Long u - short u

For a note on how AWE organizes its group of articles on vowels, basically by aspects of sound and of writing, see category:vowels.

You have found a link to 'short '-u-'', 'long -u-' or something similar. You may also want see a more detailed page at Speech sounds represented by the letter u.

Unfortunately, two separate traditions have developed of identifying 'long' vowels. (See Long vowel - short vowel for more detail.)

• With 'u' there are also two distinct pronunciations that are called 'short'.
  • A short '-u-' may simpy be seen as the IPA: /ʊ/ sound of 'put', 'good' and 'foot' - though the actual sound may vary in spoken accents.
  • The second realization of short '-u-' is the sound IPA: /ʌ/ of 'but', 'love' and 'rough'.
• Long '-u-' may be used in two ways (See Long vowel - short vowel for an explanation.)
  • As a pure vowel with an element of length IPA: /uː/, it is used in such words as 'goose', 'blue' and 'two'.
  • As a diphthongal vowel, it is usually understood as the sound of its name (IPA: /juː/, and such words as 'sure' and 'pure'.
    • It may also represent the diphthong IPA: /uːə/; but there are many other possibilities, and great subtleties in its precise pronunciation. For more on this, see Speech sounds represented by the letter u.

Much of the information on this page has been taken from McArthur and Bell (2004).