Minimal Pair List Vowels 18 and 20, / ɪə / versus / ʊə / 27 pairs
The /
ɪə
/ diphthong is spelled <eer> or <ear>. The /
ʊə
/ diphthong is spelled <ure>, <our> or <oor>.
This is a contrast between two diphthongs with widely different starting positions and a difference of lip rounding. It is not a problem for learners.
The density figure is 2.56%. The set makes 15 semantic contrasts giving a loading of 55%.
ameer amour
ameers amours
beer boor
beers boors
bier boor
biers boors
dear dour
dearly dourly
deer dour
geared gourd
leer lure
leered lured
leering luring
leers lures
mere moor
meres moors
peer poor
pier poor
shear sure
sheer sure
sheerer surer
sheerest surest
spear spoor
spears spoors
tear tour
tears tours
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John Higgins
John Higgins retired in 2000, having spent the bulk of his career as a British Council English Language Officer working in Thailand, Turkey, Egypt and Yugoslavia and the last fifteen years in lectureships at Bristol University and then running an M.Sc. programme at Stirling University. His main field was EFL, with a special interest in CALL (computer-assisted language learning) in which, together with Tim Johns of Birmingham, he was responsible for important developments in methods and materials.
His publications include A Guide to Language Laboratory Material Writing, Universitetesforlaget, 1969, Computers and Language Learning, Collins, 1984, Language Learners and Computers, Longman, 1988, and Computers in English Language Learning, Intellect Press, 1992, together with numerous papers, reviews and pieces of software. He maintains a web page on minimal pairs and homographs for teachers of English pronunciation skills.
