In today’s lesson, we’re going to talk about the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol /ʌ/. This vowel is sometimes referred to as a “caret” or “hat” because of its shape – it kind of looks like a hat. It also kind of looks like an upside down v. However, it sounds nothing like the /v/ sound.
What is /ʌ/?
/ʌ/ is an international phonetic alphabet symbol that is used to represent the lax near-open central unrounded vowel when describing English’s sound system. It is a very common sound in English. It’s in lots of common words like but and what.
If you are a speaker of Korean, Nepali, Haida, or a few other languages, you already have this vowel in your inventory. If you do not have this vowel, don’t worry! You will learn what it sounds like and how to make the sound in this IPA guide.
The /ʌ/ sound has the following features according to the IPA:
- Lax near-open central unrounded vowel (pronounced with the tongue in a central and down position)
- Same height as /æ/
- Usually written with the letter “u” in English. Found in words like cut, but, and rough.
If some of the information above didn’t make sense to you, that’s okay! It’ll be explained in a later guide.
Pronunciation Exercises for /ʌ/
Exercise 1:
Try saying the following one syllable words with /ʌ/. Use the IPA as a guide for pronunciation:
- Nut – /nʌt/
- Bun – /bʌn/
- Gut – /gʌt/
- Cup – /cʌp/
- Fun – /fʌn/
Exercise 2:
Which of these words contain the /ʌ/ vowel? Write the words down in your notebook along with a “yes” if the words have this sound or a “no” if they don’t.
- Nut
- Gun
- Boot
- Dune
- Illustrate
- Information
- Upfront
- Super
- Supper
- About (this one’s a trick question!)
That’s it for today’s American English pronunciation lesson on the /ʌ/ vowel! Please leave a vocaroo or other voice recording in the comments if you would like feedback from an experienced teacher on your pronunciation. Be sure to check out the English is Awesome’s guide to the /æ/ vowel!