Reference Guide to Phonetic Symbols

As you probably know, phonetic symbols are a great help when it comes to learning
to pronounce English words correctly. Any time you open a dictionary, you can find
the correct pronunciation of words you don't know by looking at the phonetic
pronunciation that follows the word. Unfortunately, learning the phonetic alphabet is
not always the easiest thing to do.

This week's feature includes a phonetic chart with the majority of basic sounds in
English. In English, as you certainly know, many words can have the same
pronunciation but be written differently with different meanings. For example "to,
two, and too" which all have the phonetic transcription /tu/. Sometimes, words can
be written similarly but have different pronunciations as in the "ough" combinations
thought, though, bough, and through. Another factor in pronunciation is the how the
word is stressed. Understanding the phonetic alphabet can greatly simplify the
learning process, especially for students who do not have the opportunity to work
with a teacher.

Following the chart is an example of a text that has been transcribed in to phonetics.
Notice how the text, as it would be spoken, differs from how each word might be
transcribed individually. This is principally due to two factors; elision and unstressed
syllables. I will discuss these two factors in an upcoming feature. For now, becoming
familiar with the phonetic alphabet is plenty…
 This text is the following:

There is a police message for motorists in

the Barnet area of London. A lorry has shed
its load at the Apex Corner roundabout on
the A1. You are asked to avoid the area as
much as possible. South-bound traffic will
be diverted for the next two hours. That is
the end of the message.

As you can see, the phonetic alphabet

seems like another language entirely,
however, with patience, it can serve you well in improving your pronunciation.

Let me know what you think….

For Teachers

More Information about Phonemes and the IPA (International Phonetic

Alphabet)

Reference Guide to Phonetic Symbols and Applied Pronunciation Terminology

Glossary of Pronunciation Terms and Terminology

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The sounds of English and the

International Phonetic Alphabet
This chart 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.
Gimson's phonemic system with a few additional symbols.

The chart represents British and American phonemes with one symbol. One
symbol can mean two different phonemes in American and British English. See
the footnotes for British-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 (you need Flash 9 or
higher) where the words are pronounced in American and British English. The
British version is given only where it is very different from the American version.

To print the chart, use the printable PDF version.

vowels consonants
IPA examples listen IPA examples listen
ʌ cup, luck Amer b bad, lab Amer
ɑ: arm, father
Amer / d did, lady Amer
Brit f find, if Amer
æ cat, black Amer g give, flag Amer
e met, bed 1
Amer h how, hello Amer
2
away, j yes, yellow Amer
ə Amer
cinema k cat, back Amer
2
ɜ:ʳ turn, learn
Amer / l leg, little Amer
Brit m man, lemon Amer
 vowels consonants
IPA examples listen IPA examples listen
ɪ hit, sitting Amer n no, ten Amer
i: see, heat Amer ŋ sing, finger Amer
3
Amer / p pet, map Amer
ɒ hot, rock
Brit r red, try Amer
45
ɔ: call, four
Amer / s sun, miss Amer
Brit ʃ she, crash Amer
ʊ put, could Amer t tea, getting Amer8
u: blue, food Amer tʃ check, church Amer
aɪ five, eye Amer θ think, both Amer
aʊ now, out Amer ð this, mother Amer
eɪ say, eight Amer v voice, five Amer
oʊ go, home 6
Amer w wet, window Amer
ɔɪ boy, join Amer z zoo, lazy Amer
17
eəʳ where, air
Amer / ʒ pleasure, visionAmer
Brit dʒ just, large Amer
7
ɪəʳ near, here
Amer /
Brit
7
ʊəʳ pure, tourist
Amer /
Brit

1 Almost all dictionaries use the e symbol for the vowel 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, or at the
beginning of the eɪ sound in English. The “proper” symbol for the bed vowel is ɛ
(do not confuse with ɜ:). The same goes for eə vs. ɛə.

2 In əʳ and ɜ:ʳ, the ʳ is not pronounced in BrE, unless the sound comes before a vowel
(as in answering, answer it). In AmE, the ʳ is always pronounced, and the sounds are
sometimes written as ɚ and ɝ.

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

4 About 40% of Americans pronounce ɔ: the same way as ɑ:, so that caught and cot
have the same vowel. See cot-caught merger.

5 In American transcriptions, ɔ: is often written as ɒ: (e.g. law = lɒ:), unless it is

followed by r, in which case it remains an ɔ:.
 6 In British transcriptions, oʊ is usually represented as əʊ. For some BrE speakers, oʊ
is more appropriate (they use a rounded vowel) — for others, the proper symbol is
əʊ. For American speakers, oʊ is usually more accurate.

7 In eəʳ ɪəʳ ʊəʳ, the r is not pronounced in BrE, unless the sound comes before a
vowel (as in dearest, dear Ann). In AmE, the r is always pronounced, and the
sounds are often written as er ɪr ʊr.

8 In American English, t is often pronounced as a “flap t”, which sounds like d or

(more accurately) like the quick, hard r heard e.g. in the Spanish word pero. For
example: letter. Some dictionaries use a special symbol for the flap t.

special symbols
IPA what it means
The vertical line (ˈ) is used to show word stress. It is placed before the stressed syllable
ˈ in a word. For example, /ˈkɒntrækt/ is pronounced like this, and /kənˈtrækt/ like
that. Word stress is explained in our article about phonetic transcription.
ʳ is not a sound — it is a short way of saying that an r is pronounced only in American
English. For example, if you write that the pronunciation of bar is /bɑ:ʳ/, you mean that
it is /bɑ:r/ in American English, and /bɑ:/ in British English.
ʳ

However, in BrE, r will be heard if ʳ is followed by a vowel. For example, far gone is
pronounced /ˈfɑ: ˈgɒn/ in BrE, but far out is pronounced /ˈfɑ: ˈraʊt/.
i is usually pronounced like a shorter version of i:, but sometimes (especially in an old-
i fashioned British accent) it can sound like ɪ. Examples: very /ˈveri/, create /kriˈeɪt/,
previous /ˈpri:viəs/, ability /əˈbɪlɪti/.
ə
l means that the consonant l is pronounced as a separate syllable (the syllabic l, which
sounds like a vowel), or that there is a short ə sound before it. Examples: little /ˈlɪtəl/,
ə
l
uncle /ˈʌŋkəl/.

Instead of the əl symbol, some dictionaries use an l with a small vertical line
underneath, or simply l, as in /ˈlɪtl/.
ə
means that the consonant n is pronounced as a separate syllable (the syllabic n, which
n
sounds like a vowel), or that there is a short ə sound before it. Examples: written /
ə ˈrɪtən/, listen /ˈlɪsən/.
n

Instead of the ən symbol, some dictionaries use an n with a small vertical line
underneath, or simply n, as in /ˈrɪtn/.
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 modern dictionaries
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 the "flap 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 article on
phonemic transcription.)

So this page actually lists phonemes (groups of sounds), not individual sounds. Each
symbol in the chart can correspond to many different (but similar) sounds, depending on
the word and the speaker's accent.

Take the phoneme p in the above chart. It occurs in the phonemic transcriptions of pin
/pɪn/ and spin /spɪn/. In pin, this phoneme is pronounced with aspiration (breathing).
This "aspirated p" sound has its own special symbol in the IPA: pʰ. In spin, the phoneme
is pronounced "normally"; this "normal p" sound is represented by p in the IPA. So the p
phoneme represents two sounds: p and pʰ. (This can be confusing, because p can mean
both the p phoneme and the p sound.)

Typing the phonetic symbols

You won't find phonetic symbols on your computer's keyboard. How do you type them in
a Word document, e-mail message, or SuperMemo 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 PerfectPronunciation which 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.

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