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As far as I know, words like run or under (letter: "u") are pronounced as:

  1. British: /rʌn/
  2. American: /rən/ with the schwa sound

The above is according to the page: A Key To English Pronunciations — Lexico/Oxford

Now I wanted to confirm that in the dictionaries.

  1. Merriam Webster dictionary shows: \ˈrən\
  2. All other show: /rʌn/

The difference between: ʌ and ə is really subtle ... if any ... In my opinion the recording on Merriam Webster dictionary says more like: ʌ than ə

In: ə the mouth is slightly opened and relaxed
In: ʌ is more open than for: "ə"

How should that really be pronounced? Where can I find the recording so that I could hear the difference?

Laurel
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John
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    Run is one of those words which are pronounced differently in different parts of the UK! – Kate Bunting Nov 05 '19 at 09:41
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    Some Americans have the same vowel (although stressed and unstressed) in run and about. Others don't. How do dictionaries decide which Americans' pronunciations to record? I don't know. – Peter Shor Nov 05 '19 at 10:11
  • @KateBunting have you got any examples of the difference (or regions)? I can only think of examples where the 'R' differs in sound - the 'u' is pretty much the same sound afaik (just out of curiosity). – Smock Nov 05 '19 at 13:21
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    @Smock It's pretty well-known that southern English speakers typically pronounce 'u' as 'uh' (in extreme RP, more like 'ah'), while northerners pronounce it as 'oo' (so bus and put have the same vowel). – Kate Bunting Nov 05 '19 at 13:36
  • @KateBunting Ahh yes, I can see that now. I can imagine 'bus' a bit like as 'boose' in a Liverpool accent now) - Thanks. – Smock Nov 05 '19 at 13:40
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    In American English, [ʌ] is the stressed allophone of /ə/. I.e, there's no phonemic difference between them, as long as you allow stress as a conditioning environment (which it plainly is, for the other vowels). In the UK, it's a different story, with FAR more variation. – John Lawler Nov 05 '19 at 15:56
  • I've found forvo.com a good resource for recordings, though that might be a bit too formal of a context for real linguistic research. – dejongbrent Nov 06 '19 at 00:44
  • Possible duplicate of Difference between /ʌ/ and /ə/ in English IPA – Nardog Nov 07 '19 at 00:22

1 Answers1

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In a comment, John Lawler wrote:

In American English, [ʌ] is the stressed allophone of /ə/. I.e, there's no phonemic difference between them, as long as you allow stress as a conditioning environment (which it plainly is, for the other vowels). In the UK, it's a different story, with FAR more variation.

tchrist
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