BIG IPA CHECKLIST

-Standard American Speech-

VOWELS
• ALL are VOICED
.
• ~, lAo , .1 ,.h, occur only in one-syllable words or in stressed syllables.
If UNstressed, S" ~ aIL .
u. ~ "U'
i~.:t
Or
:;:::
any can become a
• a is NEVER STRESSED

• -ed endings are J: d. ie. I n.o\rt. ::t d..

tie. W-:>·k..f:.'" (ie-preceded by an unvoiced consonant)

cJ.. ie. -p.tcen.cl (if preceded by a voiced cons. or vowel)

Ih
• -ious
1: a s m .:r st:c r :t a s
-ous endings { ;;) S ie. I p r s
efo
-DOUS
vas a~~~tras

• -ience endings = :tans o\" an.ca I.... .

texd.:r.at1.S pel:Jan. s
/'~ -.r::.

• be, de, pre, re prefixes that are Unstressed are ~

,"
ie. b.rk~: z..

. d .l'. t):. f'1. cL ~

• ing is ALWAYS r~ never.:1.t) prf~E!Vl-t

J. • T .. r:tv t u..
• MODIFICATION of :c :: :1. -::=. ~ J
occurs in Unstressed endings ofie, ies ied, y or compound words with y == leV r:c.J.e:x:n
7
ie./ha=p::t.l. 'y"E.r:r.J.z. j'tneerJ:..l.cL, J

• aa Use with spellings ang, ank, anch, I Betjqcrr-/ bae" ka'l' / ~tJk"'"J:~
,
• 0 must be Unstressed and is almost always in the 1 syllable. RARE ie. obe'1
st I
• IN ALL OTHER CASES
·ALL I-SYLLABLE WORDS ARE c:nr
~ atr ?(\.
ie. eM 0 /J~ / l Sl1.ci

.!) has au, aw, ai, ou spellings ie. '::>4. a- rr1 / '1~1e~ I b:) ~ / 9::tf:.h ~ ~:>ta
j) has ospellings ko-t) boft-UW1) c::,..,WlW1on, +r~) t>.t I /

and ~ ie. h,Pt!'I 'b m rr / 'K PrYl a-rL +r'P tn 'P V

SW1lJ / W'P:/ / M:P-t ~ / WP2..

 0... has a spellings and is usually FOREIGN • 1')a..4~
Ie. r
c:l.. 1 d.v-a..wt~ . #
CA.L.'Vl )
,
•
YV\. i ..-~ .e,..

• LITTLE words: of, from, what, was, the, a are a when UNSTRESSED

ieo aV j-trarn / Maih/wa7../~a / d

.... ::t .... :r

• DIPHTHONGS a:c = a e.:t. l1li e

• i and u ARE NEVER USED IN DIPHTHONGS

.DIPHTHONGSOFr .:t~ a~ ~ j~ tr~

NEVERUSE ~
Occur at the end of a word or when the next sound is a consonant
If you see a VOWEL on either side of any r sound s-t~ r :s: 9
the r MUST change to a CONS~NANT r .... iF 1t
ie... e.... 1. h~::::. h:r.~ v. \.. v,
- ina)
OJ
heAA"'I' ~J :: 'h:r r.:r: JV) c:.01I\.C7. r

This rule applies in a single word OR in a phrase where you are

linking: I I
ie. never' ~DU' V') ;; ru:.va r-...- a~~n..
't ,.... .... .J.h
pr'"~ e t := p r':r..PEt3 r,-" :t:."1:.

CONSONANTS .
~ TWO KINDS - voiced - feel vibration on throat bJ Z , J ) r

voiceless or unvoiced - no vibration -I: J k j f , 5

• COGNATES - the "mirror image" of a consonant, whereby the sound is pro­

duced with the articulators in the same postion, but with added

voice

• ALL Plosives have cognates p- b t . ~ It.. - '3

I he J.
• ASPIRATION of p, t, k occurs when foUowed by a vowel sound kae.t'\~'X.

when followed by a stop or pause c:Lovn-t

when followed by I t l :t:.thA,.

*second semester, amend these rules to apply only in stressed syllables

• dr and tr spellings are always 1::. rand dr NEVER 1'r and dar'
• str spellings are always 51:' Y' NEVER fi r
• ng spellings are always a
· e voiceless - theta (think GREEK, as in "Theatre came from Greece")
~ voiced - runic (think "da" as in 'da bums" Brooklynese)

• sand z endings as plural, possessive, or conjugated verb: I "

s - follows an Unvoiced consonant ie. h'tJp~ I r:cks Raeti.

z -follows a VOICED consonant or a VOWEL ie. rAt\,7,. j':r:J..sa. / dp9'Z.

• When "have to" means "must" use haef.f. u..

.Usedto ju..:i.. . . -e"u.. (~'t..t

h

-
lV\eaAI\CSI/'lAJ"4e;. ;JI\.~kA..toi.t")
S~~O,f~ ....... t.~ (IA'~ it
ft
• Supposed to MlZ.aM.lP 1Ic;bu.,Ld )

• L - CLEAR when followed by a vowel sound ie. .Q.i ! 1.,A"J..

I J. /
7I.
In'
b J:..t. j"! V
DARK when followed by a consonant or a pause ie. f\r! / ~ ().1J.J. cL / 'sAt h~
• R consonant occurs when the nrst sound in the word is r
when it is followed by a vowel sound
ie. ~Eo cL
ie./t:
I '

ea.. . ~.:r ra"-'

:t'!)
*notice, it should always begin a syllable if it can, and you will see it
followed by a vowel in the IPA
... ..,
• h, w, j - NEVER occur at the ends of words ie. 0 h .. 011 W0 't1. ~ Wa.'U'
Never before ing ie·'S Ii i :r. !) . '=' d u..' l:!J
~ t1. t> J "-.:::..- noW
.Withis w:r..a unless the next word begins with e ie. w:r.~ei . .;t~
'::1 C"'~ t:5u.~e~ ~ )
.. ju glide - occurs in the spellings t, d, n, th with u, eu, ue, ew following
. tju..l"'\
Ie.

I cD'uk'"/ nj u../-ljuoz.d.::t..../ dJ'u..!

~ and ~ art o~tional ~nd usually reserved for heightened texts

Ie. SJ.l.i::: I:r.t'\ LJLt."-' ~V .

NEVER use it with an 0 in the s~elling (except for "you" ju..)

or with consonants blends

ie. ~e.., ~-e.) ~~e.,) +r-w't

., "Chew" - avoid c:l:s:d~ and k.ae.rn

h
k -keep the ju clear in these
Combos
d:t:d..ju. I<aem: ju..
STRESS
• ALL MULTISYLLABIC WORDS f h ... II
• PRIMARY - indicated above and to the left or on the vowel ie. d:r e·:I;l:. t:
• SECONDARY - some polysyllabic words have a secondary stress that is indi­
cated below and to the left. It usually occurs when the word is
more than 3 syllables
• -- J
Ie. \.:td.:l:.0 s:r. Vk r as:r:.J.
also un - as a prefIX often gets secondary stress, especially in
Shakespeare and other heightened texts
I
,A n.M. n,
ie. J'..n.r:t:m~kdb~ BUT it can also be Unstressed
\
an.a..r) Y\, ... ~. Lit
'-? d'V\ r:t Wt..a.lr f\ a ~ t;;1
• RULES that apply for primary stress also hold for secondary stress.

LINKING
• AIDS flow and affects rhythm. Usually reflects our natural speech
I ....
• RULES: i 1) consonant to same consonant ie. h 13t... . : t. ad.ex

2) consonant to its cognate ie. hpt.__ d.0.9 .

3) consonant to any vowel

4) vowel to any vowel
ie.
.
n.o-t.. . . . ::t.'€
.-
.~aeiJdYu

ie. Va :L"",c'ile.no.._ .ax. ....

• If you choose to pause or stop, linking does -:=;.
not occur

• R between words becomes a consonant and links ie. n.:r.e r...... ~ +'~
(see diphthongs of r section) V\:C ar....... ::r. 'Z..

SYLLABles
• The only syllable without a vowel, so short a distance from consonant to the

Next consonant that there is no room for you to say a

• I, m, and n only
• NEVER stressed, and usually at the end of a word
• NEVER one-syllable (except in lnjrwal spee~ ~. hi.. . r,v.... .a%) .,
• CONTRACTIONS: lJ.::rclnt. 'lGu-clnt / hcevl1.i:.h /wP2.l;t:t.
• TRENDS: m - sm, zm endings I
- Sl'~ZM..
...'
/':J?rtA; .nJ::.'Z.h1
•
.' tl,
n - tten, tton, dden, den endlDgs - /bAt~ /'tjf..~ ~~";U I
 1- able, ible,ble,ttle,ddle endings - ~ :t.t~ / 'tzsab.f / e.x.6~
HINT: the closer the consonant sound before the m, n, or I
in your mouth to the m, n, or l, the more likely it is
to be syllabic
ie.

.tn ,dn, nt, zm,

• •• I
YES

kan, gan, NOT syllabic

LENGTH
3 kinds: Full : ,Half • ,Short
.
VOWELS: 5 ONLY .=rc 1.
RULES for FULL: HALF:

1) Must be stressed or I-syll +l".i: 1) Must be stressed or I-syll

AJ.J1lz) Final sound ArJ"1I2) Followed by a vowel Iru... %"l"U
o~3) Followed by up to 2(1 or 2) *3) Followed by up to 2(1 or 2)Su.ts
voiced consonants .f'r.in.. voiceless consonants
b a-'; )'\ "Z- ce.p.4) Followed by 1 voiced then 10 t~
1 voiceless consonant ~. n

DIPHTHONGS: 5 ONLY

FULL or NONE - No half length for diphthongs

. RULES:
1) Must be stressed or I-syU
I
t:.ao.e~· .£a.~

I
AtJ'O 2) Must be in FINAL SYLLABLE ~ EXCEPTIONS

ANl(3) Any consonant (up to 2 following) MUST be voiced

d:r.cs'a-$cL y'Z~ !

d I. $ 8 ~ 5 :r." NO ~ ( '7 e IS ~ ~ )

d I:Vai.s No 1 L Sf!6~? )