Why is "u" sometimes pronounced "yu" and sometimes "u"? Preceding-letter dependent?

Factual Questions
1

When pronounced as oo, that is.

ISTM - just based on thinking of words off the top of my head - that the difference is dependent on the preceding letter. For example, debut, cute, refute, mute, and repute have the “y” sound, while jute, lute, and astute do not. Similarly, rebuke, cucumber, puke have the y, while duke, fluke, juke, Luke, and nuke do not. Cube, hubris, and puberty have it while gubernatorial, lube, jubilee, rube, and tube do not. Supine does not.

Lining it up, we have bu, cu, fu, hu, mu, pu with the y sound, and du, gu, ju, lu, nu, ru, su, and tu do not. I can’t think of exceptions to this, though perhaps I’m overlooking something.

Questions are 1) is the above correct as general rules, and 2) if so, why is this?

2

Universe.
Underwear.

3

Do you think it’s just an arbitrary rule about the preceding letter or maybe it has something to do with the way the preceding letter is pronounced? Just askin’.

4

Do a search for 'long vs short vowels. The English language is full of little idiosyncrasies. It’s what makes it a bitch for people to learn.

5

Is it kyoo-pon or koo-pon?

6

A lot of words are pronounced with the “y” sound in British English that are pronounced without it in American English. From your OP, duke, tube, nuke and astute would be pronounced with the “y” sound in Britain and Ireland. So if there is a rule regarding preceding letters, it’s not universal.

7

“Coupon” is not a plain-u word - it’s an “ou” word. So I find the idea of “kyoo-pon” honestly weird. Are there any other “ou” words that people try to pronounce with a “-yoo-”?

8

I thought the story went that a woman remarked to George Bernard Shaw that “sugar” is the only time in the English language when “su-” had a silent h sound in it. He asked if she was sure.

When I hear Brits, they add the [j] (international phonetics for the y in yawn sound, IIRC) .
AE “stoopid” vs BE "styoopid’ etc.

9

I can think of two possibilities off the top of my head, either that it’s something about the way the pronunciation works, as you suggest, or that sometimes different letter combinations are derived from different original languages (generally Latin vs Germanic, in the case of English) and that can make a difference.

But perhaps it’s something else. I’m not an expert. Or perhaps it’s not true altogether. :slight_smile:

10

I can’t think of any other “-ou” words prounced as “yu” (/ju:/) off the top of my head, but we do have another isolated examples with the “-eau” in “beautiful/beauty/etc,” I think.

11

I don’t think there are any consistent standards for ‘eau’ at all.

Consider:

beau
beauty
bureaucracy

12

I would say there is. It’s the same as the French sound: “oh.” “Bureau” follows it. You’re right, it changes a bit in “bureaucracy” but to me it’s a minor change. You have “beau,” “gateau,” “plateau,” tableau," “nouveau,” “beaucoup,” “bureaucrat,” “portmanteau.” Not a common collection of letters, and very indicative of a word’s origin, but there is a pretty consistent standard. It bends a little, for some reason, at “bureaucracy” and “bureaucrat.” But it’s completely different at “beauty.”

13

I guess there’s a standard for “ends with eau” (and related forms), but in the middle of the word there just aren’t enough examples.

A peek at the dictionary also gives me “reauthorizes”, which is obviously a different category again

14

OK, with some digging I found that, apparently, “ampoule” is pronounced with a /ju:/ by some.

15

The pronunciation of English vowels is an extremely complex subject.

What are taught in schools today as the “long U” [ju] as in cube and “short U” [ʌ] as in cub are not actually related vowels. Many of the [ju] words, like cube, use, and universe, are actually borrowings from French and Latin. They’re not native English words. How those Latin U sounds became [ju] I’m not sure about.

The original long and short U sounds of English would be [u] as in fool and [ʊ] as in foot. But of course they wouldn’t have been found in those words.

English vowels have changed a lot since the 15th century, unusually fast (see the (Great Vowel Shift) –

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Great_Vowel_Shift.svg

– and in some places, like Chicago and Detroit, they are changing again very fast (see the Northern Cities Vowel Shift).

16

Houston.

17

You mean like the street in New York? :wink:

(Good find. I knew there had to be another one.)

18

I have another “yu” question to pile on. I was shocked - shocked! - the first time I noticed “calculate” being pronounced as cal-cuh-late instead of the right-and-proper cal-cyu-late. Since, I’ve realized it’s common: a lot of people say “uh” in words where I would say “yu”, but I can’t figure out if it’s a regional thing or just personal preference. Any insights?

19

I’m surprised no one has linked this yet:

20

Bun, cup, fuss, hunny, much, pull - no ‘y’ sound.