The Short U sound /ʌ/ and the short O sound /ɒ/

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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.
 
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Esredux

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Could really 'not' be pronounced like 'nut', 'lock' like 'luck, etc.? Those seem to be fairly different sounds; and to the best of my knowledge 'of' isn't generally pronounced with /ʌ/.
 
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5jj

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I have given brief answers, apprentice. if you want to ask follow-up questions, please start a new thread for each separate topic, or this thread will become hopelessly confused

I° SHORT ''U'' SOUND:
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 [STRIKE]s[/STRIKE] Spanish speaker and this sound like the Schwa sound do not exist in Spanish. Can you put some examples of unstressed cases?
In many two-syllable words beginning with 'un-", the first syllable is not really stressed.

2) Are central vowel sounds shorter in length than other vowels?
There are long and short central vowels. The length of each (measured in centi-seconds) varies depending on the phomemes, if any, following. As far as normal speech is concerned, it is not possible to generalise.

3) Are central vowel sounds weaker than other vowels
I don't really know what you mean by 'weaker'.

4) I know all English words have stressed syllable and sometimes more than one, does that happen with monosyllable words?
If we utter a word in isolation, the vowel of a single-syllable word will tend to be given its full value, for example, ''of' - /ɒv/, 'an' - /æn/. In normal conversation, many common single syllable words are completely unstressed. 'of' will become /əv/, /ʌ/ or /ə/ ; 'an' will become
/ən/ or /n/.n


II° SHORT ''O'' SOUND:

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?
The sound itself is not stressed as such. Any stress will depend on the position of the vowel in a word, and of the word in a sentence.

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 / Not in BrE
b) CONSONANT /ˈkɒnsənənt /; may be mispronounced as /ˈkʌnsənənt /
Not in BrE
c) NOT can be mispronounced as NUT and vice versa.
Not in BrE
d) LOCK can be mispronounced as LUCK and vice versa.
Not in BrE
e) BODY can be mispronounced as BUDDY and vice versa.
Not in BrE

If you are studying phonetics at university, then the equipment available there will help you give precise answers to your questions. If you are merely trying to improve your own pronunciation, I think you are trying to go too deeply into this.
 
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Thank you for answering:

a) I have given brief answers, apprentice. if you want to ask follow-up questions, please start a new thread for each separate topic, or this thread will become hopelessly confused

I already know about that, but at the time I sent this thread I had not read the advice that was sent to me before.

1°) Are central vowel sounds weaker than other vowels

b) I don't really know what you mean by 'weaker'.

I mean if they are weaker in sound than other vowels.

c) If you are studying phonetics at university, then the equipment available there will help you give precise answers to your questions. If you are merely trying to improve your own pronunciation, I think you are trying to go too deeply into this.

Yes, I am studying phonetics on my own because in my country only teaches English with English text books which do not make a lot of emphasis in pronunciation, and most of the teachers are not trained to teach English as a second language. I am a spanish speaker and there are sounds in English that do not exist in Spanish which I consider them hard or difficult to learn to pronounce them.

I have significantly improved my pronunciation through phonetics and phonology, might you recommend me a good phonetics and phonology book or books that I can download it or download them?

LAST QUESTION:

Is the short U sound like a stressed Schwa sound?


Yours truly,



The apprentice
 
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5jj

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5jj: Please try to separate what you are quoting from what you are asking. It was difficult to work out who was saying what in your last post.

The apprentice: Are central vowel sounds weaker than other vowels
5jj: I don't really know what you mean by 'weaker'.
The apprentice: I mean if they are weaker in sound than other vowels.

5jj:
If you mean 'are they produced with less force?' the answer is probably no.

The apprentice: I have significantly improved my pronunciation through phonetics and phonology, might you recommend me a good phonetics and phonology book or books that I can download it or download them?

5jj: Two books that are worth buying are:
Gerald Kelly (2000): How to teach pronunciation, Pearson Longman

Adrian Underhill (2005): Sound Foundations(2nd Edition), Macmillan

LAST QUESTION:

The apprentice: Is the short U sound like a stressed Schwa sound?
5jj: No
 
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Thank you 5jj for your assistante and for those books you recommended me:

Now I am quite instructed about the central Schwa and short U sounds which are sounds do not exist in my language.

Regards,


The Apprentice.
 
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Thanks Esgaleth:

I have being taught that OF when it is isolated and at the end of a sentence, it is pronounced as /
ʌv /, otherwise it is reduce to / əv / and before consonant sounds as /ə/ for example:

1°) What is this chair made of?
/ʌv/

2°) It is made of wood.
/ə/

3) I was just thinking of you.
/ əv /

Sincerely,



The Apprentice.




 
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5jj

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Dear members and teachers:

I forgot to tell you that the short U sound also occurs in some doble O (oo) words, but rarely, for example:

Blood /blʌd/; flood /flʌd/

Thanks,


The Apprentice.
 
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Dear 5jj, teachers and members:

Is the short O sound always stressed in multi-syllables words?, for example:

C
onsonant /ˈkɒnsənənt/

Conversation
/ˌkɒnvərˈseɪʃən/

Economy
/ɪˈkɒnəmi/

Economic
/ˌɛkəˈnɒmɪk/

Mogolic
/mɒŋˈgɒlɪk/


Very sincerely,



The Apprentice
 
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5jj

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The /ɒ/ may bear only secondary stress: /ˌpɒsəˈbəˈləti/.

Where did you find the word 'mogolic'?
 
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Thank you 5jj:

I think that the short O sound
/ɒ/ may bear both stresses, for example:


1°) PRIMARY STRESS:

Consonant
/ˈkɒnsənənt/

Competent
/ˈkɒmpɪtənt/

Odontology
/ˌoʊdɒnˈtɒlədʒi/


2°) SECONDARY STRESS:

Possibility
/ˌpɒsəˈbɪlɪti/

Conversation
/ˌkɒnvərˈseɪʃən/

Confidential
/ˌkɒnfɪˈdɛnʃəl/


3°) Excuse me I meant '' Mongolic ''


4°) Mr, 5jj I would like to know the following:

Are all monosyllable words unstressed, aren't they?

Yours truly,



The Apprentice







°
 
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