More *UR* Notes

Continuing with disembodied (or, rather, disentexted) notes to words that use a *UR* spelling to represent the /ə/ (and related) sounds, and the first of the /ʊ/ (and related) sounds. (There is a crossover case where the letters *UR* can represent /ʊə/.)

/ə/ Notes

1. azure
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription (with an assimilated /ʒ/), but the audio sample has no assimilation (the /z/ is unchanged) and the vowel is /jʊə/. Both pronunciations are common and acceptable.
2. Jurassic
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio sample has a hint of /ʊ/.
3. murmur
   This sound is in the second syllable. See also under /ɜ:/.
4. purport
   This is the verb (meaning "convey a meaning or "gist", or "make a show of doing that"). For the noun see /ɜ:/.
5. survey
   This is the verb, with primary stress on the second syllable. For the noun, see the /ɜ:/ section.

/ʧə/ Note

1. aperture, musculature, premature  and many others
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio sample is /tjʊə/. Although the pronunciation /tʃə/ is both common and acceptable in the first two cases, it is less common in the case of “premature” (only –  and not necessarily, even in that case – when the adjective precedes the noun it qualifies).

 /jə/, /ʃə/ , and /ʒə/ Notes

1. penury
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio sample is approaches /jʊ/
2. luxury
   Sometimes pronounced with a /gʒ/. See under /ʒə/.
3. azure
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio sample is /zjʊə/, a common pronunciation.
4. luxury
   Sometimes voiceless. See under /ʃə/.

/jʊə/ Notes

1. alluring
   Macmillan English Dictionary gives two transcriptions and labels them "British", one without the /j/, but the audio sample is of the full /jʊə/ pronunciation. The form without /j/ matches what the Macmillan English Dictionary calls "American".
2. bureaucracy,  bureau de change, bureaucracy, bureaucrat, bureaucratic, burette, and centurion
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio sample has no /ə/ - a common pronunciation.
3. couture
   The printed Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the online Macmillan English Dictionary lists this word as American, and gives it plain /ʊ/.
4. curate
   This is the noun., with stress on the first syllable. For the verb, see the /jʊ/ section.
5. futurity
   Alone among the derivatives of "future" (excluded as explained in the Introduction) this is included as it does not have /ə/ for the *UR*.
6. luxuriant
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio sample is shows how the /gzjʊə/ can be shortened to /gʒʊ/. The voicing of the /g/ is uncertain, so that it is close to being /kʃʊ/, a common optional pronunciation.
7. penurious
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio sample is /jʊ/.
8. urogenital
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio sample is has a hint of /jɔ:/.

/jʊ/ and /ʊ/ Notes

1. curate
   This is the verb. For the noun, see the /jʊə/ section.
2. hurray
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio sample is /ə/. Both are common and acceptable, as are a wide variety of spellings.
3. samurai
   Macmillan English Dictionary also has the pronunciation /ʊ/.
4. samurai
   Macmillan English Dictionary also has the pronunciation /jʊ/.

More later this month.

 

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