Minimal pairs: /ʊ/ and /uː/

Ex. 1 Look at the following words containing the short vowel /ʊ/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /uː/. N.B. Not all the examples are true minimal pairs, as in some of them the vowel /uː/ is preceded by the semi-vowel /j/.

could, full, good, nook, rebook, should, soot

Ex. 2 Write which of these words contain the following vowels: a. /ʊ/, b. /uː/, c. another vowel (which one?).

lust, flu, shoe, root, room, crust, butcher, punting, strewth, booking, brooch


KEY
1. cooed, fool, gooed (covered with goo), nuke, +/j/ rebuke +/j/, shooed, suit (optional /j/)
2. a. /ʊ/ butcher, booking, outlook /ˈaʊtlʊk/ 
b. /uː/ flu, shoe, root, strewth, news
c. /ʌ/ lust, crust, punting, /əʊ/ brooch (and /aʊ/ in the first syllable of 'outlook')
The word 'room' can have /ʊ/ or /uː/.

When in doubt, I used the Cambridge Dictionary website at https://dictionary.cambridge.org.

Minimal pairs: /ɒ/, /ɔː/ and /ɑː/ + British/American English

Ex. 1 Look at the following words containing the short vowel /ɒ/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɔː/.

bod, cod, cot, don/Don, god, Oz (Australia), sod it, stock, wad, what

Ex. 2 Look at the following words containing the short vowel /ɒ/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɑː/. Are these words minimal pairs in Standard American English?

Bobby, bot, cod, cot, comma, hot, logger, lock, mock, potty

Ex. 3 Look at the following words containing the long vowel /ɔː/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɑː/.

boar/bore, call, cord, core, dork, four, lord, more, ore, tore

KEY

1. bored, cord, court/caught, dawn/Dawn, gourd (also /gʊəd/), oars/ores, sordid, stalk/stork, ward, wart

2. Barbie, Bart, card, cart, calmer/karma, heart, lager, lark, mark, party

Standard American English does not have a short vowel /ɒ/ but uses long /ɑː/ instead. Since all of the words in the answer key contain postvocalic [r], which is pronounced in SAE but not British RP, the difference in American English would be that
of /ɑː/ and /ɑːr/, not /ɒ/ and /ɑː/.

3. bar, Carl, card, car, dark, far, lard, mar, are (full form), tar

Minimal pairs: /ʌ/ and /ɑː/

Ex. 1. Look at the following words containing the short vowel /ʌ/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɑː/.

buck, bud, budge, cup, cut, duck, dulling, hut, luck, muck, musk, must (full form), stuck, tusk

Ex. 2. The following words tend to be mispronounced by Polish speakers, who often use the vowel /a/, e.g. both love and laugh as /laf/ or /la:f/. Which of these words contain a. /ʌ/; b. /ɑː/; c. another vowel?

grass, mayor, front, doll, burn, parent, Dublin, dull, past, draft, bust, Hamburg, last, worry, darts


KEY Ex. 1. bark, bard, barge, carp, cart, dark, darling, heart, lark, mark, mask, mast, stark, task
Ex. 2. a. /ʌ/ front, Dublin, dull, bust, worry
b. /ɑː/ grass, past, draft, last, darts
c. burn, doll, parent, mayor, Hamburg

Minimal pairs: /æ/ and /ɑː/ + British/American English

Ex. 1. Look at the following words containing the short vowel /æ/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɑː/. Are these words minimal pairs in Standard American English?

at (full form), back, bad, badge, ban, bat, cat, cattle, chat, Dan, hat, lack, lad, mac, mat, pat, tat

Ex. 2. Which words have /æ/ in American English and /ɑː/ in Received Pronunciation? How about the vowels in the remaining words?

gas, aunt, pass, bath, father, pat, class, math(s), mass, answer, example, ask, can't, task, mask, last, clap, barn


KEY: Ex. 1. art, bark, bard, barge, barn, Bart, cart, cartel, chart, darn, heart, lark, lard, mark, mart, part, tart These words also contain /r/ in Standard US English, so they aren't minimal pairs.

Ex. 2. /æ/ in American English and /ɑː/ in RP: aunt, pass, bath, class, math(s), answer, example, ask, can't, task, mask, last 
/æ/ in both: gas, pat, mass, clap   /ɑː/ in both: father, barn (+ /r/ in US English)

Pronunciation: nonsense words

This exercise asks advanced English learners to use their general knowledge of English pronunciation in order to decide whether the following non-existent words could be used in English. It is similar to exercises that can be found in linguistics textbooks, e.g. The Study of Language by George Yule (Cambridge: CUP; I have the 2nd edition of 1996).

Ex. Look at the following words and their pronunciation. Would it be possible to have such words in English? If not, why not?

1. glom /glɒm/   2. sarpck /sɑːpk/   3. cra /kræ/   4. lpome /lpəʊm/   5. locious /'ləʊʃəs/   6. xane /kseɪn/   7. jooly /'dʒuːli/   8. lagly /'lægli/   9. ftroo /ftruː/   10. ippy /'ɪpi/   11. quider /'kwɪdə/   
12. ploh /ploh/   13. zock /zɒk/   14. drunting /'drʌntɪŋ/   15. toor /tuːr/

KEY: Possible: 1, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14
Impossible: 2 (the syllable-final cluster /-pk/); 3 (a full short vowel at the end of a word); 4 (the syllable-initial cluster /lp-/); 6 (the syllable-initial cluster /ks-/; a word spelt this way would have to begin with /z-/); 9 (the syllable initial cluster /ftr-/); 12 (word-final /h/); 15 (/uː/ is not followed by /r/; a word spelt this way would be pronounced like "tour").

Minimal pairs: /æ/ and /ʌ/

Ex. 1. Look at the following words containing the short vowel /æ/ and find their counterparts containing the short vowel /ʌ/.
ankle, bad, ban, bat, cat, dab, dad, dam, Dan, fan, hat, lack, mad, mash, nan, rag, ram, ran, rang, rash, rat, Sam, sap, stack, tag, tan

Ex. 2. Find five words which contain the vowel /ʌ/.

butcher, one, cute, look, plumber, rune, numb, body, minute, comb, crumbs, bury, Murphy, London, Boston, burn, room

KEY: Ex. 1. uncle, bud, bun, but (full form)/butt, cut, dub, dud, dumb, done, fun, hut, luck, mud, mush, nun, rug, rum, run, rung, rush, rut, some (full form), sup, stuck, tug, ton/tonne

Ex. 2. one, plumber, numb, crumbs, London