ɜː The er in bird and her
ɜː is the vowel in her, bird, turn and word. Transcriptions of American English often write it ɝ, with a hook for the r that comes with it. It's the only long vowel of English made in the very middle of the mouth, with the lips neither spread nor rounded.
Japanese has no vowel like it, so it borrows アー, the same as for the ar of hard. That's why hurt and heart are both ハート in katakana, and why work, said the Japanese way, can sound like walk.
Hear ɜː in words
Each tap plays the word in a different voice. Real clips from the app.
How to say ɜː
- 1
Open the mouth only a little, about as much as for a relaxed Japanese エ, and leave the lips as they are.
- 2
Let the tongue rest in the center of the mouth. Don't let it drop for ア or push forward for エ.
- 3
In American English, add the r at the same time: bunch the tongue up, or curl its tip back a little, and hold that shape for the whole vowel. In British English, keep the tongue relaxed and just hold the vowel.
- 4
Check it against hard and warm. Hard drops the jaw and warm rounds the lips; ɜː does neither.
Why ɜː is hard for Japanese speakers
Katakana has no letter for ɜː, so it uses アー: bird is バード, turn is ターン, word is ワード. But アー is much closer to the wide-open ɑː of hard and card, so バード said the Japanese way tends to sound like bard.
Spelling hides it too. Ir, er, ur, ear and or after w all spell the same ɜː, as in bird, her, turn, earn and word. Katakana writes them バード, ハー, ターン, アーン and ワード, and every one comes out as the same アー.
How ɜː is spelled
| Spelling | Examples |
|---|---|
| ir | bird, shirt, stir |
| er | her, person, term |
| ur | turn, hurt, fur |
| ear | earn, heard, learn |
| or after w | word, work, worse, worth |
ɜː in American and British English
American English makes ɜː and r one sound: the whole vowel is r-colored, from start to finish, which is why transcriptions of American English write ɝ. British English has no r here at all: her is just the vowel, held long.
In both, the jaw is only slightly open and the lips are flat. That's what separates ɜː from the ɑː of hard, with its open jaw, and the ɔː of warm, with its round lips, whatever the accent.
Studies: Lambacher et al. 2005
Train your ear for ɜː
A sound is easiest to learn next to the one it gets confused with. Each collection has the full word list and a quiz, and the word pairs below have pages of their own, with both words in many voices.
Start hearing the difference.
Free to download, with one purchase to unlock everything. No subscription.