Vowel Sounds are made inside the mouth and are voiced. You need to vibrate your vocal cords to make the sound.
In this lesson, we answer the question:
where do you find vowel sound /ʌ/.
Written double oo = /ʌ/ in only 2 words.
blood /blʌd/
flood /flʌd/
I have to wash the blood off my hand.
/blʌd/
What is your blood type?
/ˈblʌd-tayp/
His eyes are bloodshot.
/ˈblʌd-ʃat/
A bloodhound is a dog used in hunting.
/ˈblʌd-hawnd/
Floods are common in this region.
/flʌdz/
The road is flooded.
/ˈflʌ–dɪd/
The road is closed because of flooding.
/ˈflʌ–dɪŋ/
A floodlight lights a sports field or stage.
/ˈflʌd-layt/
Related Lessons:
There are 4 ways we pronounce written double oo
- /uw/ most common
- /ʊ/ small number of words
- /ʌ/
- /ɔ-ɚ/
- practice /uw, ʊ, ʌ, ɔ–ɚ/
Dear Ms. Eva Easton,
Thank you for this great online lecture.
I bought Manual of American English Pronunciation Fourth Edition in 1985 when I went to college in the U.S. I am very glad that You’ve made online lectures based on the book. This reminds me of the time when I took the foreign accent reduction program at the speech and hearing center in the university I went to.
I’d like to ask you some questions about /ʌ/ and /ə/ sound.
(1) Some pronunciation teacher says the vowel /ʌ/ curves up then down in a stressed syllable. Do you agree to that ?
(2) What is the main difference between /ʌ/ and /ə/? Is /ʌ/ with a stressed syllable and /ə/ with a reduced syllable? I’ve learned that the tongue position is almost the same.
(3) I found those vocabularies in the Prator’s book 139~140p.
cut /kət/, jump /džəmp/, dull /dəl/, word /wərd/, verb /vərb/, turn /tərn/.
Would those vocabularies sound different if I change phonetic alphabets as follows?
cut /kʌt/, jump /džʌmp/ dull /dʌl/. word /wʌrd./ verb /vʌrb/, turn /tʌrn/.
Thank you very much
Bogeun Jung
Howdy,
Yes, I like Prator & Robinett because the symbols show the full sound, as in, for example, /iy/. Seeing the /y/ sound that exists in speech is really helpful for learners of English.
Eva
/ʌ/ and /ə/ are the same sound. You’re right. Stressed version is /ʌ/ and unstressed version is shown as /ə/.
The whole mouth moves up naturally when we say a syllable with /ʌ/ because we’re saying the entire syllable more strongly. A stressed syllable is by definition stronger, longer, higher.
So, I use the symbol /ʌ/ to emphasize visually that a syllable is stressed. It helps to show the stress pattern more clearly than just using the ‘ symbol.
I like the question. You’re paying attention…I bet you see my typos when I write transcription. :–)
Thank you.
Eva