/ʌ/, /ɜ:/ and /ə/ (01/12)

9. /ʌ/

Approximate Castilian production:

•           This phoneme that, together with a /a:/ and /æ/, is a focus of confusion for Spanish speakers who can assimilate it to a “a” sound.
•           This sound seems to be more approximate to the Spanish “A” when it is accompanied by velar consonants: regate, coja, jaque, etc.

Articulation:

• This is a central vowel, and one which is more open than mid-ranged. The lip position is a neutral one.

Most important spellings that represent /ʌ/:

• U: sun, run, fun.
• O: won, come, done.
• Ou: country, southern, young.
• Oo: blood, flood. 

Minimal pairs:

/ʌ/	/æ/
Cup But Run Some Uncle Much	Cap Bat Ran San Ankle Match
/ʌ/	/e/
Money But Won Done	Many Bet When Den

Here I share an interesting video for Spanish speakers, where they explain differences between:
 /a:/, /æ/ and /ʌ/:

10. /ə:/ - /ɜ:/

Approximate Castilian production

• There is no similar sound in Spanish.
• This is a central vowel. The lips are not rounded.
• A didactic procedure would be to produce a Spanish “e” and, little by little, to approximate it to an “o”, not reaching it.
• It used to be followed by a “r”.

Most important spellings that represent /ə:/ - /ɜ:/

• Ir: first.
• Er: serve.
• Ear: earth.
• Ur: nurse.
• Or: word.
• Our: journey.

Minimal pairs:

/ɜ:/	/e/
Bird Learned Turn Burn World	Bed Lend Have Ben Wed

11. /ə/

Approximate Castilian production

• The schwa is an unstressed central vowel and is the most common vowel to appear in English.
• There is no similar sound in Spanish. We tend to assimilate it to an unstressed “e” when it is not final (another - [ə’nɅðə]).
• In final position we assimilate it to an “a”. (letter).

Most important spellings that represent /ə/:

• It has no regular character to represent it.
• Any vowel or group of vowels may, in unstressed position, represent /ə/.
• E.g. famous [feiməs], woman [wʊmən], letter [letə], cupboard [kɅbəd].

Minimal pairs:

• As it never occurs in stressed position, there are no contrastive elements. On the other hand, it is fundamental for the correct formation of rhythm in English. 

Here I share an interesting video for Spanish speakers, where they explain the sound /ə/: 

And here I share another one where they explain the sound /ɜ:/: