Consonants
IPA Examples
b buy, cab
d dye, cad, ladder[1]
dj dew[2]
giant, badge, jam
ð thy, breathe, father
f fan, caff, phi
ɡ (ɡ)[3] guy, bag
h high, ahead
hw why[4]
j[5] yes, hallelujah
k sky, crack
l lie, sly, gal[6]
lj lute[2]
m my, smile, cam
n nigh, snide, can
nj new[2]
ŋ sang, sink, singer
p pie, spy, cap
r[7] rye, try, very
s sigh, mass
sj consume[2]
ʃ shy, cash, emotion
t tie, sty, cat, latter[1]
tj tune[2]
China, catch
θ thigh, math
θj enthuse[2]
v vie, have
w wye, swine
z zoo, has
zj Zeus[2]
ʒ pleasure, vision, beige[8]
 
Marginal segments
IPA Examples
x ugh, loch, Chanukah[9]
ʔ uh-oh /ˈʔʌʔoʊ/
ɒ̃ bon vivant[10]
æ̃ fin de siècle[10]
Vowels
Full vowels ...followed by R[11]
IPA Examples IPA Examples
ɑː PALM, bra ɑːr START, star
ɒ LOT, pod, John, blockade[12] ɒr moral, forage[12]
æ TRAP, pad, tattoo[13] ær barrow, marry[14]
PRICE, ride, pie[15] aɪər Ireland, hire[16]
aɪ.ər higher, buyer[17]
MOUTH, loud, down, how[15] aʊər flour[16]
aʊ.ər flower[17]
ɛ DRESS, bet, prestige[18] ɛr error, merry
FACE, made, fail, vein, pay ɛər SQUARE, mare, scarce, cairn, Mary[19][20]
eɪ.ər player[17]
ɪ KIT, lid, historic ɪr mirror, Sirius
FLEECE, seed, mean, pedigree, idea[21] ɪər NEAR, beard, fierce, serious[22][20]
iːər freer
GOAT, code, go, foal, follower[23][24] oʊ.ər mower
ɔː THOUGHT, Maud, dawn, fall, straw[25] ɔːr NORTH, FORCE, horse, hoarse, oral[26][27]
ɔːər sawer
ɔɪ CHOICE, void, boy ɔɪər coir[16]
ɔɪ.ər employer[17]
ʊ FOOT, good, full, woman ʊr courier
GOOSE, food, tissue, cruel[21] ʊər boor, moor, tourist, CURE (/ˈkjʊər/)[27][20]
uːər truer
ʌ STRUT, bud, untidy, justiciable[28][29] ɜːr NURSE, word, girl, fern, furry, Berlin[30]
ʌr hurry, nourish[31]
Weak vowels and syllabic consonants[32]
IPA Examples IPA Examples
ə COMMA, ago, quiet, focus ər LETTER, perceive
əl bottle (either [əl] or [l̩])
ən button (either [ən] or [n̩])
əm rhythm (either [əm] or [m̩])
i HAPPY, mediocre (either [i] or [ɪ])[33] serious, California (either [i.ə], [ɪ.ə], or [jə])[34]
u fruition (either [u] or [ʊ])[24] influence (either [u.ə], [ʊ.ə], or [wə])[35]
 
Stress Syllabification
IPA Examples IPA Examples
ˈ intonation /ˌɪntəˈneɪʃən/ . /ˈhaɪər/ hire, /ˈhaɪ.ər/ higher[36]
ˌ
  1. 1.0 1.1 In varieties with flapping, /t/ and /d/ between a vowel and an unstressed or word-initial vowel may be pronounced with a voiced tap [ɾ], making the words latter and ladder homophonous. Some dictionaries transcribe /t/ subject to this process as ⟨d⟩, ⟨D⟩, or ⟨⟩, but they are not distinguished in this notation system. In those varieties, the sequence /nt/ in the same environment may also be realized as nasalized tap [ɾ̃], which may sound similar or identical to /n/. This is also not distinguished in this system.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 In dialects with yod dropping, /j/ in /juː/ or /jʊər/ is not pronounced after coronal consonants (/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /θ/, and /l/) in the same syllable, so that dew /djuː/ is pronounced the same as do /duː/. In dialects with yod coalescence, /tj/ and /dj/ mostly merge with /tʃ/ and /dʒ/, so that the first syllable in Tuesday is pronounced the same as choose. In some dialects /sj/ and /zj/ are also affected and frequently merge with /ʃ/ and /ʒ/.
  3. If the two characters ⟨ɡ⟩ and ⟨⟩ do not match and if the first looks like a ⟨γ⟩, then you have an issue with your default font. See Help:IPA § Rendering issues.
  4. The phoneme /hw/ is not distinguished from /w/ in the many dialects with the winewhine merger, such as RP and most varieties of General American. For more information on this sound, see voiceless labialized velar approximant.
  5. The IPA value of the letter ⟨j⟩ is counter-intuitive to many English speakers. However, it does occur with this sound in a few English words: Besides hallelujah, there are fjord, Jägermeister and Jarlsberg cheese.
  6. /l/ in the syllable coda, as in the words all, cold, or bottle, is pronounced as [o], [u], [w] or a similar sound in many dialects through L-vocalization.
  7. In most varieties of English, /r/ is pronounced as an approximant [ɹ]. Although the IPA symbol [r] represents a trill, /r/ is widely used instead of /ɹ/ in broad transcriptions of English.
  8. A number of English words, such as genre and garage, may be pronounced with either /ʒ/ or /dʒ/.
  9. In most dialects, /x/ is replaced by /k/ in most words, including loch. It is also replaced with /h/ in some words, such as Chanukah.
  10. 10.0 10.1 /ɒ̃, æ̃/ are only found in French loanwords and often replaced by another vowel and a nasal consonant: bon vivant /ˌbɒn viːˈvɑːnt/, ensemble /ɑːnˈsɑːmbəl/, croissant /ˈkwæsɑːŋ/, meringue /məˈræŋ/.[lower-alpha 1]
  11. In non-rhotic accents like RP, /r/ is not pronounced unless followed by a vowel.
  12. 12.0 12.1 In dialects with the fatherbother merger such as General American, /ɒ/ is not distinguished from /ɑː/ except before /r/. Before /r/, it merges with /ɔː/ except for a handful of words such as borrow, tomorrow and sorry. Such words should have separate General American transcriptions, as is the case with CLOTH words.
  13. In North America, /æ/ is often pronounced like a diphthong [eə~ɛə], especially before nasal consonants. See /æ/ raising.
  14. /ær/ is pronounced the same as /ɛr/ (as in merry) in accents with the Marymarrymerry merger.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Many speakers, for example in most of Canada and much of the United States, have a different vowel in price and ride, and a different vowel in "mouth" and "loud". Generally, an [aɪ] or [aʊ] is used at the ends of words and before voiced sounds, as in ride, pie, loud, how, while an [ʌɪ] or [ʌʊ] is used before voiceless sounds, as in price and mouth. Because /t/ and /d/ are often conflated in the middle of words in these dialects, derivatives of these words, such as rider and writer, may be distinguished only by their vowel: [ˈɹɾɚ], [ˈɹʌɪɾɚ]. However, even though the value of /aɪ/ or /aʊ/ is not predictable in some words, such as spider [ˈspʌɪɾɚ],[lower-alpha 2] dictionaries do not generally record it, so it has not been allocated a separate transcription here.
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 In some dialects, especially in the UK, the second segment in a diphthong followed by /ə/ is often omitted. This process or lack thereof may help choose between /aɪər, aʊər, ɔɪər/ in some words (diary, admirer) and /aɪr, aʊr, ɔɪr/ in others (pirate, siren), a distinction not always clear.
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Some speakers pronounce higher, flower, mayor and coyer ("more coy") with two syllables, and hire, flour, mare and coir with one. Others pronounce them the same.
  18. /ɛ/ is transcribed as /e/ by many dictionaries.[lower-alpha 3] However, /eɪ/ is also sometimes transcribed as /e/, especially in American literature, so /ɛ/ is chosen here.
  19. /ɛər/ is pronounced the same as /ɛr/ (as in merry) in accents with the Marymarrymerry merger. It is often transcribed as /eə/ by British dictionaries and as /er/ by American ones. The OED uses /ɛː/ for BrE and /ɛ(ə)r/ for AmE,[lower-alpha 4] but the Oxford Online Dictionaries apparently always use /er/ for AmE despite having /e(ə)r/ in their key to US pronunciations.[lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 6]
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 /ɛə/, /ɪə/, or /ʊə/ may be separated from /r/ only when a stress follows it. The IPAc-en template supports /ɛəˈr/, /ɪəˈr/, /ʊəˈr/, /ɛəˌr/, /ɪəˌr/, and /ʊəˌr/ as distinct diaphonemes for such occasions.
  21. 21.0 21.1 Words like idea, real, theatre, and cruel may be pronounced with /ɪə/ or /ʊə/ in non-rhotic accents such as Received Pronunciation, and some dictionaries transcribe them with /ɪə, ʊə/,[lower-alpha 7] but since they do not stem from historical /r/ and are not pronounced with /r/ in rhotic accents, they should be transcribed with /iːə, uːə/, not with /ɪər, ʊər/, in this transcription system.
  22. /ɪər/ is pronounced the same as /ɪr/ in accents with the mirrornearer merger.
  23. /oʊ/ is transcribed as /əʊ/ in Received Pronunciation.
  24. 24.0 24.1 /oʊ/ and /u/ in unstressed, prevocalic positions are transcribed as /əw/ by Merriam-Webster, but no other dictionary uniformly follows this practice.[lower-alpha 8] Hence a difference between /əw/ in Merriam-Webster and /oʊ/ or /u/ in another source is most likely one in notation, not in pronunciation, so /əw/ in such cases may be better replaced with /oʊ/ or /u/ accordingly, to minimize confusion: /ˌsɪtʃəˈweɪʃən//ˌsɪtʃuˈeɪʃən/, /ˈfɒləwər//ˈfɒloʊ.ər/.
  25. /ɔː/ is not distinguished from /ɒ/ (except before /r/) in dialects with the cotcaught merger such as many varieties of General American.
  26. Some conservative dialects make a distinction between the vowels in horse and hoarse, but the number of speakers who make this distinction any longer is very small and many dictionaries do not differentiate between them (horse–hoarse merger). The vowel in hoarse was formerly represented as /ɔər/ on Wikipedia, but is now represented as /ɔːr/, identical to horse.
  27. 27.0 27.1 /ʊər/ is not distinguished from /ɔːr/ in dialects with the cureforce merger, including many younger speakers. In England, the merger may not be fully consistent and may only apply to more common words. In conservative RP and Northern England English /ʊər/ is much more commonly preserved than in modern RP and Southern England English. In Australia and New Zealand, /ʊər/ does not exist as a separate phoneme and is replaced either by the sequence /uːər/ (/uːr/ before vowels within the same word, save for some compounds) or the monophthong /ɔːr/.
  28. Some, particularly American, dictionaries notate /ʌ/ with the same symbol as /ə/, which is found only in unstressed syllables, and distinguish it from /ə/ only by a stress mark preceding it. Also note that although ⟨ʌ⟩, the IPA symbol for the open-mid back vowel, is used, the typical modern pronunciation is rather close to the near-open central vowel [ɐ] in both Received Pronunciation and General American.
  29. /ʌ/ is not used in the dialects of the northern half of England, some bordering parts of Wales, and some broad eastern Ireland accents. These words would take the /ʊ/ vowel: there is no footstrut split.
  30. In Received Pronunciation, /ɜːr/ is pronounced as a lengthened schwa, [əː]. In General American, it is phonetically identical to /ər/. Some dictionaries therefore use ⟨əː, ər⟩ instead of the conventional notations ⟨ɜː, ɜr⟩. When ⟨ər⟩ is used for /ɜːr/, it is distinguished from /ər/ by a stress mark preceding it.
  31. /ʌr/ is not distinguished from /ɜːr/ in dialects with the hurryfurry merger such as some varieties of General American.
  32. In a number of contexts, /ə/ in /ər/, /əl/, /ən/, or /əm/ is often omitted, resulting in a syllable with no vowel. Some dictionaries show /ə/ in those contexts in parentheses, superscript, or italics to indicate this possibility, or simply omit /ə/. When followed by a weak vowel, the syllable may be lost altogether, with the consonant moving to the next syllable, so that doubling /ˈdʌb.əl.ɪŋ/ may alternatively be pronounced as [ˈdʌb.lɪŋ], and Edinburgh /ˈɛd.ɪn.bər.ə/ as [ˈɛd.ɪn.brə].[lower-alpha 9] When not followed by a vowel, /ər/ merges with /ə/ in non-rhotic accents.
  33. /i/ is pronounced [i] in dialects with the happy tensing and [ɪ] in others. British convention used to transcribe it with ⟨ɪ⟩, but the OED and other influential dictionaries recently converted to ⟨i⟩.
  34. /iə/ may be pronounced as two syllables, [i.ə] or [ɪ.ə], or as one, [jə], [ɪ̯ə] or [ɪə̯]. When pronounced as one syllable in a non-rhotic accent, it may be indistinguishable from, and identified as, the NEAR vowel (/ɪər/).[lower-alpha 7] It must be transcribed as /iə/, not /i.ə/, because the latter would falsely suggest that the disyllabic pronunciation is the only possibility. Disyllabic pronunciation is mandatory across word boundaries, as in happy again.[lower-alpha 10]
  35. /uə/ may be pronounced as two syllables, [u.ə] or [ʊ.ə], or as one, [wə] or [ʊə̯]. When pronounced as one syllable in a non-rhotic accent, it may be indistinguishable from, and identified as, the CURE vowel (/ʊər/).[lower-alpha 7] It must be transcribed as /uə/, not /u.ə/, because the latter would falsely suggest that the disyllabic pronunciation is the only possibility.[lower-alpha 10]
  36. Syllable divisions are not usually marked, but the IPA dot '.' may be used when it is wished to make explicit where a division between syllables is (or may be) made.


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