IPA phoneme \ʌ\

In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol **/ʌ/** corresponds to the monophthong vowel sound in words like "strut", "nut" and "bus".

When this sound is unstressed it sounds /ə/, and conversely, a stressed /ə/ (impossible in American English, very rare in Received Pronunciation) normally sounds /ʌ/; however for many speakers [ʌ] and [ə] are clearly different and any of them can be either stressed or unstressed.

Since /ʌ/ always is stressed and /ə/ never is, in theory there is no confusion if only one symbol is used, and some dictionaries follow that rule. In this case /ˈstətər/ for "stutter" must be interpreted as [ˈstʌtər].

## Common words

Some common words which practice the pronunciation of **/ʌ/** include the following:

* with "**u**": bun - bus - but - butter - cut - fun - gun - luck - lunch - run - summer - sun - Sunday - thunder - truck - tunnel - under - up - us
* with "**o**":

O adjacent to **"m"**: accomplish*BrE* - Col**o**mbia - come - comfort - comfortable /ˈkʌmftəbəl, ˈkʌmfərtəbəl/ - company - compass - mother - some - stomach
O adjacent to **"m"** and **"n"**: among - Monday - money - mongrel - monk - monkey - month
O adjacent to **"n"**: another - confr**o**ntation - done - front - honey - L**o**ndon - none - nothing - one /wʌn/ - once /wʌns/ - onion /ˈʌnjən/ - son - sponge - ton - tongue - tonne
O adjacent to **"n"** and **"w"**: won - wonder - wonderful
O adjacent to **"v"**: above - Coventry /ˈkʌvəntriː, ˈkɒvəntriː/ - cover - discover - dove *(bird)* - glove - government - love - lover - oven - shovel - slovenly
Other: brother - color*AmE* - colour*BrE* - dozen - other - thorough /ˈθʌrə,*BrE* ˈθɜːrəʊ*AmE*/ - worry /ˈwʌri,*BrE* ˈwɜːri*AmE*/
* with "**ou**": country - couple - cousin - double - southern - touch - trouble - young
* homophones: none - nun; one - won; some - sum; son - sun;

### Spelling anomalies

* with **"a"**: was /wʌz,*AmE* wɒz, wəz/ - wasn't /ˈwʌzənt,*AmE* ˈwɒzənt/ - what /wʌt,*AmE* wɒt, wət/
* with **"oe"**: does *(verb)* - doesn't
* with "**oo**": blood - flood

with "**ough**": enough - rough - tough

## Variant pronunciations

* accomplice /əˈkɑːmplɪs*AmE*, əˈkʌmplɪs*BrE*/
* from /frɒm, frʌm*AmE*/
* twenty /ˈtwɛntiː, ˈtwʌntiː*AmE*/
* what /wɒt, wʌt*AmE*/

* anybody /ˈeniːbɒdiː, ˈeniːbʌdiː*AmE*/
* everybody /ˈevriːbɒdiː, ˈevriːbʌdiː*AmE*/
* nobody /ˈnəʊbədiː, ˈnəʊbɒdiː,*AmE* ˈnəʊbʌdiː*AmE*/
* somebody /ˈsʌmbədiː, ˈsʌmbɒdiː,*AmE* ˈsʌmbʌdiː*AmE*/

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

Spelling is a big interference for Spanish speakers, and they may rhyme "null" with "full" and "pull": /nʌl, fʊl, pʊl/ pronounced [nul, ful, pul].

See Pronunciation exercises: /ʌ/ vs /æ/ § Spanish

## References

1. ↑ John Wells's phonetic blog, STRUT and commA, 13 July 2010.
2. ↑ Geoff Lindsey, The British English vowel system, 8 March 2012.
3. ↑ gdict, stutter /ˈstətər/
4. ↑ Nice Definition, stutter /ˈstətər/
5. ↑ Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, accomplice.
6. ↑ Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, from.
7. ↑ *Dictionary.com Unabridged.* Random House, Inc., twenty.
8. ↑ Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, what.

## See also

* Pronunciation exercises: /ʌ/ vs /æ/
* Pronunciation exercises: /ʌ/ vs /ɒ/

## External links

* British Library, Vowel sounds of Received Pronunciation