IPA phoneme \ʊə\

sure /ʃʊər, ʃɔːr/

In Received Pronunciation, the IPA phonetic symbol **/ʊə/** corresponds to the diphthong sound in words like "cure" /kjʊər/ and "tour" /tʊər/. Currently in Received Pro­nun­ci­a­tion this phoneme is disappearing, in favor of /ɔː/, in the so-called CURE-FORCE merger (also called *pour-poor* merger). For example "tour" is pronounced either /tʊər/ or /tɔːr/. "Sure" can be pronounced either /ʃʊər/ or /ʃɔːr/.

In General American, on the other hand, /ʊər/ and /ʊr/ can be pronounced [ʊər] at the end of the syllable or before a consonant or [ʊr] before a vowel. Since the difference is predictable it can be said that General American doesn't have an /ʊə/ phoneme. This should be called “CURE pronounced as FOOT” or (less precisely) “the CURE-FOOT merger” but we could find only one reference, as a comment in a blog. See IPA phoneme /ʊ/.

In the United States a few words with /ʊər/ can be pronounced [ɜːr]. This is called the CURE-NURSE merger (also called *cure-fir* merger). See IPA phoneme /ɜː/ and the Advanced material section.

In Received Pronunciation /ʊər/ and /ɔːr/ are pronounced [ʊə] and [ɔː] unless they are followed by a vowel, i.e. the "r" is normally silent unless it is followed by a vowel.

In General American the "r" is always pronounced.

There are places in the United Kingdom where the "r" is pronounced, and places in North America where it is not pronounced.

## Examples

Some words which practice the pronunciation of **/ʊə/** include the following, taken from Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary unless otherwise noted:

* Not merging into /ɔ:/ (i.e. with [ʊə] sound in Received Pronunciation)

/jʊə/: :bureau, curious, during, endure, Europe, European, furious, fury, impure, manicure, neuron, neurosis, pure, puritan, purity, secure, security, spurious, urine
/ʊə/: mature /məˈtʃʊər/, Missouri, rural
* Partially merged into /ɔ:/ (i.e. with either a [ʊə] sound or [ɔː] sound in Received Pronunciation)

/jʊə/ or /jɔː/: cure, you're
/ʊə/ or /ɔː/: :ensure, jury, poor, sure, tour, tourist
* Fully merged into /ɔː/ (i.e. only some Americans pronounce it [ʊə] or [ʊ])

/jɔː/: your
* There are more homophones in Received Pronunciation than in American English: poor - pore; sure - shore:

## Advanced material

### Received Pronunciation

In Received Pronunciation some words marked as "Not merging into /ɔ:/" above are actually merging into [u:ə], with two syllables (similar to the pronunciation of "fuel").

For example, "secure" might be pronounced either /sɪˈkjʊər/ or /sɪˈkju:ər/.

Some people use the monophthong /uː/, pronouncing, for example "rural" as /ˈru:rəl/ instead of /ˈrʊərəl/.

Still other people have another monophthong in their pronunciation of /ʊə/, namely [ɵː]. See *The demise of ʊə as in CURE* Fate 3 to hear clips with this sound.

### United States

In General American /ʊə(r)/*BrE* is /ʊr/*AmE* and may be pronounced [ʊər] or [ʊr] depending on its position in the word. However some specific words in some parts of the United States are merged into /ɜːr/. All examples taken from *Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary* (MWLD) at http://www.learnersdictionary.com/ where they appear as only pronunciation (note that /ɚ/ in MWLD is /ɜːr/ in this wiki). Only "sure" and its derivatives appear in the Random House Dictionary, and only as a second pronunciation.

* from "sure" /ɜːr/*AmE*: assurance, assure, ensure, insurance, insure, sure, surely
* /jɜːr/:*AmE* bureau, cure, curious, manicure, pure, puritan, purity, secure, security, spurious, urine
* /ɜːr/:*AmE* endure, jury

#### Not merging into /ɜː/

These examples have [u], [ʊ] or [uɚ] in the narrow notation used by *Merriam-Webster's.* In this wiki's broad notation we use /ʊ/*AmE* or simply /ʊə/.

* during, Europe, European, furious, fury, impure, neurosis, poor, tour, tourism, tourist

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

It is a dilemma to teach students a pronunciation that is falling out of use. The words that still have [ʊə] in Received Pronunciation are very few. When teaching General American the /ʊ/ pronunciation should be taught: cure as [ˈkjʊər] and curable as [ˈkjʊrəbəl].

The following section aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.

### Spanish

Spanish speakers don't confuse this phoneme with others, but they tend to pronounce it as [u:ə], which, as shown above, is not uncommon for native speakers.

## References

1. ↑ Wikipedia, English-language vowel changes before historic /r/ § Pour-poor merger
2. ↑ Merriam-Webster's Learners Dictionary, poor as [ˈpuɚ]
3. ↑ Merriam-Webster's Learners Dictionary, tourist as [ˈturɪst].
4. ↑ Language log, Comment by dw July 30, 2010 @ 12:20 am.
5. ↑ Wikipedia, English-language vowel changes before historic /r/ § Cure-fir merger
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Speech talk, The demise of ʊə as in CURE

## External links

* British Library, Vowel sounds of Received Pronunciation