everyone-can-use-english/1000-hours/sounds-of-american-english/2.1.3-ʌ.md

2.1.3. ʌ/ɑː/aːr

从唇形上来看，ʌ 的唇形最小，ɑːr 的唇形最大。

In terms of mouth shape, the vowel sound ʌ requires the lips to be the most closed, while the vowel sound ɑːr requires the lips to be the most open.

美音的 ʌ 实际上非常接近于英音的 ə，比如，but /bʌt/听起来更接近于 /bət/。

The American pronunciation of ʌ is actually quite similar to ə. For instance, the word but, pronounced /bʌt/, often sounds more like /bət/.

美国人还会再进一步，会把很多非重读音节内的元音简化为 ə —— 对此还有个专门的术语，将其称为 schwa。所以，encourage 这个词英国人和美国人读得不太一样，英国人会读作 /ɪnˈkʌrɪdʒ/，但，美国人却将其被读成 /ɪnˈkɝːədʒ/—— 不仅要将 ʌ 读成 ɝː（长元音），还要将 ɪ 变成 schwa, ə……

They even go a step further, simplifying many unstressed vowel sounds to ə, which is particularly referred to as a schwa. So, the word encourage is pronounced differently by Brits and Americans. Brits say /ɪnˈkʌrɪdʒ/, while Americans pronounce it as /ɪnˈkɝːədʒ/. In this case, not only is ʌ pronounced as ə, but the ɪ also turns into a schwa, ə...

在美式英语中，长元音 /ɑː/ 常常会被儿化 —— 加上一个卷舌音 r，所以很多美式词典干脆用 ɑr 标注（包括 CEPD）。比如，card /kɑːrd/, mark /mɑːrk/。

The long vowel /ɑː/ is often rhotacized - meaning it is followed by a r sound, which leads to many American Dictionaries replacing ɑː with ɑr, including CEPD. For example, card is pronounced as /kɑːrd/, and mark as /mɑːrk/.

在英音中，长元音 ɑː 对应的短元音是 ʌ。但，在美音中，长元音 ɑːr 对应的更短版本是 ɑː —— 不要被这个长元音符号迷惑了，它实际上对应的是英音中的短元音 ɒ，只不过相对略长一些。比如，hot, 英音是 /hɒt/，美音是 /hɑːt/。

In British English, the short vowel matching the long vowel ɑː is ʌ. However, in American English, the short vowel corresponding to the long vowel ɑr is ɑː, which is actually similar to the British short vowel ɒ, yet a little bit longer - don't be misled by the long vowel sign ː following ɑ. For instance, the word hot is pronounced /hɒt/in British English and /hɑːt/in American English.

英音中的 ɑː 在美式英语中读作 æ，最常见的例子是 ask，英音是 /ɑːsk/，美音是 /æsk/。

In American English, the British ɑː sound is pronounced as æ. The most common example is the word ask. In British English, it's pronounced as /ɑːsk/, while in American English, it's pronounced as /æsk/.

总结一下，这也是美音比较特殊的地方：

ʌ 相当于有三个版本 —— 短元音 ʌ（but /bʌt/），半长元音 ɑː（hot /hɑːt/）和儿化的长元音 ɑːr（card /kɑːrd/）。

To sum up, it's an interesting feature of American English:

The sound ʌ actually has three versions. You've got the short vowel ʌ as in but /bʌt/, the semi-long vowel ɑː as in hot /hɑːt/, and the rhotacized long vowel ɑːr as in card /kɑːrd/.