The apprentice
Member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2013
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Spanish
- Home Country
- Dominican Republic
- Current Location
- Dominican Republic
Dear teachers and members:
I° SHORT ''U'' SOUND:
The short U sound /ʌ/ is a mid central vowel slightly lower and farther back than the Schwa sound. It is pronounced with unrounded lips and with a relax articulation or lax. It occurs in stressed syllables as in unstressed ones (as one senior member and moderator told me in a previous thread tittled ''The Schwa Sound''. A spelling pattern for this sound is CVC (Consonant+Vowel+Consonant) only with the vowel U, it has also irregular spellings with U and with the other vowels that this sound can occur.
This sound occurs in the vowels U, O and in the vowel O follows by U ''OU'', for example:
a) With the Vowel U:
Underline; undercover; bunker; clumpsy; culture; difficult; pronunciation; function; funny; much; punish; pump; just; luck; but; gum; sun; cut; cup.
b) With the vowel O:
Among; brother; comfort; monday; tongue; above; love; month; monkey; glove; some; cover; of; dozen; govern; color (BRE colour).
c) With the vowel O followes by U ''OU'':
Trouble; young; enough; couple; cousin; double; rough; tough; cough; southern; country; nourish (AME /ˈnɜrɪʃ/); courage (AME /ˈkɜrɪdʒ/).
QUESTIONS:
1) Although one of the members told me that this sound occurs in both stressed and unstressed syllables, I find this sound stressed, whether it be a primary or a secondary stress, maybe it is because I am a spanish speaker and this sound like the Schwa sound do not exist in Spanish. Can you put some examples of unstressed cases?
2) Are central vowel sounds shorter in length than other vowels?
3) Are central vowel sounds weaker than other vowels
4) I know all English words have stressed syllable and sometimes more than one, does that happen with monosyllable words?
II° SHORT ''O'' SOUND:
The short O sound /ɒ/ is not quite a fully back vowel; it is between low mid and low in tongue height and the lips are slightly rounded. It only occurs in the vowel O and in monosyllable as in multisyllable words. CVC is a pattern spelling, but it has irregular spelling too.
a) With CVC pattern (Consonant+Vowel+Consonant) and irregular one:
Pot; dog; Cop; fog; God; Hot; not; mob; consonant (in the first O); conversation (in the first O); congress; common (in the first O); pocket; smog.
QUESTIONS:
1) Like the short U sound, I find this sound stressed, but with more strong in beat than the short U sound, isn't it?
2) Even though this is a back and low sound, it may exist the possibility to confuse this sound with the short U sound in some monosyllable and multisyllable words, if not, why?, for example:
a) COMFORT /ˈkʌmfərt /; may be mispronounced as /ˈkɒmfərt /
b) CONSONANT /ˈkɒnsənənt /; may be mispronounced as /ˈkʌnsənənt /
c) NOT can be mispronounced as NUT and vice versa.
d) LOCK can be mispronounced as LUCK and vice versa.
e) BODY can be mispronounced as BUDDY and vice versa.
3) Some of these sounds can be a little difficult or difficult for me to learn maybe because English is not my mother tongue and English is a stress timed language. Can you please, told me what stress timed language really means?
I am pleased to having found this site, I was looking for a site like this for my English; it really works.
Thanks and regards,
The Apprentice.
I° SHORT ''U'' SOUND:
The short U sound /ʌ/ is a mid central vowel slightly lower and farther back than the Schwa sound. It is pronounced with unrounded lips and with a relax articulation or lax. It occurs in stressed syllables as in unstressed ones (as one senior member and moderator told me in a previous thread tittled ''The Schwa Sound''. A spelling pattern for this sound is CVC (Consonant+Vowel+Consonant) only with the vowel U, it has also irregular spellings with U and with the other vowels that this sound can occur.
This sound occurs in the vowels U, O and in the vowel O follows by U ''OU'', for example:
a) With the Vowel U:
Underline; undercover; bunker; clumpsy; culture; difficult; pronunciation; function; funny; much; punish; pump; just; luck; but; gum; sun; cut; cup.
b) With the vowel O:
Among; brother; comfort; monday; tongue; above; love; month; monkey; glove; some; cover; of; dozen; govern; color (BRE colour).
c) With the vowel O followes by U ''OU'':
Trouble; young; enough; couple; cousin; double; rough; tough; cough; southern; country; nourish (AME /ˈnɜrɪʃ/); courage (AME /ˈkɜrɪdʒ/).
QUESTIONS:
1) Although one of the members told me that this sound occurs in both stressed and unstressed syllables, I find this sound stressed, whether it be a primary or a secondary stress, maybe it is because I am a spanish speaker and this sound like the Schwa sound do not exist in Spanish. Can you put some examples of unstressed cases?
2) Are central vowel sounds shorter in length than other vowels?
3) Are central vowel sounds weaker than other vowels
4) I know all English words have stressed syllable and sometimes more than one, does that happen with monosyllable words?
II° SHORT ''O'' SOUND:
The short O sound /ɒ/ is not quite a fully back vowel; it is between low mid and low in tongue height and the lips are slightly rounded. It only occurs in the vowel O and in monosyllable as in multisyllable words. CVC is a pattern spelling, but it has irregular spelling too.
a) With CVC pattern (Consonant+Vowel+Consonant) and irregular one:
Pot; dog; Cop; fog; God; Hot; not; mob; consonant (in the first O); conversation (in the first O); congress; common (in the first O); pocket; smog.
QUESTIONS:
1) Like the short U sound, I find this sound stressed, but with more strong in beat than the short U sound, isn't it?
2) Even though this is a back and low sound, it may exist the possibility to confuse this sound with the short U sound in some monosyllable and multisyllable words, if not, why?, for example:
a) COMFORT /ˈkʌmfərt /; may be mispronounced as /ˈkɒmfərt /
b) CONSONANT /ˈkɒnsənənt /; may be mispronounced as /ˈkʌnsənənt /
c) NOT can be mispronounced as NUT and vice versa.
d) LOCK can be mispronounced as LUCK and vice versa.
e) BODY can be mispronounced as BUDDY and vice versa.
3) Some of these sounds can be a little difficult or difficult for me to learn maybe because English is not my mother tongue and English is a stress timed language. Can you please, told me what stress timed language really means?
I am pleased to having found this site, I was looking for a site like this for my English; it really works.
Thanks and regards,
The Apprentice.
Last edited: