Non-phonemic /u/

• Another neutralization between two phonemes exists between /uː/ and /ʊ/
• In other words, some English speakers, in some contexts, use /uː/ when
others use /ʊ/.

• To transcribe this, we use non-phonemic /u/

• This happens mainly :
➡ in to, into, you, and auxiliary do before a vowel or when at the end of a
sentence.

➡ in who most of the time

➡ when a syllable ends in <u> and the next syllable starts with a vowel.
To, into, you, do
You are great !
→you is followed by…
a vowel.

=> It is transcribed with /u/

/ju ɑː ˈgreɪt/

I want you to go.

→you and to are followed by…
a consonant.

=> They are pronounced with /ə/

/aɪ ˈwɒnt jə tə ˈgəʊ/

Who…
• Who can be an interrogative pronoun or a relative pronoun.
• As an interrogative pronoun, most of the time, who is pronounced /hu/, unless
there is an emphasis on the question.

‘Who did this ?’

‘I didn’t do it.’
‘Then, who ?’

Who is transcribed /hu/, but who is pronounced /ˈhuː/

The man who just came in is a friend of Lucy’s.

Here, who is a relative pronoun, it is always transcribed /hu/

<u> + syllable starting with a vowel

• Quite rare, mostly in words like evacuate, evaluation…

• evacuate : /ɪˈvækjueɪt/