Pronunciation of English words

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

Pronunciation of English words in Wikipedia is most often given in the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA. The goal is that interpretation should not depend on the reader's dialect, and therefore a broad transcription is generally used.

For a more complete key to the IPA, which covers sounds that do not occur in English, see Help:IPA.

Since this key covers standard American, British, and Australian pronunciations, not all of the distinctions shown here will be relevant to your dialect. If, for example, you pronounce cot and caught the same, you can ignore the difference between the symbols Template:IPA and Template:IPA. Again, in many dialects Template:IPA only occurs before a vowel; if you do this, simply ignore Template:IPA in the pronunciation guides where you would not pronounce it. It is not necessary to give multiple transcriptions for such variation.

For a more precise use of the IPA to illustrate differences between English dialects, to transcribe languages other than English, or if the IPA symbols are not displayed on your browser, see the links at the bottom of this page.

Key

Consonants
IPA Examples
Template:IPA pen, spin, tip
Template:IPA but, web
Template:IPA two, sting, bet
Template:IPA do, odd
Template:IPA chair, nature, teach
Template:IPA gin, joy, edge
Template:IPA cat, kill, skin, queen, thick
Template:IPA go, get, beg
Template:IPA fool, enough, leaf
Template:IPA voice, have
Template:IPA thing, teeth
Template:IPA this, breathe, father
Template:IPA see, city, pass
Template:IPA zoo, rose
Template:IPA she, sure, emotion, leash
Template:IPA pleasure, beige
Template:IPA ham, ahead
Template:IPA man, ham
Template:IPA no, tin
Template:IPA ringer, sing, sink
Template:IPA finger
Template:IPA left, bell
Template:IPA run, very[1]
Template:IPA yes
Template:IPA we
Template:IPA what[2]
Marginal consonants
Template:IPA loch, Chanukkah[3]
Template:IPA uh-oh (/ʌʔoʊ/), Hawaii[4]
Stress
Template:IPA intonation
(/ˌɪntəˈneɪʃən/)[5]
Template:IPA
Vowels
IPA Examples
Template:IPA bid, pit[6]
Template:IPA bead, peat[6]
Template:IPA bed, pet
Template:IPA bad, pat
Template:IPA balm, father, pa
Template:IPA bod, pot, cot
Template:IPA bawd, paw, caught
Template:IPA good, foot, put
Template:IPA booed, food
Template:IPA bud, putt
Diphthongs
Template:IPA bay, hey, fate
Template:IPA buy, high, ride, write
Template:IPA bough, how, pout
Template:IPA boy, hoy
Template:IPA beau, hoe, poke[7]
Template:IPA beauty, hue, pew, new[8]
R-colored vowels[9]
Template:IPA mirror
Template:IPA beer, mere
Template:IPA berry, merry
Template:IPA bear, mare, Mary
Template:IPA barrow, marry
Template:IPA bar, mar
Template:IPA moral, forage
Template:IPA born, for
Template:IPA boar, four, more
Template:IPA hurry, Murray
Template:IPA boor, moor
Template:IPA (ɝ) bird, myrrh, furry
Reduced vowels
Template:IPA roses, business (/ˈbɪznɨs/)[10]
Template:IPA Rosa’s, cuppa (/ˈkʌpə/)
Template:IPA (ɚ) runner,[11] mercer (/ˈmɜrsər/)

Notes

  1. Although the IPA symbol Template:IPA represents a trill, Template:IPA is widely used instead of Template:IPA in broad transcriptions of English.
  2. Template:IPA is found in some dialects, such as Scottish and Southern American English; elsewhere it's pronounced the same as Template:IPA.
  3. In most dialects, Template:IPA is pronounced as Template:IPA and Template:IPA, respectively, in these two words.
  4. Most people pronounce Hawai‘i without the Template:IPA sound.
  5. It is arguable that English does not distinguish primary from secondary stress, but it is conventional to notate them as here. Likewise, it is debatable whether a word like Glennallen is Template:IPA or Template:IPA; for clarity, the former is used.
  6. 6.0 6.1 American convention is to write Template:IPA when unstressed, as in wiki Template:IPA and serious Template:IPA; British convention is Template:IPA and Template:IPA, though the OED recently converted to Template:IPA.
  7. Commonly transcribed as Template:IPA or Template:IPA.
  8. In many dialects, dew Template:IPA is pronounced the same as do Template:IPA. This is automatic, and therefore only Template:IPA need be shown in a pronunciation guide.
  9. In many dialects, Template:IPA only occur before vowels. Note that due to American influence, the schwas have been left out in many Wikipedia articles. That is, Template:IPA etc. are not always distinguished from Template:IPA etc. When they are, the distinction may be transcribed Template:IPA etc. by analogy with vowels not followed by Template:IPA.
  10. Few British dictionaries distinguish this from Template:IPA, though the OED uses pseudo-IPA symbol Template:IPA.
  11. Similarly Template:IPA for bottle, button, rhythm,

See also


Template:WikiDoc Sources