The following tables show theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and the English pronunciation (enPR) orAmerican Heritage Dictionary (AHD) symbols that are used to represent the various sounds of theEnglish language. They illustrate the pronunciation of major dialects, includingReceived Pronunciation (RP, UK),General American (GenAm, US),Canadian English (CanE),Australian English (AuE),New Zealand English (NZE) andIndian English (InE; more broadly South Asian).
For a fuller list of dialects, see Wikipedia'sIPA chart for English dialects. Animage of an old version of these tables is also available.
Non-rhotic dialects (RP, Australia, New Zealand) do not pronounce what was historically a syllable-final-r; instead they have a schwa (/-ə/), centering diphthong (ending in/-ə̯/) or a long vowel (ending in/-ː/). Rhotic dialects (General American, Canadian and Scottish) pronounce the syllable-final-r; they also make no vowel length distinction, so none of their vowels are transcribed with the length symbol/ː/.
South Asian English, including Indian English, has both rhotic and non-rhotic speakers. Rhotic speakers may pronounce the-r in syllable-final positions, sometimes combining this with non-rhotic features like centering diphthongs, influenced by spelling or exposure to non-rhotic varieties. We write both centering diphthongs and the syllable-final-r, bracketed, for simplicity.
This vowel table below lists the standard phonemic vowel notations in each accent and contains bothmonophthongs anddiphthongs. Variations of notation within the same accent are also listed.
Found primarily in some English dictionaries' transcription of the original (foreign) pronunciations of foreign words, especially French or German.
| enPR /AHD[1] | IPA | examples |
|---|---|---|
| œ | œ | oeuvre |
| ø | Königsberg | |
| ü | y | Debussy,Württemberg (also used in some dialects, e.g. theMulticultural London English pronunciation ofwound) |
In order to allowModule:syllables to count syllables, the disyllabic sequence/iə/ must be transcribed with a period to mark the syllable break –/i.ə/ – so that it will not be confused with the New Zealand diphthong/iə/.
Some speakersdo not contrast unstressed/ɪ/ and/ə/, or the two sounds may be in free variation. Some sources use the symbol⟨ɨ⟩ or⟨ᵻ⟩ to indicate the vowel which results from the merger of, or which may be pronounced as either of, these sounds.[2][3]
To be added or sorted into the table above:bath.
| Standard IPA | South Asian IPA | enPR /AHD[1] | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | b | but,web,rubble | |
| t͡ʃ | ch | chat,teach,nature | |
| d | ɖ | d | dot,idea,nod |
| f | f | fan,left,enough,photo | |
| ɡ | g | get,bag | |
| h | h | ham | |
| ʍ (hw)[a] | wʰ[b][4] | hw | which |
| d͡ʒ | j | joy,agile,age | |
| k | k | cat,tack | |
| x | x | ᴋʜ[c] | loch(Scottish English) |
| l | l | left | |
| əl (l̩)[d] | əl | l | little |
| m | m | man,animal,him | |
| əm (m̩)[d] | əm | m | spasm,prism |
| n | n | note,ant,pan | |
| ən (n̩)[d] | ən | n | hidden |
| ŋ | ng | singer,ring | |
| p | p | pen,spin,top,apple | |
| ɹ[e] | ɾ | r | run,very |
| s | s | set,list,ice | |
| ʃ | sh | ash,sure,ration | |
| t | ʈ | t | ton,butt |
| θ | t̪ | th | thin,nothing,moth |
| ð | d̪ | th | this,father,clothe |
| v | v[b] | v | voice,navel |
| w | w[b] | w | wet |
| j | y | yes | |
| z | z | zoo,quiz,rose | |
| ʒ | zh | vision,treasure | |
The so-called voiceless and voiced obstruents are more properlyfortis and lenis. Each member of a fortis–lenis pair is distinguished from the other by various articulatory and auditory features, but not consistently by voicing or lack of it.
In most dialects of English, the fortis (voiceless) stops and affricate/p/,/t/,/tʃ/,/k/ are always voiceless, and are aspirated ([pʰ],[tʰ],[tʃʰ],[kʰ]) at the beginning of a word and at the beginning of a stressed syllable: for example, RPtoday[tʰəˈdeɪ],chain[tʃʰeɪn] andaccount[əˈkʰaʊnt]. Vowels andsonorants immediately preceding syllable final fortis obstruents are usually pronounced shorter than before lenis obstruents, as inbet vs.bed andbent vs.bend. This phenomenon is known as pre-fortisclipping.
The lenis (voiced) stops and affricate/b/,/d/,/dʒ/,/ɡ/ are always unaspirated. Lenis obstruents/b/,/v/,/ð/,/d/,/z/,/dʒ/,/ʒ/,/ɡ/ are often devoiced at the beginning or end of words, but are fully voiced between voiced vowels and sonorants.
The fortis–lenis distinction is neutralized in a few cases.
Initial consonant clusters consisting of/s/ and a stop (as inspill,still,skill) are typically analyzed as having a fortis stop, which agrees with the spelling, but may be analyzed equally well as having a lenis stop (i.e.,*sbill,*sdill,*sgill). The stop is both voiceless and unaspirated, and there is no additional phonetic feature that establishes it as either fortis or lenis.
In addition, some dialects have a sound change known as intervocalic alveolarflapping, in which/t d/ are both pronounced as an alveolar flap[ɾ] between vowels or liquids and when not at the beginning of a stressed syllable. Further, in American English,/nt/ between vowels may be pronounced as a nasalized alveolar flap,[ɾ̃]. The fortis stop/t/ loses its distinctive voicelessness, and essentially becomes lenis. Flapping causeslatter andladder to both be pronounced as[ˈɫæɾɚ], and causeswinter to be pronounced as[ˈwɪɾ̃ɚ], similar towinner[ˈwɪ̃nɚ].
When two vowels occur next to each other (termed hiatus), speakers sometimes perceive the vowels to be separated by a sound similar to one of the semivowels/j w/. The identity of such "linking semivowels" is predictable based on the identity of the preceding vowel: a/j/-like sound may be perceived after vowels ending in a high front unrounded sound, such as/iː/ ~/i/,/ɔɪ/ ~/oɪ/,/aɪ/ ~/ʌɪ/ ~/ɑɪ/,/eɪ/ ~/æɪ/, whereas a/w/-like sound may be perceived after vowels ending in a high back (or central) rounded sound, such as/uː/ ~/u/ ~/ʉː/,/aʊ/ ~/æʊ/,/əʊ/ ~/oʊ/ ~/əʉ/ ~/ɐʉ/.
Even though some speakers hear semivowels in these contexts, there is evidence that such "linking" semivowels are not phonetically identical to the semivowel phonemes that can be found at the start of words (as inyearn/jɜː(r)n/ orweevil/wiːvəl/). For example, the phonetician John Wells discussesI earn vs.I yearn andtwo evils vs.two weevils as minimal pairs, showing that there is usually no neutralization of the phonemic contrast between the sequences/ɑɪ.ɜː/ and/ɑɪ.jɜː/, or between/tuː.iː/ and/tuː.wiː/.[5][6] Therefore, such "linking semivowels" should not be included in phonemic transcriptions.
It is also inadvisable to include them in phonetic transcriptions, since a number of phoneticians have argued that what is heard as a semivowel is actually nothing more than the final portion of the preceding vowel or diphthong.[5][6] For example, assuming we transcribeyellow as[ˈjɛləʊ] andready as[ˈɹɛdi], it is unnecessary and redundant to use transcriptions such asyellowing[ˈjɛləʊwɪŋ] (instead of[ˈjɛləʊɪŋ]) orreadying[ˈɹɛdijɪŋ] (instead of[ˈɹɛdiɪŋ]), since there is likely no phonetic difference between[ʊ] and[w] or[i] and[j] in this context. A 2014 phonetic study of American English found that there were significant acoustic differences between the pronunciation of two vowels separated by a phonemic glide, and sequences of a high vowel or diphthong followed by a vowel: the perceptual illusion of a glide in the latter case could be explained in terms of a diphthongal realization of the first vowel phoneme, rather than insertion of a glide after it.[7]
An alternative analysis of the English vowel system treats the glides/j w/ as an inherent part of diphthongs and "tense" vowels.[8] In this kind of analysis (which is not used on Wiktionary),yellow,yellowing is/ˈjɛləw/,/ˈjɛləwɪŋ/, andready,readying is/ˈɹɛdɪj/,/ˈɹɛdɪjɪŋ/. Note that this analysis also does not involve glide insertion when these vowels are placed before other vowels.
A stress mark is placed before the syllable that is stressed in IPA and after it in enPR / AHD.
| IPA | enPR (AHD) | indicates |
|---|---|---|
| ˈ◌ (e.g.ˈa) | ◌′ (e.g.a′) | Primary stress, as inrapping/ˈɹæpɪŋ/. |
| ˌ◌ (e.g.ˌa) | ◌′ (e.g.a′) | Secondary stress (if before the primary stress), as inradiology/ˌɹeɪdiˈɒlədʒi/. |
| Unstressed full vowel (if after the primary stress), as inbattlefield/ˈbætəlˌfiːld/. | ||
| ◌.◌ (e.g.a.ɪ) | ◌-◌ (e.g.a-ĭ) | Division betweensyllables. |
| ◌̩ | Syllabic consonant, as inridden/ˈɹɪdən/,[ˈɹɪdn̩]. | |
| ʔ | Glottal stop, as inuh-oh/ˈʔʌʔoʊ/,[ˈʔʌ̆ʔ˦oʊ˨]. | |
| ◌̃ (e.g.ã) | ◌ɴ (e.g.aɴ) | Nasalization, as incroissant/ˈk(ɹ)wæsɒ̃/. |
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