daughter, father, foul, fowl, flour, flower

Question

Hi teachers,I find it very difficult to understand this as I looked up the dictionary: merriam learner.1.  Does 'au' in daughter pronounce the way 'a' in father?2.  Does 'ou' in foul pronunce like 'ow' in fowl or 'aw' in awesome?3.  Does flour and flower sound like the same?4.  Do 'ui' in suit, 'oe' in 'shoe', 'oo' in 'boot' sound the same?5.  Does 'ou' in four sound like 'ou' in cloud?6.  Does 'ue' in Tuesday sound just like 'ue' in cue?7.  In another dictionary 'au' in daughter pronounces like 'au' in audience and 'ou' in four.  ThanksTN

Enoon · Accepted Answer

tinanam01021. Is the 'au' in 'daughter' pronounced the same way as the 'a' in 'father'?

From what I can remember of Standard American, they are different. The "au" in "daughter" is like the "a" in "paw".

tinanam01022. Does the 'ou' in 'foul' sound like the 'ow' in 'fowl' or 'aw' in 'awesome'?

The rest of your questions should be corrected similarly.

In my dialect, "fowl" and "foul" sound the same.

tinanam01023. Does flour and flower sound like the same?

Identical.

tinanam01024. Do 'ui' in suit, 'oe' in 'shoe', 'oo' in 'boot' sound the same?

Very close.

tinanam01025. Does 'ou' in four sound like 'ou' in cloud?

No. "Four" rhymes with "or".

tinanam01026. Does 'ue' in Tuesday sound just like 'ue' in cue?

In my dialect, no. We say it like "TWOS-day" or "TWOS-dee".

tinanam01027. In another dictionary 'au' in daughter pronounces like 'au' in audience and 'ou' in four.

Every dialect is a little different for all of these. I recommend like "audience".

Fivejedjon · Answer

My answers would be the same as enoon's except for:

In common with about 28% of speakers of BrE, I pronounce 'suit' as /sju:t/. About 72% say /su:t/ (to rhyme with 'boot'

I pronounce 'Tuesday' as /tju:zde?/ and /tju:zd?/. Slightly under half of BrE speakers prefer /?u:/for the first syllable.

Figures from the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary.

CalifJim · Answer

tinanam0102I find it very difficult to understand ...

Note that these vary by region. I can only answer from the viewpoint of the variety of American English that I speak.

Note also that I have changed your questions to correct them.

1. Is 'au' in daughter pronounced the same way as 'a' in father? No. (Many people say them the same, however.)
2. Is 'ou' in foul pronounced like 'ow' in fowl or 'aw' in awesome? Like 'ow' in fowl.
3. Do flour and flower sound the same? Yes.
4. Do 'ui' in suit, 'oe' in shoe, and 'oo' in boot sound the same? Yes.
5. Does 'ou' in four sound like 'ou' in cloud? No. (I don't know anybody who says them alike.)
6. Does 'ue' in Tuesday sound just like 'ue' in cue? No. (Some people say them the same, however.)
7. In another dictionary 'au' in daughter is pronounced like 'au' in audience and 'ou' in four. That's not surprising. Personally, I use that pronunciation for daughter and audience, but not for four.

daughter = awesome = audience = saw
flour = flower = tower = hour (These have two syllables.)
foul = fowl = cloud = now
suit = fruit = shoe = do = stew = due = boot = Tuesday
cue = few = hue
four = for = more

CJ

KJinCali79 · Answer

I'm in agreement with CalifJim on all of these, but alas, we're both from California! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>  These do vary by region, however.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your help on this topic.

All have a great day
TN

daughter, father, foul, fowl, flour, flower

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