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Difficulty: Very hardMonophthongs (Pure Vowels)

In English phonology, orthographic spelling patterns can often be deceptive. Which word shares the identical monophthong sound with the underlined letters in c<u>ol</u>onel?

  1. A
    colony
  2. scourgeAnswer
  3. C
    course
  4. D
    colour

Answer

scourge
The underlined letters 'ol' in 'colonel' are pronounced as the long central monophthong /ɜː/ (/ˈkɜːnəl/). The word 'scourge' (/skɜːdʒ/) contains the exact same monophthong sound.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the phonetic transcription of the target word
The word 'colonel' is phonetically transcribed as /ˈkɜːnəl/, where the underlined letters 'ol' articulate the long mid-central unrounded monophthong /ɜː/.
Determining the precise International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol of the target vowel sound is essential.
2
Analyze the vowel sound in each given option
'colony' has /ɒ/ (/ˈkɒləni/); 'scourge' has /ɜː/ (/skɜːdʒ/); 'course' has /ɔː/ (/kɔːs/); 'colour' has /ʌ/ (/ˈkʌlə/).
Evaluating each option's primary monophthong reveals which option matches /ɜː/.
3
Match the target monophthong sound to the correct option
Both 'colonel' (/ˈkɜːnəl/) and 'scourge' (/skɜːdʒ/) share the identical pure vowel sound /ɜː/.
'scourge' is the only option that contains the /ɜː/ sound.

Key Concept

Identification of the long central monophthong /ɜː/ in non-standard spelling patterns
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Topics

Monophthongs (Pure Vowels)

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