LISTEN

/ɜr/…/ɜr/…/ɜr/…/ɜr/

church…nurse…learn…bur​den

WHAT IS IT?

Pronunciation:
The sound /ɜr/ is a high, central, lax vowel.

• Raise your tongue so that the sides of your tongue press against your upper teeth.
• Curl the tip of your tongue backwards slightly.
• Spread your lips slightly.
• Breathe out and let air flow out of your mouth.

Spelling:

• “er” – her, certain
• “ear” – learn, heard
• “ur” – burn, surface
• “ir” – bird, dirty
• “or” – word, worthy

Note: Most of these spellings may also represent other vowels followed by /r/.

COMPARE

Compare /ɜr/ and /ʌ/:

/ɜr/…/ʌ/…/ɜr/…/ʌ/…/ɜr/…/ʌ/

These are both central, lax vowels. However, /ɜr/ is a high vowel and /ʌ/ is a mid vowel. The vowel /ɜr/ sounds like a blend of /ʌ/ and /r/.

You can hear the difference between /ɜr/ and /ʌ/ in these words.

1. A. bird, B. bud
2. A. search, B. such
3. A. fern, B. fun
4. A. lurk, B. luck​
5. A. sermon, B. summon
6. A. murder, B. mutter

Practice recognizing words with /ɜr/ and /ʌ/ by taking the quiz here (external site).

​Now compare /ɜr/ with /ɑ/:

/ɜr/…/ɑ/…/ɜr/…/ɑ/…/ɜr/…/ɑ/

These are both central vowels. However, /ɜr/ is a high vowel and /ɑ/ is a low vowel. When you pronounce /ɜr/, the sides of your tongue should lightly touch your upper teeth.

You can hear the difference between /ɜr/ and /ɑ/ in these words.

1. A. curb, B. cob
2. A. hurt, B. hot
3. A. clerk, B. clock
4. A. surfed, B. soft
5. A. earner, B. honor
6. A. gurgle, B. goggle

Practice recognizing words with /ɜr/ and /ɑ/ by taking the quiz here (external site).

PRACTICE

Now, practice /ɜr/ in sentences. Say the words first, then the sentences.

1. return – curfew
​You need to return before your curfew.
2. certain – weren’t – burned
Are you certain you weren’t burned?
3. heard – learned – surf
I heard that you learned to surf.
4. first – serve – dessert
First we’ll eat dinner, and then I’ll serve dessert.
5. early – work – personal
I got up early to work on a personal project.
6. further – mer​ge
Drive a little further, then merge into the next lane.

To practice with different varieties of English, choose another native English speaker by clicking one of the links below:

Male – US Midwest (St. Louis)

Male – US Midwest (Iowa)

Male – US Midwest

Female – US Northeast

Female – US Southeast

​Prepare:
Imagine you have to write a research paper for a class. What topic would you like to research?

• Earthquakes
• Causes of murder 
• Alternative medicine and herbal treatments
• Internet security
• The purpose of immigration laws​
• Why teenagers need a curfew
• Online learning
• Alternative energy solutions
• World War II​
• Effects of workplace diversity
• Why people might attend a church
• How search engines work
• The return of old fashions
• Current problems in global security

Record:
Imagine you need to tell your teacher 2 topics that you might want to research. In your recording, present  the 2 topics you are most interested in, and explain why.

©2024, Christine Wingate

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.