The long u sound

[blouen]

Hi teachers,

Got a quick question about the long u sound.

Is it the sound in "mute" or in "wood"? If it's in one of these, what do you call the sound of the other?


Thanks.

 

[mara_ce]

Hi teachers,

Got a quick question about the long u sound.

Is it the sound in "mute" or in "wood"? If it's in one of these, what do you call the sound of the other?


Thanks.

mute: long u
wood: short u

 

[blouen]

mute: long u
wood: short u

Sorry, but I don't think any of them has got the short u sound.:-(

I

 

[Raymott]

Sorry, but I don't think any of them has got the short u sound.:-(

I

A 'short u' is the sound in wood, should, could, put, good, that is /ʊ/.
A 'long u' is /u:/
Perhaps you are referring to the /ʌ/ as in but, flood, mud, cut? This is a different sound altogether, even though it's often spelt with a 'u'.
/ʌ/ is sometimes called a 'hat'. Technically the symbol is called a 'turned v'.

 

[BobK]

:up: In addition, the /u:/ in 'mute' is preceded by a glide. There is a fairly obscure word 'moot', pronounced /mu:t/; but 'mute' - while indeed having a 'long' u - isn't pronounced like that.

b

 

[euncu]

As far as I know,the "u" in mute is the same "u" as in new. (mju:t,nju
Maybe "soon" (su:n) is a better example.
Use short u (ʊ) as Raymott puts it ; good, took, book,...

 

[BobK]

:up: But in another thread I caused a lot of confusion by using /j/ ('Surelly there's no j in [whatever we were discussing]':-?') So I just called it 'a glide'. But you're right. ;-)

b

 

[blouen]

Isn't there any difference between the sound in "would" and "wood"?

 

[Linguist__]

Isn't there any difference between the sound in "would" and "wood"?

Not in general, they are pronounced the same - IPA /wʊd/

However, 'would' is found unstressed a lot in sentences, in which case it is pronounced /wəd/. However, this is only due to the speed at which it is spoken in fluent, connected speech.

 

[blouen]

I see.

What then is the difference between the short "u" sound and "oo" sound?

 

[BobK]

I see.

What then is the difference between the short "u" sound and "oo" sound?

There are two "'oo' sounds" - to use your term.

These have /ʊ/: wood, hood, good, stood... (and lots of words that aren't spelt with those letters - could, would, should, for example).

These have /u:/ food, mood, rood (a rather archaic word), wooed (the simple past of 'woo').

The letters 'oo' can, rarely, make other sounds. So you won't normally find a teacher writing 'the 'oo' sound' (though they may well say 'the /u:/ sound' - and probably do; I do). ;-)

 

[Linguist__]

The letters 'oo' can, rarely, make other sounds. So you won't normally find a teacher writing 'the 'oo' sound' (though they may well say 'the /u:/ sound' - and probably do; I do). ;-)

Perhaps the clearest example is 'blood'. That is certainly not a /u:/ or a /ʊ/ sound.

As for what makes /ʊ/ and /u:/ differ - phonetically, they are different sounds entirely. But I suppose acoustically, just listening to it, /u:/ - food, mood etc - sounds 'longer' than /ʊ/.

Try saying two words together with the different ones, like 'good food'. My own accent (Scottish English) doesn't have either /ʊ/ or /u:/, and all these words - mood, food, would, could - are said the same. Just to confuse you!

 

[BobK]

Perhaps the clearest example is 'blood'. That is certainly not a /u:/ or a /ʊ/ sound.

As for what makes /ʊ/ and /u:/ differ - phonetically, they are different sounds entirely. But I suppose acoustically, just listening to it, /u:/ - food, mood etc - sounds 'longer' than /ʊ/.

Try saying two words together with the different ones, like 'good food'. My own accent (Scottish English) doesn't have either /ʊ/ or /u:/, and all these words - mood, food, would, could - are said the same. Just to confuse you!

Yes - I hadn't noticed that about Scottish English, until the recent TV adverts - which end with a Scottish actor saying 'The Cooperative - good with food'.

b
PS Though some people use a hyphen (and even, in old dictionaries, a diæresis) to separate the o's), 'cooperative' is another case where 'oo' can make a sound that couldn't - in any language - be called 'the "oo" sound'.

 

[blouen]

What do you call the two "u" sounds you used? sorry, can't recognise phonetic symbols.

Would it be fine for a non-native to just use the short u sound and not be particular with the "oo" sound(whatever they call it)?:-D

There would be a problem though, I think. Because the difference between "good" and "food" are quite noticeable. Sigh! so, what do you call those 'u' sounds again?