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As far as I know, words like run or under (letter: "u") are pronounced as:

  1. British: /rʌn/
  2. American: /rən/ with the schwa sound

The above is according to the page: A Key To English Pronunciations — Lexico/Oxford

Now I wanted to confirm that in the dictionaries.

  1. Merriam Webster dictionary shows: \ˈrən\
  2. All other show: /rʌn/

The difference between: ʌ and ə is really subtle ... if any ... In my opinion the recording on Merriam Webster dictionary says more like: ʌ than ə

In: ə the mouth is slightly opened and relaxed
In: ʌ is more open than for: "ə"

How should that really be pronounced? Where can I find the recording so that I could hear the difference?

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    Run is one of those words which are pronounced differently in different parts of the UK! Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 9:41
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    Some Americans have the same vowel (although stressed and unstressed) in run and about. Others don't. How do dictionaries decide which Americans' pronunciations to record? I don't know. Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 10:11
  • @KateBunting have you got any examples of the difference (or regions)? I can only think of examples where the 'R' differs in sound - the 'u' is pretty much the same sound afaik (just out of curiosity).
    – Smock
    Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 13:21
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    @Smock It's pretty well-known that southern English speakers typically pronounce 'u' as 'uh' (in extreme RP, more like 'ah'), while northerners pronounce it as 'oo' (so bus and put have the same vowel). Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 13:36
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    In American English, [ʌ] is the stressed allophone of /ə/. I.e, there's no phonemic difference between them, as long as you allow stress as a conditioning environment (which it plainly is, for the other vowels). In the UK, it's a different story, with FAR more variation. Commented Nov 5, 2019 at 15:56

1 Answer 1

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In a comment, John Lawler wrote:

In American English, [ʌ] is the stressed allophone of /ə/. I.e, there's no phonemic difference between them, as long as you allow stress as a conditioning environment (which it plainly is, for the other vowels). In the UK, it's a different story, with FAR more variation.

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