The Vowels Of American English Page 8
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15consonant, and represented by the symbols /ər/, /ɜr/, /ə
/, or /ɜ
/. In others, it’s
r
r
represented by a single symbol, /ɚ/. Whichever symbols we use, this sound is best thought
of as a single vowel sound, rather than a vowel sound followed by a consonant. The only
difference between the vowel /ɚ/ and the consonant /r/ is in timing: /ɚ/ lasts longer so
that it becomes the “heart” of the syllable.
There is actually more than one way to pronounce the /ɚ/ sound. Some people pronounce
it with the tip of the tongue curled back a bit. In fact, the /r/ and /ɚ/ sounds are often
called retroflex sounds, a name that comes from a Latin word meaning “bent backward.”
However, other people pronounce /r/ and /ɚ/ with the back of the tongue bunched up at
the back, without curling the tip. Both ways can produce the same sound. With both tongue
positions, the lips are slightly rounded.
/r/ with the tongue curled
/r/ with the tongue pulled back
An endangered vowel sound: /ɔ/
Languages and their sounds are changing all the time. One change that is happening now in
American English involves the vowel sound /ɔ/. For many speakers, the vowel /ɔ/ is
merging with /ɑ/. This means that these speakers pronounce words that are listed in most
dictionaries with the vowel /ɔ/, like caught, saw, and walk, with an /ɑ/ sound instead. So
caught and cot sound alike: /kɑt/, and dawn and don sound alike: /dɑn/.
The merging of /ɔ/ and /ɑ/ is occurring mainly in the Western and Midwestern areas of the
United States and is more common among younger speakers than older speakers (Ladefoged
2005, p. 28). We might say that in many areas of the United States, /ɔ/ is an “endangered
sound.” As time goes by, it’s being used less and less in some words, and may eventually die
out as a separate phoneme.
Because of this merging of sounds, for teaching purposes it’s much less important to teach
the difference between /ɔ/ and /ɑ/ than it is to teach the difference between, for example,
/ɑ/ and /æ/. If students pronounce cot and caught the same way, they’ll be understood, but
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