Sunday, March 30, 2014

Invisible Y before some long U sounds

Invisible Y Before Some Long U Sounds

(After P, B, K, G, F, V, H and M, there always seems to be a Y sound before the long U unless the long U is spelled "oo" or "ou" as in papoose, cougar, acoustic, gooey or food. (exception = buoy, jacuzzi, guru, hula, and other foreign words. also "move") 
There also seems to be a Y sound after L and N if the L or N occurs at the end of a stressed syllable. example: value, cellular, salutation- but not salute or illuminate 
continue, venue - but not manure, nuclear ) 


How do you know which syllable to stress?   Try this online course on word stress

Beginning of Word:  (Insert a y before eu, ew, u vowel) Unicorn.  Utensil.  Ewe.  Unison. Eulogy.

P:  Computer.  Pewter.  Puke.  Reputation.  Puny.  Population.  Copulate.  Impunity.  Putrid.  Amputate.  Pure.  Opulence.    Pupil.  Puberty.  Scapula.  Stipulate.  Spew.  Deputy, Puget Sound   (But no Y in: Papoose, spoon)

B:  Rebuke.  Beauty.  Busey.  Tribunal.  Tribute.  Abuse.  Distribute.  Nebula.  Ambulance.  Attribute.  Bugle.  Butane.  Fabulous.  Debutant.  Nebulizer.  Bureaucrat.  Tabulate.  Tribulations.  Tubular  (But no Y in: Buoy, boost, boomerang)

K:  Cue.  Queue. Cute. Curious.  Incubate.  Cube.  Accuse.  Cupid.  Curator.  Accumulate.  Matriculate.  Articulate.  Speculate.  Innoculation.  Molecule.  Accurate.  Barbecue.  Calculus.  Obscure.  Procure.  Rescue.  Ridicule.  Secular.  Skewer. Vacuum,  Vascular.  Innocuous.  Mercury.  Excuse.  Occupy.  Mucus.  Binocular. Acuity, acupuncture (But no Y in:  coo, cool, coon, acoustic, cougar)

G:  Argue.  Singular.  Angular.  Regulate.  (But no Y in: guru, gooey, goofy, goose)

F:  Few.  Confusion.  Fuse.  Feud.  Fuel.  Fume.  Fuse.  Infusion.  Funeral.  Futile.  Refuge.  Refuse.  Diffuser.  Refute.  Coiffure.  Sulfuric, phew  (But no Y in food, fool)

V:  View.  Ovulation.  Interview.  (But no Y in voodoo)

H:  Huge.  Hugh.  Hue.  Humor.  Houston.  Human.  Humid.  (But no Y in hula)

L:  Value.  Cellular.  Volume.  Soluble.  Salutation.  Telluride.  Failure  (But no Y in salute, conclude, absolute, aluminum, lewd, illuminate) Notice that each word has a stressed syllable that ends in l.

M: Music.  Amuse.  Museum.  Mutant.  Mural.  Mutual.  Mule.  Mute.  Mucous. 
(But no Y in move, moo, moody)

N:  Continue.  Insinuate.  Venue.  Granular.  Manual.  Monument.  Minuet.  Sinuous.  Tenuous.  Tenure.  Annual.  Annuity (optional)  (But no Y is manure, nuclear, nude)  Notice that each word has a stressed syllable that ends in an N.





Practice:   (Play this audio to hear these sentences repeated several times.  Use the space between each repetition to imitate the sentence yourself.  Try to imitate exactly what you hear.  Each time you repeat a sentence, you will catch something you didn't hear the previous time.)

  1. He’s curious about how to do the computation.
  2. The deputy has a fabulous reputation at the tribunal.
  3. Everyone in the ambulance was confused.  Would he need his leg amputated?
  4. The levels of mercury are regulated in Houston.
  5. He refused to stipulate the requirements of his tenure in the interview.

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