What is a STRUT vowel?

Thanks in advance

when people refer to "STRUT vowel", they are talking about how the 'u' is pronounced.

This is a good indicator for certain dialects of English, especially those in England.

For instance, in the northern part of England, the word is pronounced like an Amer would pronounce 'stroot' with the same vowel sound heard in 'book' or 'foot'.

In Amer, and southern English dialects, it's pronounced like the vowel we use in 'cup'.

that's all it is.

Ahh.. I get it. Thanks.

-In Amer, and southern English dialects, it's pronounced like the vowel we use in 'cup'. -

But that vowel is not the same, in southern England and Australia, it's very open, close to [a], not many American accents have this pronunciation (Pittsburgh dialect has a realization close to [a]), see for yourself:


Mean F1 of the stressed vowel in study, mother, bud, just by dialect:



Pittsburgh--------------787
Eastern New England--768
RP------------------------754
Atlantic Provinces------746
Providence--------------736
Canada------------------736
Cincinnati--------------730
Western New England-728
Boston----------------- 727
St. Louis---------------726
Western Pennsylvania-725
Florida-----------------723
Middle Atlantic---------721
West--------------------712
Charleston--------------712
Inland North------------706
North-------------------701.4
Midland-----------------695
NYC---------------------692
South-------------------687
Texas South------------673
Inland South-----------664

Mean values of low vowels for 20 dialects. PI = Pittsburgh; WPA = Western Pennsylvania; CA = Canada; PR = Providence; S = Inland South; M = Midland; IN = Inland North.

by Professor Labov

From Wikipedia:

The most common realization of the vowel transcribed as < ʌ > in American English is [ɜ]: ''bust'' [bɜst] (in Ohio and most of Texas, according to Johnson) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_central_unrounded_vowel

In California (according to Ladefoged) and RP (not Estuary/Cockney) it's [ɐ]:
''nut'' [nɐt] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_central_vowel

In Newfoundland English and Philadelphia it's [ʌ]: ''plus'' [plʌs], according to Thomas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_unrounded_vowel

In Australia, it's [ä]: ''lust''[läst] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English_phonology

I've lived in Los Angeles and in Ohio and the STRUT vowel is pronounced like "Cup".

-I've lived in Los Angeles and in Ohio and the STRUT vowel is pronounced like "Cup".-

This is relative, because it does not say anything about the values (realization) of this vowels.

For example, STRUT vowel can be pronounced as @ (in ''Love'' or ''Current''), or as [Q] (in ''Pulse'')

While on the other hand, here in southeastern Wisconsin the STRUT vowel is actually pretty close to cardinal [ʌ], being at about the same point of articulation as [ɔ] in "core" is here (and in many GA-like dialects) but being unrounded.

My own Massachusetts dialect uses a near-front [ʌ] which I think is pretty typical for North America, but some people with more traditional urban accents do use a central vowel [ɐ] like in RP. I think you might be able to hear this in Matt Damon's Boston accent in The Departed.

Sorry, I meant "near-back" rather than "near-front".

Okay, the [ʌ] here in contrast is actually a true back [ʌ], to the point that it is actually slightly further back than the [ɔ] in "core" here.