LoginHow to Pronounce the /ʊ/ Sound
In this lesson, we are going to learn how the sound /ʊ/ is produced by looking at the articulatory organs.
What Type of Sound Is /ʊ/?
/ʊ/ is a short sound and is between /u/ and /o/.
How to Produce /ʊ/?
To produce it, close your mouth as if you are saying /o/, and round your lips as if you are saying /u/. Then push them outwards to make an open circle and utter /ʊ/. As you can see in the picture, the roundness of the /ʊ/ sound is somehow between the /o/ and /u/ sound.
/ʊ/ Around the World
As you can see in the table below, most common languages lack this sound, but with a little practice you will be able to master it.
Existence | Example | |
|---|---|---|
Mandarin | ✔ | 冬 (dōng) |
Spanish | x | - |
Hindi | ✔ | उन |
Bengali | x | - |
Portuguese | x | - |
Russian¹ | ✔ | мужчи́на |
Japanese | x | - |
Vietnamese | x | - |
Turkish | x | - |
French | x | - |
German | ✔ | und |
Italian | x | - |
Persian | x | - |
Standard Arabic | x | - |
Korean | x | - |
Indonesian | ✔ | rumput |
Filipino | ✔ | ulól |
Hungarian | x | - |
Dutch | x | - |
Polish | x | - |
Romanian | x | - |
Swedish² | ✔ | bott |
Czech | x | - |
Greek | x | - |
Ukrainian | ✔ | туди́ |
Urdu | ✔ | اُن |
¹ It is prevalent in the unstressed /u/.
² The sound exists in Sweden Swedish.
Listening
Let's listen to the pronunciation of the /ʊ/ sound which has been mentioned below:
Down below, there are two other sounds similar to the /ʊ/ sound. At first, listen to the /u/ sound and then listen to the /o/ sound:
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