IPA Symbols

(International Phonetic Alphabet)  

Click on the link to the right of each sound to hear the pronunciation.

 VOWELS

Front   Central Back
 /i/   see       (stressed)   /ɝ/   bird          /u/    rule    
 /ɪ/   sit        (unstressed) /ɚ/  weather    /ʊ/    book  
 // say      (stressed)   /ʌ/    bus           //  show    

 /ɛ/   set     

 (unstressed,  /ə/  method

    schwa) 

 /ɔ/     cough   

 /æ/  sat                     /ɑ/   want, possible 

Diphthongs R-Vowel Diphthongs  
//    now    //    car
//     time //    more
//   boy //   care
/ju/      music //     fear
//    poor

 CONSONANTS

Unvoiced  Voiced  Voiced  Voiced 
Stop-Plosives Nasals Syllabic  
 /p/   pet  /b/   bus  /m/  miss, some

 /t/    tea

 /d/    do

 /n/   now, sun

 // certa̸̸i̸n

 /k/   cup  /g/   go  /ŋ/   sing
Fricatives Semi-Vowel
 /f/   few  /v/   value  (light)   /l/   laugh

 /θ/   thin

 /ð/    this

 (dark)  /ɫ/  bell

   / / able   

 /h/  happen
Sibilants Glides Unvoiced/Voiced
 /s/   see  /z/   zoo  /w/ wet /hw/ whisper
 /ʃ/    shoe  /ʒ/   vision, massage   /j/  yet /hj/   huge
 /ʧ/   church  /ʤ/  judge  /r/  run

A single speech sound - either a vowel or a consonant - is indicated by an IPA symbol between two slashes - /p/.  A word is shown phonetically in brackets - [pɛn]

A primary stress is indicated by an accent mark occurring slightly above and before the syllable that is to be stressed: [`fou kəs] A secondary stress is shown by an accent mark occurring slightly below and before a syllable receiving a weak stress:

[,ri ɪn ,tɝ prə `tei  ʃən]  

 

A stop-plosive consonant that is stopped-but-not-exploded is indicated by the symbol / ̚/ just above and to the right of the IPA symbol /t ̚/
[ə `pɑɚt ̚ mənt]   .
 

 

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