Minimal Pair List Vowels 3 and 20, /e/ versus / ʊə / 11 pairs
The /e/ vowel is spelled <e> throughout. The diphthong / ʊə / is spelled <our>, <oor> or <ur> in jury . The pair congress/congruous is of doubtful status since congruous would normally be perceived as a three-syllable word in which / ʊə / is two vowels and not a diphthong. This dictionary gives / bʊən / as the preferred pronunciation of bourne , though another common pronunciation is / bɔn /.
This is a contrast bewteen a short front vowel and a back centring diphthong, and is no rpblem for any learner.
The mean density is low at 0.2%. The pairs make 9 semantic contrasts, giving a high loading of 82%.
ben bourn bens bournes Bess bourse congress congruous Delhi dourly jerry jury jerries juries lead lured Les lures Med moored Ted toured
