Producing /ʌ/

How to produce /ʌ/

Before anything else, get the articulation right. The right mouth position makes the sound effortless.

/ʌ/
open-mid back unrounded
Lips: neutral
Tongue: mid-central
Voicing: voiced
💡 Short neutral vowel, tongue mid-central.

Key production cues:

Short neutral vowel, tongue mid-central.

Practice the sound in isolation

Before trying words, practice the sound on its own. Record yourself. Does it match?

1. Say /ʌ/ in isolation — hold it for 2 seconds.
2. Say /ʌ/ quickly, 5 times in a row: /ʌ-ʌ-ʌ-ʌ-ʌ/.
3. Compare your recording to a native reference.

Try a few isolated words

These words all contain /ʌ/ in different positions — beginning, middle, and end:

• Beginning: up, under, cup
• Middle: bug, sun, cut
• End / in clusters: mud, rough, love

/ʌ/open-mid back unroundedArticulator diagram · regional variants · drill ↗