definition of the word Appendix:English_pronunciation

The following tables show the IPA and enPR/AHD symbols which are used to represent the various sounds of the English language. The sounds of Received Pronunciation (RP, UK), General American pronunciation (GenAm, US), Canadian English (CanE), Australian English (AuE) and New Zealand English (NZE) are shown.

For vowels in other dialects, see Wikipedia's IPA chart for English.

An image of an old version of these tables is available.

Vowels

This vowel table lists both monophthongs and diphthongs.

IPA					enPR / AHD	examples
RP	GenAm	CanE	AuE	NZE
ɑː	ɑ	ɒ	ɐː		ä	father, palm
æ, a	æ			ɛ	ă	bad, cat, ran[1][2]
æɹ	ɛɹ		æɹ	ɛɹ	ăr	carry
eɪ, ɛi	eɪ		æe		ā	day, pain
ɑː	ɑɹ		ɐː		är	arm, bard
(ɛə) ɛː	ɛɹ		eː	eə	âr	hair, there[3][4]
ɛ			e		ĕ	bed[5]
ɛɹ			eɹ		ĕr	merry
iː	i		iː		ē	ease, see
ɪ			ɪ, i	ɘ	ĭ	sit, city, bit
ɪ	i					city, very, ready
ɪ̈ , ɨ			ə	ɘ		roses
(ɪə) ɪː	ɪɹ, iɹ		ɪə, ɪː	iə	ĭr, îr	near, here, serious[4]
aɪ, ɑi[6]	aɪ	aɪ (ʌɪ)	ɑe		ī	my, rice
ɒ, ɔ	ɑ	ɒ	ɔ	ɒ, ɔ	ŏ	not, wasp
əʊ	oʊ		əʉ	ɐʉ	ō	no, go, hope
(ɔə) ɔː, oː	oɹ, ɔɹ	ɔɹ	oː		ōr	hoarse[4]
ɔː, oː	ɔ	ɒ	oː		ô	law, caught
ɔː, oː	ɔɹ		oː		ôr	horse
ɔɪ, oi	ɔɪ		oe		oi	boy, noise
ʊ					o͝o, ŏŏ	put, foot
(ʊə) ɵː	ʊɹ		ʊə	ʉə	o͝or, ŏŏr	tour, tourism[4]
uː	u		ʉː		o͞o, ōō	lose, soon, through
aʊ		aʊ (ʌʊ)	æo		ou	house, now
ʌ			ɐ		ŭ	run, enough, up
ɜː	ɝ, əɹ	ɝ	ɜː	ɵː	ûr	fur, bird[7]
ə				ɘ	ə	about
ə	ɚ		ə	ɘ	ər	winner, enter[8]

1. ^ RP /æ/ is sometimes transcribed /a/, for example in dictionaries of the Oxford University Press.
2. ^ See bad–lad split for more discussion of the vowel /æ/ in Australian English.
3. ^ An older alternative symbol to RP /ɛː/ is /eə/, reflecting the mid height of the vowel in earlier RP, and the fact that it was a centring diphthong.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} The earlier RP centring diphthongs /ɔə ɛə ɪə ʊə/ are now generally pronounced as long monophthongs (pure vowels) /ɔː ɛː ɪː ɵː/. However, words with /ʊə/ are generally pronounced with /ɔː/. The diphthong /ɑə/ merged with /ɑː/ much earlier.
5. ^ RP /ɛ/ is sometimes transcribed /e/ for RP, for example in the Collins English Dictionary.
6. ^ /aɪ/ is also transcribed (e.g. by Oxford University Press) as /ʌɪ/
7. ^ /əː/ is sometimes used as an alternative to /ɜː/, for example in dictionaries of the Oxford University Press, and /ər/ as an alternative to /ɝ/, for example in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
8. ^ /ɚ/ is sometimes transcribed for GA as [əɹ] or (for transcriptions that represent both rhotic and non-rhotic pronunciations) as [ə(ɹ)].

Consonants

1. ^ Some phonologists dispute that /ʍ/ is a distinct phoneme in English, and use /hw/ instead.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Some phonologists dispute that /l̩/, /n̩/, /m̩/ are distinct phonemes in English, and use /əl/, /ən/, /əm/ instead.
3. ^ Often written /r/, especially in works that cover only English, even though the sound is not a trill.

Other symbols

A stress mark is placed before the syllable that is stressed in IPA and after it in enPR / AHD.

Note: The EnPR and print AHD marks are formatted slightly differently. Online, AHD writes both ', though they do not always represent the same phoneme.

Note

The enPR was previously called AHD, but was renamed per 2007-02/Renaming AHD and 2007-02/Renaming AHD (run-off).

See also

• Wikipedia's article on English phonology
• Wikipedia's IPA chart for English dialects (and for conversion to ASCII, the SAMPA chart for English)
• Wikipedia:IPA for English
• Wikipedia:United States dictionary transcription and Pronunciation respelling for English
• An English vowel wheel
• Category:English entries needing pronunciation

References

• Gimson, A. C. (1980) An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English, 3rd edn. edition, London: Edward Arnold, ISBN 0-7131-6287-2
• Kenyon, John Samuel (1950) American Pronunciation, 10th edn. edition, Ann Arbor: George Wahr
• Kenyon, John S.; Thomas A. Knott (1944/1953) A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, ISBN 0-87779-047-7
• Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 2nd edn. edition, Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited, ISBN 0-582-36468-X

External links

• Learning the IPA for English, (Standard American English)
• Online keyboard with MP3 sound files for IPA symbols
• IPA chart with AIFF sound files for IPA symbols
• IPA chart with MP3 sound files for all IPA symbols on the chart (limited version is available to anyone)
• The International Phonetic Alphabet (revised to 2005) Symbols for all languages are shown on this one-page chart.
• lexconvert a GPL command-line program to convert between Unicode IPA and the ASCII notations of various English speech synthesizers

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