Refresh my memory on American English vowels /u/ versus /ʊ/. They are quite different rather than long-short.
1. Pronunciation
This YouTube video, Focus on /u/ and /ʊ/, shows how to pronounce them.
2. Pronunciation of oo
I organized the notes before, posted here.
大部分是发长音/uː/，记住发短音/ʊ/的词，其他的几乎都是发长音/uː/了。
/ʊ/
字母组合ook，如book, cook, look, shook, took．
字母组合ood，如wood, falsehood, good, stood. 但有两个很特殊，blood(/blʌd/), flood(/flʌd/).
其他，wool, foot.
/uː/
除了上述情况外，几乎都发长音/uː/，如fool, school; shoot, root; too, zoo; roof, proof; boom, room; noon, moon; troop, loop; choose, loose; tooth, smooth; groove.
(2)oor
oor发/ɔː/,/ɔr=ɔɚ/，如door, floor. 但有例外，如poor(/pʊr/), moor(荒野，停泊).
3 U u
(1)/juː/
重读开音节，如university, refuse, unique, universe, huge.
以-ute/-ude结尾的词，发/juː/
-ute，动词后缀，如attribute(/ə’trɪbjuːt/), institute. 但有例外，如minute(/’mɪnɪt/).
-ude，名词后缀-tude，表示性质、状态、程度，如latitude, longitude, altitude, attitude.
(2)/ʌ/
重读闭音节，如but, struck(/strʌk/), trust, run, brush, bucket, duck, bubble, luck.
(3)/ʊ/
重读闭音节，如put, push, pull, full, bull.
(4)/ə/
非重读音节，如support, suggest, autumn(/’ɔːtəm/), difficult.
(5)/uː/
l/r/j+u的开音节，u发/uː/
lu, 如blue, include, resolute(/’rezəluːt/, 坚决的), seclude(使隔离), ablution(洗礼), conclude.
ru，如rule, true, rude, scruple(/’skruːp(ə)l/, 有顾忌), prudent(/’pruːd(ə)nt/, 谨慎的), intruder(/ɪn’truːdə/).
ju, 如June. 很少含ju开音节的词。
(6)/jʊ/
如popular, January(/’dʒænjʊ’ɛri/).
4. /u/ vs /ʊ/
The following text is extracted from [2]:
A word can’t end in stressed /ʊ/. In bold words that can’t be confused.
- With “oo”: boot – choose – cool – fool – loose – moon – pool – root – school – soon – stool – too – tool
- With “u” and magic e: absolute – include – June – rule
- With “u”: brutal – conclusion – flu – truth
- With “ew”: blew – brew – chew – crew – drew – screw – threw
- With “ou”: group – soup – through – you – youth
- With “o”: lose – move – tomb – who
- With “oo”: book – cook – foot – good – hook – look – shook – stood – took – wood – wool
- With “u”: bull – bullet – bush – cushion – full – pudding – pull – push – put – sugar
- With “ou”: could – would – should
- With “o”: wolf – woman
Only a few consonants can follow /ʊ/.
- /d/: could – good – hood – pudding – should – stood – wood – would
- /g/: sugar
- /k/: book – brook – cook – crook – hook – rook – shook – took
- /l/: bull – bullet – full – pull – wolf – wool
- /m/: woman
- /ʃ/: bush – cushion – push
- /t/: foot – put – soot
参考资料：
[1]YouTube: Focus on /u/ and /ʊ/
[2]Blog: Pronunciation exercises: /uː/ vs /ʊ/
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