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Thank you all for your replies.:shock: I don't see what OUP's transcription of the other vowels could possibly have to do with it. The transcriptions don't matter - they're just attempts at reflecting what native speakers say; and many people have told you that.
b
I would now say the pronunciation of the letter 'u' is the same as that of the word 'you' as I did before.
The following reply to another thread question of mine by N Senbei is quoted for reference:
N Senbei
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Re: Is the long u sound pronounced as [iu:] rather than as [yu:] ?
The following is quoted from “The sounds of language: An introduction to phonetics” by Henry Rogers.
In principle, any vowel position can be used for a glide. A subscript cap [ ̯ ] is used to show lack of syllabicity, that is, to change a vowel symbol to that of a glide, as in [ ə̯ ɛ̯ ʌ̯ ]. Four glides [ i̯ u̯ y̯ ɯ̯ ] are so common that they have their own symbols: [ j w ɥ ɰ ].
As you can see, with a diacritic [ ̯ ], [ i̯ ] is no longer a pure vowel but a glide, and it represents the same sound as a glide [ j ]. So, obviously there is no difference between the pronunciation of "You" and "U."
In principle, any vowel position can be used for a glide. A subscript cap [ ̯ ] is used to show lack of syllabicity, that is, to change a vowel symbol to that of a glide, as in [ ə̯ ɛ̯ ʌ̯ ]. Four glides [ i̯ u̯ y̯ ɯ̯ ] are so common that they have their own symbols: [ j w ɥ ɰ ].
As you can see, with a diacritic [ ̯ ], [ i̯ ] is no longer a pure vowel but a glide, and it represents the same sound as a glide [ j ]. So, obviously there is no difference between the pronunciation of "You" and "U."