Johanna,

"Zoo" is a really great example of the vowel.  I used moose, because I pucker my lips out more--making a better German sound--moving from the m to the oo's--than I do with zoo.  I think it must a dialect thing.  I speak Hessish--a dialect for which I am often teased.  I only used the example of "utter," because that is how I have heard some Americans pronounce the word when the haven't heard it before.

I wish I had a better linguistics background,

Thanks, Liz  

--- On Thu, 6/12/08, Johanna Rubba <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Johanna Rubba <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: "Über"-use
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, June 12, 2008, 7:17 PM

A minor correction to Liz's post: the 'u' of 'uber' would be
 
pronounced 'oo' like 'zoo' without the umlaut. We see this in
words  
like 'Fuss' (foot) and names like 'Huber' (in German). With the
 
umlaut, it is in fact the same sound as the French 'u', which is an  
English 'ee' sound pronounced with the lips rounded. We don't have 

this sound in English, but the way most Americans pronounce 'zoo' and  
similar words is actually pretty close to the German 'u' with umlaut.  
(Oh, the umlaut is the two little dots above a vowel.)

If a 'u' precedes a double consonant in German, it is pronounced like  
the 'oo' of 'book', as in 'Mutter' (mother). To my
recollection,  
German does not have a vowel like that of 'utter'.

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Dept.
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/