Final U and [ʷ]

The final U spelling and the final [ʷ] sound pose several problems for spelling.

  • Sometimes you see the letter U at the end of a word, but cannot hear a [ʷ] sound (which is how word-final U is normally pronounced).
  • Sometimes you hear a [ʷ] at the end of a word, but there is no letter U at the end of the word.