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Key[]

These are the keys for broad English IPA and English pronunciation respelling. Both transcriptions are reasonably broad in scope, not being too dependent on any one accent of English.

  • To display a formatted English pronunciation respelling when defining pronunciation, use Template:Respell.
IPA Respelling symbol(s) Examples
Consonants
/b/ b but, web
/d/ d do, odd, Dharma
/ð/ dh this, breathe, father
// j joy, gin, bridge, educate, adjust
/f/ f fool, leaf, laugh, phone, sapphire
/ɡ/ g get, egg, ghost, guess
/h/ h ham, ahead, who
/hw/ wh whale, Juan
(also analyzed as /ʍ/)
/j/ y yes, onion, fjord
/k/ k cat, kill, skin, thick, queen, acquaint, school
/l/ l left, bell
/m/ m man, ham, bomb
/n/ n no, on, gnarl, knife, pneumonic
/ŋ/ ng ringer, sing, sink
/ŋɡ/ ng-g finger
/p/ p spin, tip, hiccough
/ɹ/ r run, very, rhyme, wrench
/s/ s or ss see, pass, city, scent, castle, psych
/ʃ/ sh she, leash, machine, mission, ocean, conscience, emotion, sure
/t/ t two, sting, bet
// ch chair, teach, hatch, bastion, nature, kitsch
/θ/ th thing, teeth, Matthew
/v/ v voice, have, of, Stephen
/w/ w we, penguin
/x/ kh chutzpah, loch
(alternative pronunciations with /h/ or /k/, depending on the word)
/z/ z zoo, rose, xylophone, dessert
/ʒ/ zh vision, azure, pleasure, beige, Zhivago
Stress
/ˈ/ Represented by
CAPITALIZING the syllable.
accent (/ˈæk.sənt/)
(primary stress)
/ˌ/ Represented by
CAPITALIZING AND SHRINKING the syllable.
intonation (/ˌɪn.tɵˈneɪ.ʃən/)
(secondary stress, if any)
Syllable break
/./ Represented by
a dash between syllables.
See {{respell}}.
(may be omitted immediately before /ˈ/ or /ˌ/)
IPA Respelling symbol(s) Examples
Short Vowels
/ɪ/ i or ih bid, pretty, sieve, busy, build, crypt
/ɛ/ e or eh bed, said, thread, friend
/æ/ a bad, plaid
(words like bath can have this or /ɑː/)
/ɒ/ o cot, swat
(words like cloth can have this or /ɔː/)
/ʌ/ u or uh bud, honey, flood, southern
/ʊ/ uu good, put, wolf
Long Vowels
// ee eve, bead, feed, receive, people, unique, thief
/ɑː/ ah or aa father, braatwurst, palm
(words like bath can have this or /æ/)
/ɔː/ aw sauce, straw, caught, talk, broad, thought
(words like cloth can have this or /ɒ/)
// oo food, move, shoe, soup, through
Diphthongs
/(j)uː/ ew beauty, feud, new, view, lute, cue, impugn, Hugh, suit
(also analyzed as /ɪu/; pronunciation with or without /j/ depends on word and accent)
/ɪə/ eeə theatre, idea, real
(alternative pronunciations with /iː.ə/ or //, depending on the word)
// ay fate, Mae, laid, straight, gaol, bay, suede, great, vein, feign, weight, hey
/ɛə/ ayə graham, mayonnaise, yeah
(also analyzed as //; alternative pronunciations with /eɪ.ə/ or /æ/, depending on the word)
// eye ride, lie, sky, dye, thigh, heist, height, sign, buy, samurai, Mayan
// ow pout, how, bough, Taoist, sauerkraut
/ɔɪ/ oy hoist, boy
// oh or oe poke, soap, hoe, soul, throw, though, folk, yeoman, mauve, beau
Triphthong
/aɪə/ eyeə diamond, scientific
(alternative pronunciations with /aɪ.ə/ or //, depending on the word)
Short Vowels with Coda R
/ɪɹ/ irr mirror, lyrics
/ɛɹ/ err merry, bury
/æɹ/ arr marry, character
/ɒɹ/ orr moral, warrant, Lawrence
/ʌɹ/ urr hurry, thorough, flourish
/ʊɹ/ uurr courier
R-colored vowels
/ɪəɹ/ eer dear, beer, serious, pier
/ɛəɹ/ air chair, Mary, prayer, bear, their, where
(also analyzed as /eəɹ/)
/ɑːɹ/ ar or ahr bar, starry, hearth, sergeant
/ɔːɹ/ or or awr horse, wart, dinosaur, drawer
/ɔəɹ/ oar or ohr hoarse, chore, four, force, door, sword
(also analyzed as /oəɹ/)
/ɜːɹ/ ur term, third, furry, myrtle, earth, worm, scourge
(alternative pronunciations with separate /ɛɹ/, /ɪɹ/ and /ʌɹ/ depending on word and accent)
/ʊəɹ/ oor boor, tour
/(j)ʊəɹ/ eur neural, pure
(also analyzed as /ɪʊəɹ/; pronunciation with or without /j/ depends on word and accent)
/aɪəɹ/ ire mire, pyre, fiery
/aʊəɹ/ owr scour, sour
/ɔɪəɹ/ oir coir
Reduced vowels
/ə/ ə Rosa’s, above, even, talon, famous, circus
/ɨ/ i or ih savage, captain, roses, business, foreign, rabbit, lettuce
(also analyzed as //, /ɪ̈/ or /ɨ̞/)
/i/ ee happy, valley, Charlie, coffee, deli, posse, Murray
/ɵ/ o geographic, melody
/ʉ/ uu tomorrow
(also analyzed as /ᵿ/, /ʊ̈/ or /ʉ̞/)
/əɹ/ ər runner, centre, grammar, author, colour, Arthur, martyr

Using IPA for Standard American English[]

IPA, as it applies to Standard American English, consists of only a fraction of the symbols available in IPA.

Some Helpful Rules[]

Here are a few tips to get you started. Always remember the following while using IPA.

  • First and foremost is not to rely on existing notions of how a word is spelled. Take a moment to review the following examples and note how the spelling in English is drastically different from the spellings in IPA.
    • Picture
    • Leisure
    • Portion
    • Caught
    • Context
    • Fight
  • Each syllable needs at least one vowel.
  • Approximants modify vowels around them.
  • The symbols ə and ʌ are both Central-Mid vowels. The difference is that the ʌ is used in the stressed syllable.
    • Butter

Glossary[]

  • Articulators: Speech organs involved in making a sound, such as the lips, teeth, and tongue.
  • Voiced: A sound in which the vocal cords vibrate. Examples are /v/, and /ð/ as in These. Note that the use of articulators in these examples are exactly the same as in the voiceless examples below, but the vocal cords vibrate.
  • Voiceless: A sound in which the vocal cords do not vibrate. Examples are /f/, and /θ/ as in teeth. Note that the use of articulators in these examples are exactly the same as in the voiced examples above, but the vocal cords do not vibrate.
  • Manner of Articulation: How articulators are involved in making a sound make contact. In Standard American English, there are only seven.
  • Places of Articulation: Where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active articulator (typically part of the tongue) and a stationary articulator (typically part of the roof of the mouth). In Standard American English, there are only eight.

Classifications[]

Consonants:

IPA CHART

The phonemes /r/ and /ɹ/ are interchangeable; /ʍ/ is present only in varieties that have not undergone the wine-whine merger.

  • Manner of Articulation:
    • Stops: A consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. The sound is produced at, and cannot be made after, the initial expulsion of air.
    • Fricatives: Sounds produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. Examples of these are /f/ (produced by joining the teeth and lip) and /θ/ (produced by joining the teeth and tongue).
    • Affricates: Consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative.
    • Nasals: A sound produced in the nose, where the oral cavity acts as a resonance chamber for the sound but the air does not escape through the mouth.
    • Approximants: Speech sounds in which the articulators approach each other but not narrowly enough to create turbulent airflow.
    • Glides (Semivowels): A sound that is phonetically equivalent to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary.


  • Places of Articulation:
    • Bilabial: A consonant articulated with both lips.
    • Labio dental: A consonant articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.
    • Inter dental: A consonant produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors.
    • Alveolar: A consonant articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge.
    • Alveo-palatal: A consonant articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate.
    • Palatal: A consonant articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the middle part of the roof of the mouth.
    • Velar: A consonant articulated with the back part of the tongue against the back part of the roof of the mouth.
    • Glottal: A consonant articulated with the glottis.


Vowels:

IPAVowelChart

Note that /a/ and /o/ as they appear in this image correlate to /ɑ/ and /ɒ/, respectively.

  • Classifications:
    • High, Mid, and Low: The vertical position of the tongue relative to either the roof of the mouth.
    • Front, Central, and Back: The position of the tongue during the articulation of a vowel relative to the back of the mouth.
    • Rounded and Unrounded: Whether or not the lips are rounded.
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