yod-dropping

The spelling “ui” and the pronunciation /uː/ in juice, fruit, bruise, cruise, sluice, suit, nuisance, recruit, bruit

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The words juice, fruit, bruise, cruise, sluice, suit, pursuit, suitcase, lawsuit, nuisance, recruit, bruit are spelled with ui and pronounced with the IPA phoneme /uː/. Full pronunciations from OED: nuisance: Brit. /ˈnjuːsns/, U.S. /ˈn(j)us(ə)ns/ juice:         Brit. /dʒuːs/, U.S. /dʒus/ cruise:      Brit. /kruːz/, U.S. /kruz/ bruise:      Brit. /bruːz/, U.S. /bruz/ suit:           Brit. /s(j)uːt/, U.S. /sut/ recruit: … Read more

Is the pronunciation difference between “BrE deuce” vs “AmE deuce” systematic?

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While checking the exact pronunciation of the term deuce, I noticed that there is a clear difference between BrE /djuːs/ and NAmE /duːs/. While it is true that pronunciation has more exceptions than set rules, I’m surprised by the missing “e” (/j/) in the AmE version. Is it just another exception, or are there other … Read more

Why the “oo” in “noon” is pronounced sounding like “you” while the word “moon” isn’t?

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I was taught to pronounce the oo in either afternoon or noon as /u:/ ~~the oo in nook~~ until I found some native speakers pronounce the noon sounding like new-n (videos). But the AmE IPA in the dictionary labels it as /nu:n/, instead of what I thought it as /nju:n/ if it’s pronounced new-n. To … Read more

Why do Americans pronounce “Noo York” the way they do?

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I’m wondering if there is a historical explanation as to why the New in “New York” is pronounced /nu/ (as in “Noodles”) rather than /nju/ (as in RP “New Year”). Has this always been the case? Or did the pronunciation change over time? Answer It is called yod-dropping: Yod -dropping ….. was formerly considered nonstandard … Read more