What determines the pronunciation of the "u" in words like public or pupil?

Question

I am confused as to how do you know automatically how to say the letter "u" in public, pupil, pub, puberty and others similar. Is there a key to knowing this?

Answer 1

The easiest way to work this out it to identify if each syllable is open or closed.

1. Open syllables end with a vowel such as the words: me, no and hi. In this syllable type you say the long vowel sound.
2. Closed syllables end with a consonant such as the words: bed, dog and pub. In this syllable type you say the short vowel sound.

For multi-syllabic words you first need to break them down into syllables. Each syllable will have one vowel type. If there is one consonant after a vowel put it with the second syllable. If there are two consonants after the vowel give one to each syllable.

1. clo-ver, pu-pil, pu-ber-ty
2. a-corn, o-pen
3. nap-kin, com-plex, pub-lic

Of course there are always exceptions to these rules but this will be the easiest way of knowing whether to use a long or short vowel when coming across unknown words.

Answer 2

Hello!

As for "pub", you have the CVC pattern, which means the vowel sound is short (as in cut, run, bud, and so on). In the word "public", which is a two-syllable word, you have two CVC syllables, one of which is 'pub', and you break it between the 'b' and the 'l'.

As for "pupil" and "puberty", in longer words (in general) we count the number of vowels in order to know how many syllables there are in the word. We then break the word according to the syllable types. Since in English we have words with the V/CV division like pu-pil and words with the VC/V like cam-el, what you should do is try both and see which one sounds correct. Start with the long vowel sound first. If you break the word "pupil" after the 'p', you will get pup-il, and the 'u' will sound short, which is incorrect.

In "puberty" the syllable division is as follows: pu - ber - ty. The first syllable 'pu' is CV - an open syllable with a long vowel sound, the second syllable - 'ber' - is R controlled vowel, and 'ty' is an open syllable again with the long /e/ sound that 'y' makes when it comes at the end of a word with two syllables or more.

I hope I have answered you question

Limor Tager

Answer 3

1. Let's say the word has a vowel, consonant, vowel pattern (like pupil — u is a vowel, p is a consonant, i is a vowel), then say the first vowel’s name. In the example of pupil, this means you pronounce u like the letter u ("you!"). 
2. If the word has a vowel, consonant pattern with no other vowel in sight as the next letter (like public — u is a vowel, b is a consonant) or a vowel, consonant, consonant (like publicly), use one of the other pronunciations.
3. As always, learning the pronunciation key symbols in your friendly English dictionary will be your invaluable guide in the long run. So make sure you buy one!