discusses some spelling variations. It also notes potential pronunciation difficulties for learners based on their native language, such as Spanish speakers tending to rhyme "null" with "full" and "pull".
The document discusses the phoneme /ʌ/ in English. It represents the vowel sound in words like "strut", "nut", and "bus". When unstressed, it sounds like /ə/, and a stressed /ə/ sounds like /ʌ/. The document provides many examples of words containing the /ʌ/ sound and discusses some spelling variations. It also notes potential pronunciation difficulties for learners based on their native language, such as Spanish speakers tending to rhyme "null" with "full" and "pull".
The document discusses the phoneme /ʌ/ in English. It represents the vowel sound in words like "strut", "nut", and "bus". When unstressed, it sounds like /ə/, and a stressed /ə/ sounds like /ʌ/. The document provides many examples of words containing the /ʌ/ sound and discusses some spelling variations. It also notes potential pronunciation difficulties for learners based on their native language, such as Spanish speakers tending to rhyme "null" with "full" and "pull".
phoneme /ʌ/ In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol /ʌ/ corresponds to the monophthong vowel sound in words like "strut", "nut" and "bus".
When this sound is unstressed it sounds /ə/, and conversely, a stressed /ə/ (impossible in American English, very rare in Received Pronunciation) normally sounds /ʌ/; however for many speakers [ʌ] and [ə] are clearly different and any of them can be either stressed or unstressed.[1]
Since /ʌ/ always is stressed and /ə/ never is, in theory there is no confusion if only one symbol is used,[2] and some dictionaries follow that rule.[3][4] In this case /ˈstətər/ for "stutter" must be interpreted as [ˈstʌtər].
Common words Some common words which practice the pronunciation of /ʌ/ include the following:
● with "u": bun - bus - but - butter - cut - fun - gun - luck - lunch - run - structure - summer - sun - Sunday - thunder - truck - tunnel - under - up - us ● with "o": O adjacent to "m": accomplishBrE - Colombia - come - comfort - comfortable /ˈkʌmftəbəl, ˈkʌmfərtəbəl/ - company - compass - mother - some - stomach
O adjacent to "m" and "n": among - Monday - money - mongrel - monk - monkey - month
O adjacent to "n": another - confrontation - done - front - honey - London - none -
nothing - one /wʌn/ - once /wʌns/ - onion /ˈʌnjən/ - son - sponge - ton - tongue - tonne
O adjacent to "n" and "w": won - wonder - wonderful
O adjacent to "v": above - Coventry /ˈkʌvəntriː, ˈkɒvəntriː/ - cover - covet - discover -
dove (bird) - glove - government - love - lover - oven - shovel - slovenly
Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1 edit
Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aim to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.
Spanish Spelling is a big interference for Spanish speakers, and they may rhyme "null" with "full" and "pull": /nʌl, fʊl, pʊl/ pronounced [nul, ful, pul].
