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Minimal Pairs /ɑ/ and /ʌ/

27/9/2018

 
After studying the /ʌ/ phoneme in my previous post Uh... But... What?, this post will help you to create distinction between that sound and the /ɑ/ phoneme. The /ɑ/ phoneme is produced in the back of the mouth and by opening the mouth wide with the tongue down. It's the "ah" sound doctors ask you to make before they stick that uncomfortable wooden paddle on your tongue to have a look-see inside.

The /ʌ/ sound, on the other hand, is a lazy, relaxed grunt-like sound produced in the center of the mouth with the mouth only partially open. I call it the caveman sound because I believe it could be the first sound man ever made. It will also likely be the last. By the way, it's basically the same as the English schwa sound /ə/, the difference being that /ʌ/ is stressed and /ə/ is unstressed.

Below is a list of words with these sounds. Some of these are near minimal pairs as they differ in more than one way. But most are true minimal pairs. The last one with "z" is the first syllable of some guy's last name.
​/ɑ/
ah
ought
bought, bot
caught, cot
chaulk
dock
fawn
gone
hot
job
cop
cause
lock
mop
not
pop
raw
saw
shot
tall
thought
vox
wall
yawn
czar
​/ʌ/
uh
um
but
cut
chuck
duck
fun
gun
hut
just
cup
'cause
luck
much
nut
pup
rug
sub
shut
touch
thump
vug
what
young
zuck

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    Welcome to Bob's Blog

    Here you'll find tips on how to learn English as a foreign language better and faster. Cut through the nonsense - there's a lot of it out there - while saving time and money.

    Bob's a foreign language learner himself, holding a degree in foreign language from San Francisco State University, California.

    He's taught American English accent reduction and English as a foreign language for over 20 years in international schools and freelance to English learners around the world via Skype.

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