Falling, narrow, back centring/opening diphthong.
RP /ʊə/ glides from a tongue position similar to that used for /ʊ/ towards the more open type of /ə/ when occurring wordfinally, and to a closer variety of /ə/ word medially. The lips change from weakly rounded to neutrally spread as the glide progresses. As noted about /ɪə/, in unaccented syllables with the schwa element usually representing a suffix with morphemic status, the starting point may be pronounced as a closer and more tense vowel [ju:ə] or [uə] (e.g. influence valuable, vacuum, enventual), which seems to indicate a hiatus of the vowels in sequence. Nowadays, this glide is disappearing from RP and many other varieties of British English. It is being replaced by the long monophthong /ɔ:/.In Spanish the closest equivalent to RP /ʊə/ is the rising diphthong occurring in such words as e.g. suave 'soft', guante 'glove', in which the first element is less prominent, and second element, more prominent, more open and fronted, than in English.
| <our> (usu French borrowings) | tour /tʊə/, dour /dʊə/, bourgeois /ˈbʊəʒwɑ:/, courgette /kʊəˈʒet/, gourmet /ˈɡʊəmeɪ/, gourd /ɡʊəd/ |
| <ur(e)> | sure /ʃʊə/, cure /kjʊə/, jury /ˈdʒʊəri/ |
| <oor, boor> | boor /bʊə/, spoor /spʊə/ |
| The pronunciations [jʊə] [ju:ə] with /j/ preceding this diphthong often correspond to the letter |
euro /ˈjʊərəʊ/, Europe /ˈjʊərəp/ , liqueur /lɪˈkjʊə/ |
| poor /pʊə/ |
| tourney /ˈtʊəni/ |
| ritual /ˈrɪtʃʊəl/ |
| jewel /ˈdʒʊəl/ |
| actually /ˈæktʃuəli/ | puerile /ˈpjʊəraɪl/ |
| endurance /ɪnˈdjʊərəns/ |
| neurological /ˌnjʊərəˈlɒdʒɪkl̩/ |
|
During my visit to the aestheticist to check my eye-contour and my manicure it was
pouring rain in the moors.
/ˈdjʊərɪŋ maɪ ˈvɪzɪt tə ðə i:sˈƟetɪcɪst tə ˈtʃek maɪ ˌaɪˈkɒntʊə ənd maɪ ˈmænɪkjʊər ɪt wəz ˈpɔ:rɪŋ ˈreɪn ɪn ðə ˈmʊəz/ |
|
Curiously Duracell batteries seem to have
more endurance.
/ˈkjʊərɪəsli ˈdʊrəˌsel ˈbætriz ˈsi:m tə ˈhæv mɔ:r ɪnˈdjʊərəns/ |
|
The furious soldier´s shoulder surely got hurt in the tour
and probably will have no cure.
/ðə ˈfjʊərɪəs ˈsəʊldʒəz ˈʃəʊldə ˈʃʊəli ɡɒt ˈhɜ:t ɪn ðə ˈtʊər ənd ˈprɒbəbli wɪl ˈhæv nəʊ ˈkjʊə/ |
The tongue moves downwards from just above a half-close centralised back postion to a central half open position or even lower. The lips change from weakly rounded to neutrally spread. The soft palate is raised (unless followed by a nasal).