Spelfabet

11 thoughts on “ou as in soul”

1. A.Teacher November 3, 2021 at 5:52 pm

   Hi,

   I would just wondering why words like shoulder, boulder and mould are not on this list?

   Thanks

   Reply ↓
   1. alison Post authorNovember 4, 2021 at 12:14 pm

      Hi, I think it’s because my stupid Concise Oxford Dictionary doesn’t have the phonetic script for every word in it, and was no help on this question, and we were disagreeing in the office about whether this vowel is an /o/ or an /oe/ in Australian English. The younger staff here think words like ‘poll’ and ‘pole’ are homophones, but I don’t. Your question prompted me to finally subscribe to the current Macquarie Dictionary, which agrees with you, they list the sound as /oe/, so I’ll add this to the page, thanks for prompting me to do this. I’ll probably now get a lot of Americans commenting that it’s wrong, but I don’t pretend these lists are current for any dialect except General Australian English. All the best, Alison

      Reply ↓
2. Jenny May 26, 2022 at 11:17 am

   I don’t think Bougainville should be in this list. I can definitely hear the long o sound, without influence from an l. I hear a very different o sound in the rest of the list. I really don’t hear a long vowel sound

   Reply ↓
   1. alison Post authorMay 26, 2022 at 9:01 pm

      Hi Jenny, thanks for pointing this out, I did some research and you’re right, the first vowel is pronounced /oo/ not /oe/. Not sure why I had it wrong, my apologies.

      Reply ↓
3. Alice April 18, 2024 at 4:36 am

   I am thinking that “pour and your” should be on this list? what do you think?

   Reply ↓
   1. Jo August 15, 2024 at 8:54 pm

      No, because in pour and your, the ‘our’ is an /or/ sound, not an /oa/ as in mould.

      Reply ↓
4. Penny August 12, 2024 at 2:48 pm

   Does anyone know of any words with the ou spelling of /oe/ (Australian Accent)

   Reply ↓
5. Michelle Norton August 19, 2024 at 12:10 pm

   Hi, looking at this sound /oe/ now and I think when Australian children say words with the spelling they will hear /o/ rather than /oe/. Could this be taught as /o/ or is that wrong?

   Reply ↓
   1. alison Post authorAugust 19, 2024 at 1:14 pm

      I think it’s OK to go with the dialect your students use, there are a lot of words with a vowel followed by /l/ that Australians with a Broad accent say as /o/ and people with a more General or Cultivated accent say as /oe/ e.g. ‘cold’, ‘roll’ and ‘mould’. I’m getting old and went to rural government schools, and I think ‘roll’ rhymes with ‘doll’ and is not a homophone of ‘role’, but my young, urban, privately-educated staff tend to disagree. The Macquarie Dictionary now tends to agree with them, though my old edition of it agrees with me. However, ‘soul’ has an /oe/ sound in all Australian dialects, I think. None of us rhyme it with ‘doll’. Hope that makes sense, all the best, Alison

      Reply ↓
6. David Brew September 13, 2025 at 10:43 am

   I think ‘bouquet’ could be added to your list.

   Reply ↓
   1. alison Post authorSeptember 16, 2025 at 11:58 am

      Hi David, I agree, as I pronounce it to rhyme with “OK”, but the Macquarie dictionary has this as a secondary pronunciation and the first pronunciation they list rhymes with “hooray”. In order to not get tangled up in arguments about which pronunciation is right for words like this, I haven’t included them on my lists. Maybe I should add them. There are just a LOT of words and it would take a while.

      Reply ↓