Vowel Sounds (æ ɚ ɝ)

Which vowel sound is in the word cat?

• /æ/

• /ɚ/

• /eɪ/

• /ɝ/

What is the key characteristic of /ɚ/?

• It is stressed.

• It is relaxed and unstressed.

• It is a front vowel.

• It is tense and stressed.

Which sentence has both /æ/ and /ɚ/?

• The black cat ran fast.

• • The bird heard a word.

• The teacher read to her class.

• The man hurt his hand.

How can you identify /ɝ/ in a word?

• It is in an unstressed syllable.

• It is a relaxed central vowel.

• It appears at the end of words only.

• It has a strong r sound and is stressed.

The word "teacher" ends with the vowel sound /___/.

• æ

• ɝ

• ɚ

Answer explanation

Many confuse the ending with /ɝ/ because the r sounds strong, but the key is that it is relaxed and not accentuated.

Match the phonetic transcription with the correct word. Be careful, some words might look similar!

• black

• /ˈblæk/

• cat

• /ˈteɪtʃɚ/

• No match

• /ˈkæt/

• bird

• /ˈbɝd/

• cart

• /ˈkɑːt/

Put the words in the correct column

Groups:

(a) /æ/:

,

(b) /ɚ/:

,

(c) /ɝ/:

• Sister

• System

• wrath

• Black

• Raft

• Number

• Apple

• Word

• Teacher

• First

• Bird

• Hurt

Draw an object that begins with the sound /æ/.

What is the correct transcription of bird?

• /bɚd/

• /bɜːd/

• /bɜːrd/

• /bɪrd/

Answer explanation

English has different accents and the pronunciation of the words may vary slightly depending on the accent. In this case, both transcriptions are correct and represent two different ways of pronouncing the "r" in the word "bird". (British way /bɜːd/ and American way /bɜːrd/)

Idea

• Schwa (ɚ)

• No schwa (ɚ)