The Sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet _ Antimoon

7/30/2019 The Sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet _ Antimoon

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12/01/13 The sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet | Antimoon

www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm

The sounds of English and the International

Phonetic Alphabet Tomasz P. Szynalski, Antimoon.com

This char t contains all the sounds (phonemes) used in the English language. For each

sound, it gives:

The symbol from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), as used in phonetic

transcriptions in modern dictionaries for English learners that is, in A. C.

Gimsons phonemic system with a few additional symbols.

The chart represents Br itish and American phonemes with one symbol. One

symbol can mean two different phonemes in American and British English. See

the footnotes for Br itish-only and American-only symbols.

Two English words which use the sound. The underline shows where the sound is

heard.

The links labeled Amer and Brit play sound recordings (Flash is required) where

the words are pronounced in American and Brit ish English. The British version is

given only w here it is very different from the American version.

To print the chart , use the printable PDF version.
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-trans.htmhttp://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-trans.htmhttp://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-trans.htmhttp://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-trans.htmhttp://www.antimoon.com/resources/phonchart.htmhttp://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-trans.htm


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vowels

IPA examples listen

cup, luck Amer

: arm, father Amer / Brit

cat, black Amer

e met, bed Amer 1

away, cinema Amer 2

: turn, learn Amer / Brit 2

hit, sitting Amer

i: see, heat Amer

hot, rock Amer / Brit 3

: call, four Amer / Brit 4 5

put, could Amer

u: blue, food Amer

a five, eye Amer

a now, out Amer

e say, eight Amer

o go, home Amer 6

boy, join Amer

e where, air Amer / Brit 1 7

near, here Amer / Brit 7

pure, tourist Amer / Brit 7

consonants

IPA examples listen

b bad, lab Amer

d did, lady Amer

f find, if Amer

g give, flag Amer

h how, hello Amer

j yes, yellow Amer

k cat, back Amer

l leg, little Amer

m man, lemon Amer

n no, ten Amer

sing, finger Amer

p pet, map Amer

r red, try Amer 8

s sun, miss Amer

she, crash Amer

t tea, getting Amer 9

t check, church Amer

think, both Amer

this, mother Amer

v voice, five Amer

w wet, window Amer

z zoo, lazy Amer

pleasure, vision Amer

d just, large Amer

1. Almost all dictionaries use the e symbol for the vo wel in bed. The problem with this convention is

that e in the IPA does not stand for the vowel in bed; it stands for a different vowel that is heard, for

example, in the German word Seele, o r at the beg inning o f the e sound in English. The proper

symbol for the bed vo wel is (do not confuse with :). The same goes for e vs. .

2. In and : r, the is not pronounced in BrE, unless the sound comes before a vowel (as in

answering, answer it). In AmE, the is always pronounced, and the sounds are sometimes written as

and .

3. In AmE, : and are one vowel, so calm and cot have the same vowel. In American transcriptions,hot is written as h:t.

4. About 40% of Americans pronounce : the same way as :, so that caught and cot have the same

vowel. See cot-caught merger.

5. In American transcriptions, : is often written as : (e.g. law = l:), unless it is followed by r, in

which case it remains an :.

6. In British transcriptions, o is usually represented as . For so me BrE speakers, o is more

appropriate (they use a rounded vowel) for others, the proper symbol is . Fo r American

speakers, o is usually more accurate.

7. In er, the r is not pronounced in BrE, unless the sound comes before a vowel (as in dearest,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_low_back_vowels#Cot.E2.80.93caught_mergerhttp://play%28%27justlarge%27%29/http://play%28%27pleasurevision%27%29/http://play%28%27zoolazy%27%29/http://play%28%27wetwindow%27%29/http://play%28%27voicefive%27%29/http://play%28%27thismother%27%29/http://play%28%27thinkboth%27%29/http://play%28%27checkchurch%27%29/http://play%28%27teagetting%27%29/http://play%28%27shecrash%27%29/http://play%28%27sunmiss%27%29/http://play%28%27redtry%27%29/http://play%28%27petmap%27%29/http://play%28%27singfinger%27%29/http://play%28%27noten%27%29/http://play%28%27manlemon%27%29/http://play%28%27leglittle%27%29/http://play%28%27catback%27%29/http://play%28%27yesyellow%27%29/http://play%28%27howhello%27%29/http://play%28%27giveflag%27%29/http://play%28%27findif%27%29/http://play%28%27didlady%27%29/http://play%28%27badlab%27%29/http://play%28%27puretourist-br%27%29/http://play%28%27puretourist-am%27%29/http://play%28%27nearhere-br%27%29/http://play%28%27nearhere-am%27%29/http://play%28%27whereair-br%27%29/http://play%28%27whereair-am%27%29/http://play%28%27boyjoin%27%29/http://play%28%27gohome%27%29/http://play%28%27sayeight%27%29/http://play%28%27nowout%27%29/http://play%28%27fiveeye%27%29/http://play%28%27bluefood%27%29/http://play%28%27putcould%27%29/http://play%28%27callfour-br%27%29/http://play%28%27callfour-am%27%29/http://play%28%27hotrock-br%27%29/http://play%28%27hotrock-am%27%29/http://play%28%27seeheat%27%29/http://play%28%27hitsitting%27%29/http://play%28%27turnlearn-br%27%29/http://play%28%27turnlearn-am%27%29/http://play%28%27awaycinema%27%29/http://play%28%27metbed%27%29/http://play%28%27catblack%27%29/http://play%28%27armfather-br%27%29/http://play%28%27armfather-am%27%29/http://play%28%27cupluck%27%29/


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dear Ann). In AmE, the r is always pronounced, and the sounds are often written as errr.

8. All dictionaries use the r symbol for the first sound in red. The problem with this convention is that

r in the IPA does not stand for the British or American r; it stands for the hard r that is heard, for

example, in the Spanish word rey or Italian vero. The proper symbol for the red consonant is .

9. In American English, t is often pronounced as aflap t, which so unds like d or (more accurately)

like the quick, hard r heard e.g. in the Spanish wordpero. For example: letter. Some dictionaries use

the t symbol for the flap t.

special symbols

IPA what it means

The vertical line () is used to show word stress. It is placed before thestressed syllable in a w ord. For example, /kntrkt/ is pronounced like this,and /kntrkt/like that. Word stress is explained in our art icle aboutphonetic transcription.

is not a sound it is a short w ay of saying that an r is pronounced only inAmerican English. For example, if you write that the pronunciation of bar is/b:/, you mean that it is /b:r/ in American English, and /b:/ in BritishEnglish.

However, in BrE, r will be heard if is followed by a vowel. For example,fargone is pronounced /f: gn/ in BrE, butfar out is pronounced /f: rat/.

ii is usually pronounced like a shorter version of i :, but sometimes (especiallyin an old-fashioned British accent) it can sound like . Examples: very/veri/,create/kriet/,previous/pri:vis/, ability/blti/.

l

l means that t he consonant l is pronounced as a separate syllable (thesyllabic l, which sounds like a vowel), or that there is a short sound beforeit. Examples: little/ltl/, uncle/kl/.

Instead of the l symbol, some dictionaries use an l with a small vertical line

underneath, or simply l, as in /ltl/.

n

n means that the consonant n is pronounced as a separate syllable (thesyllabic n, which sounds like a vowel), or that there is a shor t sound beforeit. Examples: written/rtn/, listen/lsn/.

Instead of the n symbol, some dictionaries use an n with a small vertical lineunderneath, or simply n, as in /rtn/.

Does this chart list all the sounds that you can hear in British and

American English?

No. This page contains symbols used in phonetic transcriptions in moderndictionaries for English learners. It does not list all the possible sounds in American

or British English.

For example, this page does not list the regular t (heard in this pronunciation of letter)

and theflap t (heard in this one) with separate symbols. It groups them under a

single symbol: t. (In other words, it groups a number of similar sounds under a single

phoneme, for simplicity. To understand how sounds are grouped into phonemes, read

the art icle on phonemic transcription.)

So this page actually listsphonemes (groups of sounds), not individual sounds. Each
http://www.antimoon.com/terms/phonemic_transcription.htmhttp://play%28%27letter_flap%27%29/http://play%28%27letter_t%27%29/http://play%28%27uh--listen%27%29/http://play%28%27uh--written%27%29/http://play%28%27uh--uncle%27%29/http://play%28%27uh--little%27%29/http://play%28%27ability-middlei%27%29/http://play%28%27previous-middlei%27%29/http://play%28%27create-middlei%27%29/http://play%28%27very-middlei%27%29/http://play%28%27far_out%27%29/http://play%28%27far_gone%27%29/http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-trans.htm#word-stresshttp://play%28%27con_tract%27%29/http://play%28%27_contract%27%29/http://play%28%27letter_flap%27%29/http://www.antimoon.com/how/flap-t.htm


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symbol in the chart can correspond to many different (but similar) sounds,

depending on the word and the speakers accent.

Take the phoneme p in the above chart . It occurs in the phonemic transcriptions of

pin/pn/ and spin/spn/. Inpin, this phoneme is pronounced with aspiration

(breathing). This aspirated p sound has its own special symbol in the IPA: p. In

spin, the phoneme is pronounced normally; this normal p sound is r epresent ed

by p in the IPA. So the pphoneme represents two sounds: p and p. (This can be

confusing, because p can mean both the p phoneme and the p sound.)

Typing the phonetic symbols

You wont find phonetic symbols on your computers keyboard. How do you type

them in a Word document, e-mail message, or SRS collection? There are two

solutions:

You can go to the IPA phonetic keyboard at ipa.typeit.org, type your

transcriptions, and copy & paste them to your document.

You can use the ASCII Phonetic Alphabet, which replaces IPA symbols with

characters that you can type on your keyboard.

Learning to pronounce the sounds

We offer English pronunciation software called PerfectPronunciationwhich teaches

learners to pronounce the most frequently used English words. It lets you listen to

examples of English sounds, practice your pronunciation, and review your

knowledge. PerfectPronunciation uses the ASCII Phonetic Alphabet.
http://www.antimoon.com/perfectp/perfectp.htmhttp://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-ascii.htmhttp://ipa.typeit.org/http://play%28%27spin%27%29/http://play%28%27pin%27%29/

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The Sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet _ Antimoon