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Why do we pronounce slurp as /sləːp/ or /slɜ:p/ (BrE) or /slɝ:p/ (AmE) (Cambridge Dictionary of Pronunciation), but slump as /slʌmp/?

Is it because of the presence of R?

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    It might be. I'm no expert on these things, but there are several other words I can think of off the top of my head that fit this pattern: lump, lumbar are both pronounced like slump. lurch, church are both pronounced like slurp. I suppose it could be a coincidence, but just throwing that out there :)
    – WendiKidd
    Commented Aug 11, 2013 at 22:13
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    Hmm, although it just occurred to me, the general idea is that "what" questions belong on ELL and "why" questions on ELU. I had this thought based on your edit, which added the last sentence to your question (re: etymology etc.). I'll wait and see if anyone else agrees with me, though, or perhaps get the opinion of an ELU mod if one is around :)
    – WendiKidd
    Commented Aug 11, 2013 at 22:16
  • I notice that when you try to pronounce either word the other way round, it's difficult (for an AE speaker) to do!
    – James Waldby - jwpat7
    Commented Aug 11, 2013 at 23:17

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Vowels with /r/ following them are treated differently in English.

Most Americans never put an /r/ after an /ʌ/. Most English people don't put an /r/ after an /ʌ/ when they're in the same syllable (in fact, many of them don't put an /r/ after any vowel in the same syllable). In these cases, a word which historically should have been pronounced /ʌr/ is instead pronounced with /ɝ:/ or /ɜ:/. In Scotland and Ireland, they can and do pronounce /ʌr/, although not being Scottish I have no idea which vowel they use for slurp.

The history of the pronunciation of 'r' after a vowel in English is quite complicated, and when learning English you just have to learn that curd, herd, bird, all rhyme (except in Scotland and Ireland).

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  • "current" and possible "currency" sounds and are shown with an /\ in British English but not in AmE.
    – Bogdan Lataianu
    Commented Aug 16, 2013 at 17:07
  • But as my tags suggest, I was more interested on North-American pronunciation
    – Bogdan Lataianu
    Commented Aug 16, 2013 at 17:20
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    @Theta30: in British English, "current", "currency", "hurry", and similar words can be pronounced with /ʌr/ because the /ʌr/ is immediately followed by a vowel, so the 'r' gets shifted to be pronounced as the first sound of the next syllable. I don't believe you will find /ʌrC/ in standard British English, with 'C' representing a consonant.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Aug 16, 2013 at 18:06

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