International Phonetic Alphabet for English

Symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet as used for English.

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

Abbreviations below:

• AmE = American English (general);
• BrE = British English (Received Pronunciation);
• AuE = Australian English (General Australian)

Contents

1 Vowels 1.1 English 'plain' vowels 1.2 Reduced vowels 1.3 R-colored vowels 1.4 Diphthongs 2 Consonants 2.1 Stops 2.2 Affricates 2.3 Fricatives 2.4 Nasals 2.5 Approximants 3 Suprasegmentals 4 Quick reference chart of IPA symbols used for English 5 See also

Vowels

English 'plain' vowels

• bead – close front unrounded vowel
  • [iː]
• bid – near-close near-front unrounded vowel
  • [ɪ]
• bayed – diphthong: AmE & BrE close-mid front unrounded vowel + near-close near-front unrounded vowel, AuE near-open front unrounded vowel + near-close near-front unrounded vowel ²
  • AmE & BrE [eɪ], AuE [æɪ]
• bed – AmE & BrE open-mid front unrounded vowel, AuE close-mid front unrounded vowel
  • AmE & BrE [ɛ], AuE [e]
• bad – near-open front unrounded vowel ³
  • [æ]
• father – AmE & BrE open back unrounded vowel, AuE open front unrounded vowel
  • AmE [ɑ], BrE [ɑː], AuE [aː]
• body – AmE open back unrounded vowel, BrE & AuE open back rounded vowel ⁴
  • AmE [ɑ], BrE & AuE [ɒ]
• baud – open-mid back rounded vowel ⁴
  • [ɔː]
• bud – open-mid back unrounded vowel
  • [ʌ]
• bode – diphthong: AmE close-mid back rounded vowel + near-close near-back rounded vowel, BrE schwa + near-close near-back rounded vowel, AuE open-mid back unrounded vowel + near-close near-back rounded vowel
  • AmE [oʊ], BrE [əʊ], AuE [ʌʊ]
• good – near-close near-back rounded vowel
  • [ʊ]
• booed – close back rounded vowel
  • [uː]

Notes:

1. The symbol [ː] is just the IPA symbol that means the vowel to the left is long. The vowels marked here with [ː] are the English vowels that are usually longer than the others. The distinction between long and short vowels is more pronounced in British and Australian English than in American English (where many researchers do not transcribe any length for vowels at all).
2. The English [o] and [e] vowels are realized as diphthongs, but they are included here with the plain vowels because the [ɪ] and [ʊ] are just off-glides.
3. Many AmE speakers (particularly in and around Philadelphia and New York City) have an additional phoneme in this region, the "raised" or "tense short a". The exact pronunciation of this sound varies widely; it can be realized as any of [æ˔], [ɛə], [eə], [ɪə]. Some speakers have minimal pairs such as can (tin container) [kɛən] vs. can (be able) [kæn] or nonrhyming pairs such as mannish [mɛənɪʃ] vs. Spanish [spænɪʃ]. For most such speakers [ɛə] occurs also before [ɹ] in words like bared and Mary--though usually not marry [mæɹi] or merry [mɛɹi]. Many other American speakers, particularly in a swath from upstate New York to Chicago, whose speech has undergone the northern cities vowel shift, have only a single /æ/ phoneme, whose realization is virtually the same as the Philadelphia/New York "tense short a". Most Americans from the West agree with English speakers from other countries in having only one /æ/ phoneme, whose realization is a lax [æ].
4. For a large number of speakers of North American English, there is no distinction between [ɑ] and [ɔ]. This is frequently called the cot-caught merger. For many of these speakers, the two vowels have merged as [ɑ]; for others they have merged as [ɔ]. Among American speakers who do have [ɔ], it is distinctly more open than in British and Australian English; it could also be transcribed [ɒ], though in practice this is rarely done.

Reduced vowels

These are vowels that occur in unstressed syllables.

• roses – AmE close central unrounded vowel (called barred-i), BrE near-close near-front unrounded vowel, AuE schwa
  • AmE [ɨ], BrE [ɪ], AuE [ə]

Note: some speakers do not have a contrast between barred-i and schwa.

• Rosa's – This sound is called schwa
  • [ə]
• runner – AmE - this is called an r-colored schwa, which is a single sound, not a sequence of schwa and r. BrE & AuE - this is just the reduced vowel schwa.
  • AmE [ɚ], BrE & AuE [ə]
• button – This is called syllabic n.
  • [n̩]
• bottle – This is called syllabic l.
  • [l̩]
• open pronounced "opm" – rapid speech only. This is called syllabic m.
  • [m̩]

R-colored vowels

These are plain vowels that are followed by r.

• bird
  • AmE [ɝ], BrE & AuE [ɜː]
• beard
  • AmE [iɹ], BrE [ɪə], AuE [ɪː]
• beer
  • AmE [iɹ], BrE & AuE [ɪə]
• marry *
  • [æɹ]
• merry *
  • AmE & BrE[ɛɹ], AuE [eɹ]
• Mary * / bared
  • AmE [ɛɹ], BrE [ɛə], AuE [eː]
• bard
  • AmE [ɑɹ], BrE [ɑː], AuE [aː]
• board
  • AmE [ɔɹ], BrE & AuE [ɔː]
• boor
  • AmE [ʊɹ], BrE [ʊə], AuE [ɔː]

Often [ɔː] in BrE

After palatals (for example in sure, jury, cure, Europe) often [ɝ] in AmE

• byre
  • AmE [aɪɚ], BrE [aɪə], AuE [ɑeə]
• Bauer
  • AmE [aʊɚ], BrE [aʊə], AuE [æʊə]

Notes
* For many speakers of American English, all or some of [æ], [ɛ], and [e] are merged before [ɹ]. That is, merry, marry, and/or Mary are homophones. The vowel is pronounced as [ɛɹ]. For speakers of British English, these sequences are just the plain vowel, with [ɹ] beginning the next syllable. For some speakers of Australian English the sequences in merry and Mary are homophones.

Also note that speakers with the [ɑ]/[ɔ] merger usually still pronounce the vowel in core as [ɔɹ].

It was formerly widespread in AmE (and still is to some extant in Ireland and generally in Scotland) to have a phonemic contrast between [ɔɹ] in words like north, cord, horse, war and [oɹ] in words like force, board, hoarse, wore.

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are vowel sounds that smoothly glide from one vowel to another.

• bide
  • AmE & BrE [aɪ], AuE [ɑe]
• Boyd
  • [ɔɪ]
• bowed, mouth
  • AmE & BrE [aʊ], AuE [æʊ]
• imbued
  • [juː]

This is phonemically a sequence of /j/ and /uː/ rather than a diphthong, because English speakers perceive ewe [juː] and two [tuː] as a valid rhyme, and they say "a ewe" instead of "an ewe", which would be correct if [juː] was a vowel.

Consonants

Stops

• pit – voiceless bilabial plosive
  • [p]
• bit – voiced bilabial plosive
  • [b]
• tin – voiceless alveolar plosive
  • [t]
• din – voiced alveolar plosive
  • [d]
• kin – voiceless velar plosive
  • [k]
• gone – voiced velar plosive
  • [g]
• button – glottal stop (considered an allophone of /t/.)
  • [ʔ]

The voiceless stops [p], [t], and [k] are aspirated when they occur at the beginning of stressed or word-initial syllables. Aspiration is marked in IPA with a superscript h. These symbols are thus [pʰ], [tʰ], [kʰ]. It is not always necessary to include the superscript h when transcribing English into IPA because speakers make the distinction automatically.

Affricates

Affricates are phonetically just a sequence of a stop and a fricative.

• chop
  • [tʃ]
• joy
  • [dʒ]

A distinction is made in English between affricates and a sequence of a stop and fricative, because a syllable boundary never separates those affricates, but it might separate stop/fricative sequences. The contrast can be heard in the phrases why choose, in which [tʃ] is an affricate, and white shoes, in which it is a sequence of the stop [t] and the fricative [ʃ]. The combined letters for affricates, ʧ and ʤ are preferred when available in order to distinguish them from stop/fricative sequences, but not commonly used.

Fricatives

• fool – voiceless labiodental fricative
  • [f]
• voice – voiced labiodental fricative
  • [v]
• thing – voiceless interdental fricative
  • [θ]
• this – voiced interdental fricative
  • [ð]
• see – voiceless alveolar fricative
  • [s]
• zoo – voiced alveolar fricative
  • [z]
• she – voiceless postalveolar fricative - This symbol is called esh
  • [ʃ]
• measure – voiced postalveolar fricative - This symbol is called ezh
  • [ʒ]
• ham – voiceless glottal fricative
  • [h]
• when – voiceless labial-velar fricative - occurs in those English dialects that distinguish between the words which and witch.
  • [ʍ]

Note: the th in thigh and thy are different sounds. The latter is voiced, the former is voiceless. Some linguists consider [h] a glide rather than a fricative.

Nasals

• nap – alveolar nasal
  • [n]
• map – bilabial nasal
  • [m]
• emphasis – labiodental nasal - this is not a separate phoneme, but an allophone of /m/
  • [ɱ]
• bang – velar nasal - This sound is called eng, engma or agma
  • [ŋ]

Note: eng only occurs postvocalically (after vowels) in English.

Approximants

Approximants are smooth sounds that are almost like vowels.

• left – lateral alveolar approximant
  • [l]
• milk – velarized alveolar lateral approximant - this sound is sometimes called dark l (not a separate phoneme of English, but an allophone of /l/)
  • [ɫ]
• run – alveolar approximant
  • [ɹ]

It is frequently written [r] in transcription of English, since the alveolar trill (the sound for which [r] is normally reserved) does not occur in most dialects of English.

• better – AmE & sometimes AuE - alveolar flap (not a separate phoneme of English, but an allophone of /t/ and /d/)
  • [ɾ]
• we – labial-velar approximant
  • [w]
• yes – palatal approximant
  • [j]

Note: [w] and [j] are also called semivowels.

Suprasegmentals

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

• primary stress
  • [ ˈ ]
• secondary stress
  • [ ˌ ]
• syllable break
  • [ . ]

Quick reference chart of IPA symbols used for English

The symbols in the following chart are arranged in alphabetical order according the English letter they most resemble. This should make symbols easy to find for those who are not familiar with phonetic terminology. Only symbols found in broad (phonemic) transcription are used. The HTML code for numeric entities for the Unicode code is given (in decimal) for those symbols not in Basic Latin.

Symbol	Numeric entities	Example words	AmE	AuE	BrE
aː	aː	father, start		AuE
aɪ	aɪ	price, high, try	AmE		BrE
aʊ	aʊ	mouth, now	AmE		BrE
æ	æ	trap, bad	AmE	AuE	BrE
æɪ	æɪ	face, day, steak		AuE
æʊ	æʊ	mouth, now		AuE
ɑ	ɑ	father, start, lot, odd	AmE
ɑː	ɑː	father, start			BrE
ɑe	ɑe	price, high, try		AuE
ɒ	ɒ	lot, odd, wash		AuE	BrE
b		back, bubble, job	AmE	AuE	BrE
ɔ	ɔ	thought, law, north, four	AmE
ɔː	ɔː	thought, law, north, four		AuE	BrE
ɔɪ	ɔɪ	choice, boy	AmE	AuE	BrE
d		day, ladder, odd	AmE	AuE	BrE
dʒ or ʤ	dʒ or ʤ	judge, age, soldier	AmE	AuE	BrE
ð	ð	this, other, smooth	AmE	AuE	BrE
e		dress, bed		AuE
eː	eː	square, fair, various		AuE
eɪ	eɪ	face, day, steak	AmE		BrE
ə	ə	about, comma, common	AmE	AuE	BrE
əʊ	əʊ	goat, show, no			BrE
ɚ or ər	ɚ or ər	father, standard	AmE
ɛ	ɛ	dress, bed	AmE		BrE
ɛə	ɛə	square, fair, various			BrE
ɜː	ɜː	nurse, stir		AuE	BrE
ɝ or ɜr	ɝ or ɜr	nurse, stir, courage	AmE
f		fat, coffee, rough, physics	AmE	AuE	BrE
g		get, giggle, ghost	AmE	AuE	BrE
h		hot, whole, behind	AmE	AuE	BrE
i or iː	i or iː	fleece, sea, happy, radiation	AmE	AuE	BrE
ɪ	ɪ	kit, bid, hymn, basic	AmE	AuE	BrE
ɪː	ɪː	serious, feared		AuE
ɪə	ɪə	near, here		AuE	BrE
j		yet, beyond, onion	AmE	AuE	BrE
k		key, clock, school	AmE	AuE	BrE
l		light, valley, feel	AmE	AuE	BrE
m		more, hammer, sum	AmE	AuE	BrE
n		nice, know, funny, sun	AmE	AuE	BrE
ŋ	ŋ	ring, long, thanks, sung	AmE	AuE	BrE
oʊ	oʊ	goat, show, no	AmE
θ	θ	thing, author, path	AmE	AuE	BrE
p		pen, copy, happen	AmE	AuE	BrE
r or ɹ	r or ɹ	right, sorry, arrange	AmE	AuE	BrE
s		soon, cease, sister	AmE	AuE	BrE
ʃ	ʃ	ship, sure, station	AmE	AuE	BrE
t		tea, tight, button	AmE	AuE	BrE
tʃ or ʧ	tʃ or ʧ	church, match, nature	AmE	AuE	BrE
u or uː	u or uː	goose, two, influence, situation	AmE	AuE	BrE
ʊ	ʊ	foot, good, put	AmE	AuE	BrE
ʊə	ʊə	cure, poor, jury			BrE
ʊə	ʊə	cure, tour		AuE
v		view, heavy, move	AmE	AuE	BrE
ʌ	ʌ	strut, bud, love	AmE	AuE	BrE
ʌʊ	ʌʊ	goat, show, no		AuE
w		wet, away, queen	AmE	AuE	BrE
ʍ	ʍ	when, which	Some English dialects
x		chutzpah, loch	Foreign words only
z		zero, zone, roses, buzz	AmE	AuE	BrE
ʒ	ʒ	pleasure, vision	AmE	AuE	BrE

Primary stress is indicated by the symbol ˈ (ˈ) before the stressed syllable; secondary stress by the symbol ˌ (ˌ) before the syllable, eg. phonetician AmE [ˌfoʊnəˈtɪʃn̩], BrE [ˌfəʊnəˈtɪʃən], AuE [ˌfʌʊnəˈtɪʃən].

Note: You can hide rows of the above table by placing the following code in your user/monobook.css page.
Replace 'xx' with your ISO locale code (either au, gb or us).

#ipa-table tr { display: none; }
#ipa-table tr.xx,
#ipa-table tr:first-child { display: table-row; }

See also

• IPA in Unicode
• IPA chart for English
• SAMPA, X-SAMPA and Kirshenbaum are other methods of mapping IPA designations into ASCII. IPA is preferred in Wikipedia articles, however.
• English pronunciation
• List of phonetics topics