Phonetic symbols for English

This is the standard set of phonemic symbols for English (RP and similar accents).

Consonants Vowels
p pen, copy, happen ɪ kit, bid, hymn, minute

b back, baby, job e dress, bed, head, many

t tea, tight, button æ trap, bad

d day, ladder, odd ɒ lot, odd, wash
k key, clock, school ʌ strut, mud, love, blood

g get, giggle, ghost ʊ foot, good, put

tʃ church, match, nature iː fleece, sea, machine
dʒ judge, age, soldier eɪ face, day, break
f fat, coffee, rough, photo aɪ price, high, try
v view, heavy, move ɔɪ choice, boy
θ thing, author, path uː goose, two, blue, group
ð this, other, smooth əʊ goat, show, no
s soon, cease, sister aʊ mouth, now
z zero, music, roses, buzz ɪə near, here, weary
ʃ ship, sure, national eə square. fair, various
ʒ pleasure, vision ɑː start, father
h hot, whole, ahead ɔː thought, law, north, war
m more, hammer, sum ʊə poor, jury, cure
n nice, know, funny, sun ɜː nurse, stir, learn, refer
ŋ ring, anger, thanks, sung ə about, common, standard

l light, valley, feel i happy, radiate. glorious

r right, wrong, sorry, arrange u thank you, influence, situation

j yet, use, beauty, few n̩ suddenly, cotton

w wet, one, when, queen l̩ middle, metal
(glottal stop)
ʔ department, football ˈ (stress mark)
The Sounds of English and Their Representation

In English, there is no one-to-one relation between the system of writing and

the system of pronunciation. The alphabet which we use to write English has
26 letters but in (Standard British) English there are approximately 44 speach
sounds. The number of speech sounds in English varies from dialect to dialect,
and any actual tally depends greatly on the interpretation of the researcher
doing the counting.

To represent the basic sound of spoken languages linguists use a set of

phonetic symbols called the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The chart
below contains all of the IPA symbols used to represent the sounds of the
English language. This is the standard set of phonemic symbols for English
(RP and similar accents).

[ ] - small capital letter I

[ ] - 'epsilon' -- a Greek
letter

[ ] - sometimes called
p b t d k g 'upsilon'

f v s z [ ] - 'ash'; digraph a-e --

usually just "digraph"
m n h l r w j
[ ] - script A

[ ] - open O

[ ] - 'caret'

[ ] - 'eng' (right-tail n)
[ ] - 'eth'

[ ] - 'theta'

[ ] - 'schwa'

The colon / : / represents longer duration in pronunciation and is found in long

vowels such as / i: /, / a: /, / u: /, etc.

Classifying the Vowels Sounds of English

The classifcation of vowels is based on four major aspects:

 1. Tongue height - according to the vertical position of the tongue (high
vowels, also referred to as close; low vowels, also referred to as open;
intermediate - close-mid and open-mid)
2. Frontness vs. backness of the tongue - according to the horizontal
position of the highest part of the tongue.
3. Lip rounding - whether the lips are rounded (O-shape) or spread (no
rounding) when the sound is being made.
4. Tenseness of the articulators - refers to the amount of muscular
tension around the mouth when creating vowel sounds. Tense and lax
are used to describe muscular tension.

Front vowels Central vowels Back vowels

(tongue body is pushed (tongue body is (tongue body is pulled
forward) neutral) back)

High/close
vowels / / see / / boot
(tongue body / / sit / / book
is raised)

Mid vowels
(tongue body /e/ bait* /o/ boat*
/ / sofa**, / / bird
is / / bet / / bought***
intermediate)

Low/open
vowels / / father, / /
/ / bat / / under**
(tongue body sock(BrE)
is lowered)

*In some American accents (especially Californian English), vowel sounds in

words such as bait, gate, pane and boat, coat, note are not consider
diphthongs. American phonologists often class them as tense
monophthongs (/e/ and /o/).
**/ / is used in unstressed syllables, while / / is in stressed syllables. The
vowel / / used to be a back vowel, and the symbol was chosen for this
reason. This is no longer a back vowel, but a central one.
***A considerable amount of Americans don't have the deep / / in their
vocabulary, they pronouce bought, ball, law with the deep / / sound.

See also: IPA vowels chart

According to the position of the lips:

• English front and central vowels are always unrounded.

• English back vowels / /, / , /o/, / / are rounded (/ / vowel is
unrounded).

Vowel Tenseness:

• Tense vowels (produced with a great amount of muscular tension): /

/, / /, / /, / /, / /. Tense vowels are variable in length, and often
longer than lax vowels.
• Lax vowels (produced with very little muscular tension): / /, / /, /
/, / /, / /, / /, / /. Lax vowels are always short.

Classifying the Consonants Sounds of English According to the Manner and Place of
Articulation

During production of these sounds, the airflow from the lungs is completely
Stops
blocked at some point, then released. In English, they are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/,
/Plosives/
and /g/.

The flow of air is constricted, but not totally stopped or blocked. In English,
Fricatives these include /f/, /v/, / /, / /,
/s/, /z/, / /, / /, and /h/.

These sounds begin like stops, with a complete blockage of air/closure of the
Affricates vocal tract, and end with a restricted flow of air like fricatives. English has two
affricates - the / / sounds of "church" and the / / of "judge".

Nasals are sounds made with air passing through the nose. In English, these are
Nasals
/m/, /n/, and / /.

Lateral consonants allow the air to escape at the sides of the tongue. In English
Laterals
there is only one such sound - /l/

In the production of an approximant, one articulator is close to another, but

Approximants the vocal tract is not narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is
produced. In English, these are /j/, /w/ and /r/. Approximants /j/ and /w/ are
 also referred to as semi-vowels.

According to the place of articulation (where in the mouth or throat the sound is
produced) the consonants are:

Bilabial: with both lips /p/, /b/, /m/

Labiodental: between lower lip and upper

/f/, /v/
teeth

Dental/Interdental: between the teeth / /, / /

Alveolar: the ridge behind the upper front /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/,
teeth /l/, /r/

Alveo-palatal (or post-alveolar): it is the

/ /, / /, / /, /
area between
the alveolar ridge and the hard palate /

Palatal: hard palate, or 'roof' of the mouth' /j/

Velar: the soft palate or velum /k/, /g/, / /

Glottal (laryngeal): space between the vocal

/h/
cords
 SPELLING RULES (I)

Vowel 1 / iː /

/ei/ Examples are receipt, receive, deceive etc

The commonest exception to this rule is the word seize. Less common words which break this
rule are weird, plebeian, and counterfeit. This last word, like forfeit more often ends with /-fɪt
/.

Borrowings from Latin may spell / iː / with ae as with aegis, Caesar, formulae. Such words may
fluctuate between spellings with ae and simple e. When this is so the American preference is
usually for the simple letter and sometimes the "shorter" vowel /e/.

The spellings key and quay, both / kiː /, are unique. So is people / `piːpl /.

This vowel also occurs in various words borrowed relatively recently (the seventeenth century
and onwards) from Continental and some other languages, eg élite, caprice, clique, casino,
expertise, machine, police, pastiche, prestige, technique.

Vowel 2 / ɪ /

This is the vowel heard in General British pronunciation where letter <i> precedes a double
consonant or word-final single consonant.

It is also commonly heard in the endings -age as in average, cabbage, village, in the suffixes
forming verb past tenses ending -ded and -ted and forming plurals with -es when the noun's
singular ends with any of the sibilant consonants/ s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, & ʤ /. It also corresponds to the
letter a in spinach.

It is usually suitable for the unstressed endings -ess, est, and -et though many such words may
equally or more often take schwa / ə / and in the case of some words indicating females / -es /
which may also then take stress. Examples are hostess, lioness, largest, honest, bullet.

Most words ending with a syllable beginning with any of /k, g, ʧ, & ʤ / eg pocket, target,
hatchet, budget regularly have this vowel.

This vowel / ɪ / corresponds to the letter e in a stressed syllable only in the single ordinary
word pretty.
It should be noted that, though the letter e is "silent" (has no sound value) in past participles
like marked and designed etc, when such words are extended by the addition of the suffix -ly
to the forms advisedly, allegedly, fixedly, markedly, deservedly, designedly, preparedly,
professedly, supposedly etc the e is heard as / ɪ / unless the verb ends with an unstressed
syllable..

Adjectives with the suffix -ed, unlike verbs' past tenses, regularly end with / -ɪd /. These include
aged, blessed, crooked, cursed, dogged, jagged, learned, naked, ragged, rugged, sacred,
wicked and wretched. Because these usually precede substantives they owe this no doubt to
the working of the English ALTERNATE STRESS PREFERENCE.

Only in busy, business, lettuce, minute and missus does / ɪ / correspond to the spelling u and
only in build does it equate with the spelling ui. (Words beginning gui- like guild, guitar and
guinea do not contain their u as contributing to vowel representation but as identifying the
"hard" (ie plosive) value of the preceding g).

Vowel 3 /e/

This corresponds to the spelling a only in any and many and the proper noun Thames.

The word ate is pronounced / eɪt / the north of England and by educated Americans. In the
early twentieth century it was by GB speakers almost universally / et / but there is in an
increasingly large minority a tendency to conform this word to the value suggested by its
spelling.

The verb forms said and says have as normal GB values only / sed / and / sez /. The form /seɪz/
has been relatively recently recognised, perhaps controversially, by MWO (Merriam Webster
Online). The word again is either /ə `gen/ or /ə `geɪn/.

The spelling ei for this vowel only occurs in leisure, heifer and, among common placenames,
Leicester / `lestə /. In America leisure is usually / `liːʒər /.

Only in the word friend / e / is represented by ie. A few common words have eo for / e / eg
leopard and jeopardy. Cf Geoffrey.

Only in the words bury and burial / e / is u.

Although the suffix -ment is usually / -mənt /, in verbs especially when it becomes a
penultimate syllable it is often /-ment /, eg in complemented, experimented and
supplemented.

In a notable number words a final unstressed syllable spelt with e may not undergo the usual
weakening to schwa but exhibit / e / eg comment, congress, contents, contest, digest,
progress, protest.
 Vowel 4 / æ / (Often referred to as "ash")

This vowel corresponds to ai in plaid and plait.

Vowel 5 / ɑː/

This is chiefly spelt ar but also al in balm, calm, embalm, napalm, palm, psalm and qualm.
Other unusual representations occur in aunt, draught, laugh, laughter; Berkshire, clerk, Derby
and Hertfordshire; heart; sample and example; chorale, and other mainly slightly "exotic"
words such as banana, drama, lava, ,panorama, plaque, padre, , plaza, soprano, sonata,
sultana, spa and the exclamatory aha , bah and hurrah. Sheep "say" baa.

The seventy or so most common words which usually have / ɑː/ in General British are:

/ ɑːnd / command, countermand, demand, remand, reprimand, slander; Flanders.

/ ɑːnt / advantage, can't, chant, grant, plant, shan't, slant.

/ ɑːnʃ / avalanche, branch, ranch.

/ ɑːn / aunt, banana, sultana, soprano.

/ ɑːns / advance, answer, chance, chancellor, dance, France, glance, lance, trance.

/ ɑː m / drama, example, panorama, sample.

/ ɑːf / after, behalf, calf, craft, draft, graph, half, laugh, shaft, staff, telegraph.

/ ɑːθ / bath, path.

/ ɑːð / lather, rather.

/ ɑːs/ ask, bask, basket, flask, mask, rascal, task.

The vowel / ɑː/ corresponds to the spelling au only in aunt, draught and laugh.

The vowel / ɑː/ corresponds to the spelling ear only in heart and hearth.

The vowel / ɑː/ corresponds to the spelling er only in clerk and sergeant and the names
Berkshire, Berkeley, Hertfordsire and Derby

Vowel 6 / ɒ /
This is usually spelt o but corresponds to the spelling au in because, cauliflower, sausage, laurel
(cf the names Laurie, Maurice and Vauxhall) and to aw in Lawrence and Lawrie.

It corresponds to the spelling ou in cough, lough

It corresponds to the spelling ow only in acknowledge and knowledge.

Anomalously it corresponds to the spelling eau in bureaucracy and to a in genealogy

Vowel 7 / ɔː/

This is usually spelt au, aw, oar or or but corresponds to the spelling oa only in broad and
abroad.

It corresponds to the spelling oor exclusively only in door and floor and it is the usual vowel in
poor, sure and moor.

Vowel 8 / ʊ /

This is usually spelt u or oo but corresponds to the spelling o only in bosom, wolf, woman. Also
courier / `kʊriə/ and the placename Worcester.

Of the twenty GB vowel phonemes /ʊ/ rates only 13th in frequency of occurrence. It appears
mostly after labial consonants. Examples are bull, full, pull, bush, put, butcher, pudding, pulpit,
push, sugar.

Vowel 9 / uː /

This vowel is usually represented by the spelling oo but it corresponds to o only in tomb,
womb, who, whom and do.

It corresponds to the spelling oe only in canoe, manoeuvre and shoe.

It corresponds to the spelling o ... e only in lose, move, prove and whose.

It corresponds to the spelling ui in bruise, cruise, fruit, juice, nuisance, pursuit, recruit, suit etc.

It corresponds to the spelling uu in vacuum

 Vowel 10 / ʌ /

This is usually represented by u but corresponds to the spelling oe only in does.

It corresponds to the spelling oo only in blood and flood.

Beside and between the letters m, n, v, w and h as well as the digraphs sh, th etc the letter o
more often than not has this sound as in among, brother, colour, come, comfort, cover, done,
dove front, govern, honey, love, monger, mongrel, monk, monkey, mother, none, nothing,
other, plover, pommel, shove, shovel, smother, son, stomach, ton, tongue, won, wonder and
worry.

It corresponds to the spelling ou in courage, flourish, nourish; chough, rough, southern, tough,
young

Vowel 11 / ɜː/ (sometimes known as "long schwa")

This is usually spelt er, ir or ur but it corresponds to the spelling or only in word, work, world,
worm, worse, worship, worst, worth and worthy.

It corresponds to the spelling our only in courteous, courtesy, journal, journey and scourge.

It corresponds to the spelling ear in earl, early, earn, earnest, earth, heard, hearse, learn, pearl,
rehearse, search, yearn and in subvariant versions of hear, here, year and less commonly in
words of the types Europe, curious etc.

Vowel 12 / ə / (generally known as "schwa" /ʃwɑː/)

1. This is the vowel of unstressed syllables par excellence and by far the most often heard of all
the English vowels in unhurried conversation.

2 Most words ending -man take schwa barman, chairman, churchman, clergyman, dairyman,
dustman, fireman, foreman, Frenchman, freshman, frogman, gentleman, horseman,
henchman, infantryman, madman, milkman, penman, ploughman, policeman, salesman,
seaman, spokesman, statesman, tradesman, Walkman, woodman.