Key to Pronunciation

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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