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ᴄᴜʀᴇ vowel phoneme /ʊə(r)/
The ᴄᴜʀᴇ vowel phoneme is an questionable vowel phoneme consisting of the vowel sound used by English speakers with non‑rhotic accents in its keyword cure.[1][2] The yod is dropped is some vowels, and final /r/ is added in some vowels, so it may be realised as /jʊər/, /ʊər/, /jʊəl/ or /ʊəl/ in rhotic accents, but /jʊə(r)/, /ʊə(r)/, /jʊəl/ or /ʊəl/ in non‑rhotic accents.
Words in the ᴄᴜʀᴇ lexical set are pronounced with this vowel.
Words ending -ual, e.g. residual, actual etc.
Geoff Lindsey has remarked on the “demise of ᴄᴜʀᴇ” as separate phoneme and recommends teaching it as merged with the ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ vowel phoneme.[3]
