Sound of the week: /ʌ/

/ʌ/ 

This is a short, central, open sound.

"Central" means that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.

"Open" means that the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue.

Strut /strʌt/

Mud /mʌd/

Love /lʌv/

Blood /blʌd/

Watch the video and practise this vowel here (no comments about the woman's hairstyle, please!).

In this video you can also learn the difference between similar sounds /ʌ/-/ӕ/ and if you click here you can do some exercises to identify the contrast between these three similar sounds: /e/-/ʌ/-/ӕ/.

And you have 4 different quizzes to help you learn about English pronunciation.
Finally a quiznet on vowel sounds.