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I am really not sure whether the word ´mother´ should be transcribed like this: ´mʌðə´ or like this ´mɒðə´. In my opinion, the second one sounds better. The word mother is similarly pronounced as for example ´hot´ = ´hɒt´, isn´t it?

Thank you for any help. :) Have a nice day!

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    Have you looked at any source, like a dictionary, to see what they say?
    – JeffUK
    Commented Apr 23, 2018 at 8:55
  • Yes, I did. You people are sometimes so mean.
    – MIa
    Commented Apr 23, 2018 at 8:57
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    It was a very straightforward question, I don't see how it's mean to ask you to help us help you.. What did that source say? What did you not understand about it, how can we help you understand that source better?
    – JeffUK
    Commented Apr 23, 2018 at 9:02
  • I thought there is some pattern, vowel A is always transcribed as /ɑ/ (as in father), vowel O (in word where O is obviously pronounced as A) it is transcribed with /ɑ/ (as in hot) and vowel U (again, in words where it is obviously pronounced as A) it is transcribed as /ʌ/ (as in cup). I looked to the dictionary, but I was not sure if it is not the American pronounciation (or other accent pronounciation).
    – MIa
    Commented Apr 23, 2018 at 9:12
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    @Kris - whoever downvoted was within their rights to do so; if you hover over the downvote button, it reads "this question does not show any research effort." That is true, since I didn't know the answer either (I'm not familiar with IPA) and I found the answer in about five seconds.
    – SomethingDark
    Commented Apr 23, 2018 at 10:01

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According to the Oxford English dictionary (at the bottom of the page), the correct transcription is

/ˈmʌðə/

The only difference between the British and American pronunciations is that Americans pronouce the r.

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