International Phonetic Alphabet for English

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Symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet as used for English.

The various regional accents of English speakers are distinguished from each other far more by vowels than by consonants. For this reason, the consonants of English will be discussed together, while the discussion of vowels will be divided into three parts: Received Pronunciation, General American, and General Australian.

The slashes around IPA symbols are not part of the IPA itself, but just serve to indicate that the contents of the slashes are not normal text, but a phonemic transcription. The distinction is important, as some IPA transcriptions can look like other words. For example, an IPA transcription for bean could be Template:IPA.

Contents 1 Consonants 2 Vowels 2.1 Received Pronunciation 2.1.1 Full vowels 2.1.2 Reduced vowels 2.2 General American 2.2.1 Full vowels 2.2.2 Reduced vowels 2.3 General Australian 2.3.1 Full vowels 2.3.2 Reduced vowels 3 Suprasegmentals 4 See also 5 External links

Consonants

Template:See details

The symbols used for consonants are shown in the following table. Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the left is voiceless, the one to the right voiced.

	Bi­labial	Labio- dental	Labio- velar	Den­tal	Alveo­lar	Post- alveo­lar	Pala­tal	Velar	Glot­tal
Stop	Template:IPA				Template:IPA			Template:IPA
Affricate						Template:IPA
Nasal	Template:IPA				Template:IPA			Template:IPA
Fricative		Template:IPA		Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA		Template:IPA	Template:IPA
Approximant			Template:IPA		Template:IPA		Template:IPA
Lateral approximant					Template:IPA

Template:IPA: pit Template:IPA: bit Template:IPA: tin Template:IPA: din Template:IPA: cut Template:IPA: gut Template:IPA: cheap Template:IPA: jeep Template:IPA: map Template:IPA: nap Template:IPA: bang Template:IPA: fat Template:IPA: vat

Template:IPA: thin Template:IPA: then Template:IPA: sap Template:IPA: zap Template:IPA: she Template:IPA: measure Template:IPA: loch, Chanukah (often replaced by Template:IPA and Template:IPA) Template:IPA: ham Template:IPA: whine (also written Template:IPA), (only when distinguishing whine/wine, which/witch; otherwise replaced by /w/) Template:IPA: we Template:IPA: run (often written Template:IPA in broad transcription) Template:IPA: yes Template:IPA: left

Vowels

This section discusses the symbols used for the vowel phonemes in three major English accents.

Received Pronunciation

Template:Main

Full vowels

Full vowels are those that appear in stressed syllables.

Monophthongs	Short			Long
	Front	Back		Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA	Template:IPA		Template:IPA		Template:IPA
Mid	Template:IPA	Template:IPA			Template:IPA	Template:IPA
Open	Template:IPA	Template:IPA			Template:IPA

Template:IPA: bid Template:IPA: good Template:IPA: bed (sometimes transcribed Template:IPA) Template:IPA: bud Template:IPA: bat (sometimes transcribed Template:IPA) Template:IPA: pot

Template:IPA: bead Template:IPA: booed Template:IPA: bird (sometimes transcribed Template:IPA) Template:IPA: bought, board Template:IPA: father, bard

Diphthongs	Closing			Centring
	to Template:IPA	to Template:IPA
Starting close				Template:IPA
Starting mid	Template:IPA	Template:IPA		Template:IPA
Starting open	Template:IPA	Template:IPA

Template:IPA: bay Template:IPA: boy Template:IPA: toe Template:IPA: buy (sometimes transcribed Template:IPA) Template:IPA: cow

Template:IPA: beer Template:IPA: boor ([[English-language vowel changes before historic r#Pour-poor merger|falling out of use in British English; often replaced by Template:IPA]]) Template:IPA: bear (sometimes transcribed Template:IPA)

Reduced vowels

Reduced vowels occur in unstressed syllables.

• Template:IPA: roses
• Template:IPA: Rosa’s, runner
• Template:IPA: bottle
• Template:IPA: button
• Template:IPA: rhythm

General American

Template:Main

Full vowels

Monophthongs	Checked				Free
	Front	Central	Back		Front	Central rhotacized	Back
Close	Template:IPA		Template:IPA		Template:IPA		Template:IPA
Close-mid					Template:IPA		Template:IPA
Open-mid	Template:IPA	Template:IPA				Template:IPA	Template:IPA
Open	Template:IPA						Template:IPA

Template:IPA: bid Template:IPA: good Template:IPA: bed Template:IPA: bud Template:IPA: bad

Template:IPA: bead Template:IPA: booed Template:IPA: bayed Template:IPA: bode Template:IPA: bird Template:IPA or Template:IPA: bought Template:IPA: pod, father

Note: the vowels Template:IPA and Template:IPA are diphthongal for many American speakers, so the transcriptions Template:IPA and Template:IPA are also often used.

Diphthongs	Closing			Rhotacized
	to Template:IPA	to Template:IPA
Starting close				Template:IPA
Starting mid	Template:IPA			Template:IPA
Starting open	Template:IPA	Template:IPA		Template:IPA

Template:IPA: boy Template:IPA: buy Template:IPA: cow

Template:IPA: beer Template:IPA: boor ([[English-language vowel changes before historic r#Cure-fir merger|often replaced by Template:IPA, sometimes by Template:IPA in American English]]) Template:IPA: bear Template:IPA: bore (sometimes phonemicized Template:IPA) Template:IPA: bar

Reduced vowels

• Template:IPA: roses (for many Americans [[Phonological history of the high front vowels#Weak vowel merger|merged with Template:IPA]])
• Template:IPA: Rosa’s
• Template:IPA: runner
• Template:IPA: bottle
• Template:IPA: button
• Template:IPA: rhythm

General Australian

Template:Main

Full vowels

Monophthongs	Short				Long
	Front	Central	Back		Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA		Template:IPA		Template:IPA	Template:IPA
Mid	Template:IPA		Template:IPA		Template:IPA	Template:IPA	Template:IPA
Open	Template:IPA	Template:IPA			Template:IPA	Template:IPA

Template:IPA: bid Template:IPA: good Template:IPA: bed Template:IPA: pot Template:IPA: bat Template:IPA: bud

Template:IPA: bead Template:IPA: booed Template:IPA: bared Template:IPA: bird Template:IPA: bought, board Template:IPA: bad Template:IPA: father, bard

Diphthongs	Closing			Centring
	to unrounded	to rounded
Starting close				Template:IPA
Starting mid	Template:IPA	Template:IPA
Starting open	Template:IPA	Template:IPA

Template:IPA: boy Template:IPA: toe Template:IPA: bay Template:IPA: buy Template:IPA: cow

Template:IPA: beer Template:IPA: tour (falling out of use in Australian English; often [[English-language vowel changes before historic r#Pure-poor split|replaced by disyllabic Template:IPA or monophthongal Template:IPA]])

Reduced vowels

• Template:IPA: roses, Rosa’s, runner
• Template:IPA: bottle
• Template:IPA: button
• Template:IPA: rhythm

Suprasegmentals

The suprasegmental symbols are called that because they apply to more than one segment (vowel or consonant). In English, the relevant suprasegmentals are the markings for primary and secondary stress.

• Primary stress: Template:IPA
• Secondary stress: Template:IPA

Primary stress is indicated by the symbol Template:IPA before the stressed syllable; secondary stress by the symbol Template:IPA before the syllable, for example battleship Template:IPA.

See also

• English phonology
• IPA chart for English
• SAMPA, X-SAMPA, and Kirshenbaum are methods of mapping IPA designations into ASCII.
• List of phonetics topics
• Pronunciation respelling for English

External links

• LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English ONLINE uses IPA.
• Online IPA editor for English
• Roman Phonetic Transcription of Englishzh:英語IPA