[ɜ] ‘ur’ as in ‘her’
The ‘ur’ as in ‘her’ vowel sound. I sometimes say this is the vowel version of the R consonant. It’s always followed by the R, and there’s no distinction between the sounds. So it will always be written with two different IPA symbols, but it will be pronounced rr, just one sound. It’s the same sound, actually, as the schwa-R sound with one exception: the ‘ur’ as in ‘her’ vowel with the R may be in a stressed word, like a noun, like ‘earth’, for example. And the schwa-R sound will always be in an unstressed syllable, like ‘father’. But it’s the same sound. When it’s stressed, it will just be a little higher in pitch, maybe a little longer.
To make this sound, the lips will round a bit, rr, rr. So, the corners come in, and that brings this part away from the face, rr, rr. The middle part of the tongue raises towards the roof of the mouth in the middle, rr, and the tongue actually touches the top teeth on either side here, rr, rr. It presses against them. The front of the tongue hangs down then, rr, rr, but it’s drawn back a bit. So, it’s not touching anything, rr, her.
Here is the ‘ur’ as in ‘her’ sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left. Notice that the corners of the mouth are pushed in somewhat, which brings the center part of the lips away from the face. Here, parts of the mouth are drawn in. As with all vowels, the soft palate is raised. But more importantly, note the position of the tongue. The mid-front part of the tongue is raised towards the roof of the mouth. More than just raised, the mid part of the tongue is fattened up. This draws the tip of the tongue slightly back so that it is not touching anything. The ‘ur’ as in ‘her sound. Sample words: learn, third, earn, person. Sample sentence: She was served turkey at her first American Thanksgiving. Now you will see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how the mouth moves when making this sound.
She, the lips form the SH sound, sh. Was, the lips come together to make the W in the circle, was, the teeth come together to make the Z. You might actually hear the Z here simply as the S because it’s followed by an S. So the Z might just get dropped. Was served, was served. Served, here’s the UR shape. The lip comes up to make the V in served. Turkey, another ur. Tur-key. The corners of the lips pull out now, to make the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ in turkey. And they open up to the at, tongue comes up to make the T. Her, bottom of the lip comes up for the F, first, another ur. American, lips come together for the M, and the tongue comes up to make the N, American. Thanksgiving. Tongue through the teeth, tongue up to make the N, the K-S sound, the teeth come together to make the S, bottom of the lip up for the V sound in Thanksgiving.
And now from the angle. She, lips form that SH sound. Was, the lips make the W. Served. Here is our ur sound, -erved. The bottom lip comes up to make the V. Turkey, another ur sound. Ur. Now watch the corners of the lips pull back for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’. The mouth opens into at, at. Tongue comes up to make the T. Her, another UR. First, another ur. American, lips form the M of American. The tongue comes up to make the N. Thanksgiving. Tongue through the teeth for the TH. Tongue up to make the N, the teeth together to make the S sound. -giving. Thanksgiving. That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.
International Phonetic Alphabet symbol: [ɜ]
This sound is tough! It functions as a vowel but its sound is more like a consonant. According to Wikipedia’s page on this sound, it occurs only in English and one other language that has only 5000 speakers! It’s always followed by the consonant ‘r.’
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