This may refer to generally agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or all language in a specificdialect—"correct" or "standard" pronunciation—or simply the way a particular individual speaks a word or language.[2]
Words' pronunciations can be found in reference works such asdictionaries. General-purpose dictionaries typically only include standard pronunciations, but regional or dialectal pronunciations may be found in more specific works.[3]Orthoepy is the study of the pronunciation of a language.[4]
A word can be spoken in different ways by various individuals or groups, depending on many factors, such as: the duration of the cultural exposure of their childhood, the location of their current residence,speech orvoice disorders,[5] theirethnic group, theirsocial class, or theireducation.[6]
Syllables are combinations of units of sound (phones), for example "goo" has one syllable made up of [g] and [u]. The branch oflinguistics which studies these units of sound isphonetics.[7] Phones which play the same role are grouped together into classes calledphonemes; the study of these is phonemics or phonematics orphonology. Phones as components of articulation are usually described using theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).[8]
