Appendix:English pronunciation
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
English
The following tables show the IPA and enPR/AHD symbols which are used to represent the various sounds of the English language. The sounds of Received Pronunciation (RP, UK), General American pronunciation (GenAm, US), Australian English (AuE) and New Zealand English (NZE) are shown.
For vowels in other dialects, see Wikipedia's IPA chart for English.
- An image of an old version of these tables is available.
Vowels
This vowel table lists both monophthongs and diphthongs.
| IPA | enPR / AHD | examples | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 RP |
 GenAm |
 CanE |
 AuE |
 NZE |
||
| ɑː | ɑ | ɒ | aː | ɐː | ä | father, palm |
| æ | ɛ | ă | bad, cat, ran[1][2] | |||
| æɹ | ɛɹ | ăr | carry | |||
| eɪ | æɪ | æe | ā | day, pain | ||
| ɑː | ɑɹ | aː | ɐː | är | arm, bard | |
| ɛə / ɛː(ɹ) | ɛɹ | eː | eə | âr | hair, there[3] | |
| ɛ | e | ĕ | bed[4] | |||
| ɛɹ | ĕr | merry | ||||
| iː | i | iː | ē | ease, see | ||
| ɪ | ɘ | ĭ | sit, city, bit | |||
| ɪ | i | city, very, ready | ||||
| ɪ̈ , ɨ | roses | |||||
| ɪə | ɪɹ | ɪə | iə | ĭr, îr | near, here, Sirius | |
| aɪ | aɪ (ʌɪ) | ɑe | ɑe | ī | my, rice | |
| ɒ | ɑ | ɒ | ɔ | ɒ | ŏ | not, wasp |
| əʊ | oʊ | əʉ | ɐʉ | ō | no, go, hope | |
| ɔə | oɹ, ɔɹ | ɔɹ | ōr | hoarse | ||
| ɔː | ɔ | ɒ | oː | oː | ô | law, caught |
| ɔː | ɔɹ | ôr | horse | |||
| ɔɪ | oɪ | oe | oi | boy, noise | ||
| ʊ | o͝o, ŏŏ | put, foot | ||||
| ʊə | ʊɹ | ʊə | ʉə | o͝or, ŏŏr | poor, tour, tourism | |
| uː | u | uː | ʉː | o͞o, ōō | lose, soon, through | |
| aʊ | aʊ (ʌʊ) | æo | ou | house, now | ||
| ʌ | a | ɐ | ŭ | run, enough, up | ||
| ɜː | ɝ, əɹ | ɝː | ɜː | ɵː | ûr | fur, bird |
| ə | ɘ | ə | about | |||
| ə | ɚ | ə | ɘ | ər | winner, enter[5] | |
- ^ Sometimes transcribed IPA(key): /a/ for RP, for example in dictionaries of the Oxford University Press.
- ^ See bad–lad split for more discussion of this vowel in Australian English.
- ^ Alternative symbols used in British dictionaries include IPA(key): /ɛː/ (Oxford University Press) and IPA(key): /eə/.
- ^ Sometimes transcribed IPA(key): /e/ for RP, for example in Collins English Dictionary.
- ^ Sometimes transcribed for GA as [əɹ] or (for transcriptions that represent both rhotic and non-rhotic pronunciations) as [ə(ɹ)].
Consonants
| IPA | enPR / AHD | examples |
|---|---|---|
| b | b | but, web, rubble |
| tʃ | ch | chat, teach, nature |
| d | d | dot, idea, nod |
| f | f | fan, left, enough |
| ɡ | g | get, bag |
| h | h | ham |
| ʍ (hw)[1] | hw | which |
| dʒ | j | joy, agile, age |
| k | k | cat, tack |
| x | ᴋʜ | loch (in Scottish English) |
| l | l | left |
| l̩ (əl)[2] | l | little |
| m | m | man, animal, him |
| m̩ (əm)[2] | m | spasm, prism |
| n | n | note, ant, pan |
| n̩ (ən)[2] | n | hidden |
| ŋ | ng | singer, ring |
| p | p | pen, spin, top, apple |
| ɹ[3] | r | run, very |
| s | s | set, list, ice |
| ʃ | sh | ash, sure, ration |
| t | t | ton, butt |
| θ | th | thin, nothing, moth |
| ð | th | this, father, clothe |
| v | v | voice, navel |
| w | w | wet |
| j | y | yes |
| z | z | zoo, quiz, rose |
| ʒ | zh | vision, treasure |
- ^ Some phonologists dispute that /ʍ/ is a distinct phoneme in English, and use /hw/ instead.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Some phonologists dispute that /l̩/, /n̩/, /m̩/ are distinct phonemes in English, and use /əl/, /ən/, /əm/ instead.
- ^ Often written /r/, especially in works that cover only English, even though the sound is not a trill.
Other symbols
A stress mark is placed before the syllable that is stressed in IPA and after it in enPR / AHD.
| IPA | enPR (AHD) |
indicates |
|---|---|---|
| ˈ (ˈa) | ʹ (aʹ) | primary stress, as in rapping /ˈɹæpɪŋ/ |
| ˌ (ˌa) | ' (a') | secondary stress (or sometimes tertiary stress) before the primary stress, tertiary stress after the primary stress as in battlefield /ˈbætəlˌfiːld/ |
| a.a | a-a | division between syllables |
| ̩ | syllabic consonant, as in ridden [ˈɹɪdn̩] | |
| ʔ | glottal stop, as in uh-oh /ˈʌʔoʊ/, [ˈʌ̆ʔ˦oʊ˨] |
Note: The EnPR and print AHD marks are formatted slightly differently. Online, AHD writes both ', though they do not always represent the same phoneme.
See also
- Wikipedia's article on English phonology
- Wikipedia's IPA chart for English dialects (and for conversion to ASCII, the SAMPA chart for English)
- Wikipedia:IPA for English
- Wikipedia:United States dictionary transcription and Pronunciation respelling for English
- An English vowel wheel
References
- 1980, A. C. Gimson, An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English, 3rd edn., London: Edward Arnold, ISBN 0-7131-6287-2:
- 1950, John Samuel Kenyon, American Pronunciation, 10th edn., Ann Arbor: George Wahr:
- 1944/1953, John S. Kenyon; Thomas A. Knott, A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, ISBN 0-87779-047-7:
- 2000, J. C. Wells, Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 2nd edn., Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited, ISBN 0-582-36468-X:
External links
- Learning the IPA for English, (Standard American English)
- Online keyboard with MP3 sound files for IPA symbols
- IPA chart with AIFF sound files for IPA symbols
- IPA chart with MP3 sound files for all IPA symbols on the chart (limited version is available to anyone)
- The International Phonetic Alphabet (revised to 2005) Symbols for all languages are shown on this one-page chart.
- lexconvert a GPL command-line program to convert between Unicode IPA and the ASCII notations of various English speech synthesizers
