Words in which "u" is pronounced "yu" -- I am struggling with finding a rule to explain which words that begin with u are pronounced /yu/, here is one hypothesis: all words that have "uni" as their root; hence, in addition to the word on the list "uniform" add: university, union, unique, united...
But then all the other words that begin with u: utility, use... How could this be explained?
In Jean Yates "Pronounce it Perfectly in English" this is the /iuw/ sound, a diphthong of /iy/ and /uw/, but no explanation of when u = /iuw/.
My partial answer is in the hypothesis that all words that have "uni" as their root, but it is narrow and probably just accidental/arbitrary. I would like to get to the bottom of this...
Comments by rompercabeza
rompercabeza commented on the list words-in-which-u-is-pronounced-yu
Words in which "u" is pronounced "yu" -- I am struggling with finding a rule to explain which words that begin with u are pronounced /yu/, here is one hypothesis: all words that have "uni" as their root; hence, in addition to the word on the list "uniform" add: university, union, unique, united...
But then all the other words that begin with u: utility, use... How could this be explained?
In Jean Yates "Pronounce it Perfectly in English" this is the /iuw/ sound, a diphthong of /iy/ and /uw/, but no explanation of when u = /iuw/.
My partial answer is in the hypothesis that all words that have "uni" as their root, but it is narrow and probably just accidental/arbitrary. I would like to get to the bottom of this...
November 12, 2021