The sounds of English and the International

Phonetic Alphabet
This chart contains all the sounds (phonemes) used in the English language. For each sound,
it gives:

 The symbol from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), as used in phonetic
transcriptions in modern dictionaries for English learners — that is, in A. C. Gimson's
phonemic system with a few additional symbols.

The chart represents British and American phonemes with one symbol. One symbol can
mean two different phonemes in American and British English. See the footnotes for
British-only and American-only symbols.
  Two English words which use the sound. The underline shows where the sound is
heard.

 The links labeled Amer and Brit play sound recordings (you need Flash 9 or higher)
where the words are pronounced in American and British English. The British version is
given only where it is very different from the American version.

To print the chart, use the printable PDF version.

vowels consonants
IPA examples listen IPA examples listen

ʌ cup, luck Amer b bad, lab Amer

ɑ: arm, father Amer / Brit d did, lady Amer

æ cat, black Amer

f find, if Amer

1
e met, bed Amer g give, flag Amer

2
ə away, cinema Amer h how, hello Amer

2
ɜ:ʳ turn, learn Amer / Brit j yes, yellow Amer

ɪ hit, sitting Amer k cat, back Amer

i: see, heat Amer l leg, little Amer

3
ɒ hot, rock Amer / Brit m man, lemon Amer

45
ɔ: call, four Amer / Brit
n no, ten Amer

ʊ put, could Amer ŋ sing, finger Amer

u: blue, food Amer p pet, map Amer

8
aɪ five, eye Amer r red, try Amer

aʊ now, out Amer s sun, miss Amer

eɪ say, eight Amer ʃ she, crash Amer

6 9
oʊ go, home Amer
t tea, getting Amer

ɔɪ boy, join Amer tʃ check, church Amer

17
eəʳ where, air Amer / Brit θ think, both Amer
 7
ɪəʳ near, here Amer / Brit
ð this, mother Amer

7
ʊəʳ pure, tourist Amer / Brit v voice, five Amer

w wet, window Amer

z zoo, lazy Amer

ʒ pleasure, vision Amer

dʒ just, large Amer

1 Almost all dictionaries use the e symbol for the vowel in bed. The problem with this convention
is that e in the IPA does not stand for the vowel in bed; it stands for a different vowel that is
heard, for example, in the German word Seele, or at the beginning of the eɪ sound in English. The
“proper” symbol for the bed vowel is ɛ (do not confuse with ɜ:). The same goes for eə vs. ɛə.

2 In əʳ and ɜ:ʳ, the ʳ is not pronounced in BrE, unless the sound comes before a vowel (as
inanswering, answer it). In AmE, the ʳ is always pronounced, and the sounds are sometimes
written as ɚ and ɝ.

3 In AmE, ɑ: and ɒ are one vowel, so calm and cot have the same vowel. In American
transcriptions, hot is written as hɑ:t.

4 About 40% of Americans pronounce ɔ: the same way as ɑ:, so that caught and cot have the same
vowel. See cot-caught merger.

5 In American transcriptions, ɔ: is often written as ɒ: (e.g. law = lɒ:), unless it is followed by r, in

which case it remains an ɔ:.

6 In British transcriptions, oʊ is usually represented as əʊ. For some BrE speakers, oʊ is more
appropriate (they use a rounded vowel) — for others, the proper symbol is əʊ. For American
speakers, oʊ is usually more accurate.

7 In eəʳ ɪəʳ ʊəʳ, the r is not pronounced in BrE, unless the sound comes before a vowel (as
in dearest, dear Ann). In AmE, the r is always pronounced, and the sounds are often written
as er ɪr ʊr.
 8 All dictionaries use the r symbol for the first sound in red. The problem with this convention is
that r in the IPA does not stand for the British or American r; it stands for the “hard” r that is
heard, for example, in the Spanish word rey or Italian vero. The “proper” symbol for
the red consonant is ɹ.

9 In American English, t is often pronounced as a “flap t”, which sounds like d or (more accurately)
like the quick, hard r heard e.g. in the Spanish word pero. For example:letter. Some dictionaries
use the t ̬ symbol for the flap t.

special symbols
IPA what it means

The vertical line (ˈ) is used to show word stress. It is placed before the stressed
syllable in a word. For example, /ˈkɒntrækt/ is pronounced like this,
ˈ
and/kənˈtrækt/ like that. Word stress is explained in our article about phonetic
transcription.

ʳis not a sound — it is a short way of saying that an r is pronounced only in

American English. For example, if you write that the pronunciation of bar is /bɑ:ʳ/,
ʳ you mean that it is /bɑ:r/ in American English, and /bɑ:/ in British English.

However, in BrE, r will be heard if ʳ is followed by a vowel. For example, far

gone is pronounced /ˈfɑ: ˈgɒn/ in BrE, but far out is pronounced /ˈfɑ: ˈraʊt/.
iis usually pronounced like a shorter version of i:, but sometimes (especially in an
i old-fashioned British accent) it can sound like ɪ.
Examples: very /ˈveri/, create/kriˈeɪt/, previous /ˈpri:viəs/, ability /əˈbɪlɪti/.
ə l
means that the consonant l is pronounced as a separate syllable (the syllabic l,
which sounds like a vowel), or that there is a short ə sound before it.
Examples:little /ˈlɪtəl/, uncle /ˈʌŋkəl/.
ə l

Instead of the əl symbol, some dictionaries use an l with a small vertical line
underneath, or simply l, as in /ˈlɪtl/.
ə n
means that the consonant n is pronounced as a separate syllable (the syllabic n,
which sounds like a vowel), or that there is a short ə sound before it.
Examples:written /ˈrɪtən/, listen /ˈlɪsən/.
ə n

Instead of the ən symbol, some dictionaries use an n with a small vertical line
underneath, or simply n, as in /ˈrɪtn/.
Does this chart list all the sounds that you can hear in British and
American English?
No. This page contains symbols used in phonetic transcriptions in modern
dictionaries for English learners. It does not list all the possible sounds in American or
British English.

For example, this page does not list the "regular t" (heard in this pronunciation of letter) and
the "flap t" (heard in this one) with separate symbols. It groups them under a single
symbol: t. (In other words, it groups a number of similar sounds under a singlephoneme, for
simplicity. To understand how sounds are grouped into phonemes, read the article
on phonemic transcription.)

So this page actually lists phonemes (groups of sounds), not individual sounds. Each symbol
in the chart can correspond to many different (but similar) sounds, depending on
the word and the speaker's accent.

Take the phoneme p in the above chart. It occurs in the phonemic transcriptions
of pin/pɪn/ and spin /spɪn/. In pin, this phoneme is pronounced with aspiration (breathing).
This "aspirated p" sound has its own special symbol in the IPA: pʰ. In spin, the phoneme is
pronounced "normally"; this "normal p" sound is represented by p in the IPA. So
the pphoneme represents two sounds: p and pʰ. (This can be confusing, because p can mean
both the p phoneme and the p sound.)

Typing the phonetic symbols

You won't find phonetic symbols on your computer's keyboard. How do you type them in a
Word document, e-mail message, or SuperMemo collection? There are two solutions:

 You can go to the IPA phonetic keyboard at ipa.typeit.org, type your transcriptions, and
copy & paste them to your document.

 You can use the ASCII Phonetic Alphabet, which replaces IPA symbols with characters
that you can type on your keyboard.

Learning to pronounce the sounds

We offer English pronunciation software called PerfectPronunciation which teaches learners to
pronounce the most frequently used English words. It lets you listen to examples of English
sounds, practice your pronunciation, and review your knowledge. PerfectPronunciation uses
the ASCII Phonetic Alphabet.

http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
 Introduction to phonetic transcription
RELATED PAGES

 Demonstration of phonetic transcription

With phonetic transcriptions, dictionaries tell you about thepronunciation of words. In English
dictionaries, phonetic transcriptions are necessary, because the spelling of an English word
does not tell you how you should pronounce it.

Phonetic transcriptions are usually written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in
which each English sound has its own symbol. (You can take a look at a chart with all
theEnglish sounds and their IPA symbols.)

For example, the IPA-based phonetic transcription of no is noʊ, and the transcription
ofdo is du:. Note that in spelling, these words are similar. They both end in the letter o. But
their phonetic transcriptions are different, because they are pronounced differently.

Phonetic transcription is usually given in brackets, like this: /noʊ/, /du:/. In a dictionary, it
looks like this:

(By the way, not all dictionaries give the pronunciations of words. If you are serious about
learning English, you should buy a dictionary which has this information.)

Word stress
When a word has many syllables, one of them is always pronounced more strongly. This is
called word stress, and we say that the syllable is stressed. For example, in the wordbecome,
the stressed syllable is come. If the stressed syllable was be, become would
bepronounced like this.

Dictionaries tell you which syllable is stressed. The most popular system is to put a vertical
line (ˈ) before the stressed syllable in the phonetic transcription of the word. For example, the
transcription for become /bɪˈkʌm/.

If a word has only one syllable (for example: pen, house), the syllable is always stressed.
Dictionaries usually do not put the ˈ stress mark before the only syllable. So they don't
write /ˈpen/ — they simply write /pen/.
Some dictionaries use other systems for showing word stress. For example, they may put an
apostrophe after the stressed syllable, or they may underline the stressed syllable.

A demonstration
Have a look at our demonstration of the phonetic transcription system. You can read the
transcriptions of some English words and listen to their pronunciations at the same time.

Representing differences between British and American English

Many words are pronounced differently in British and American English. Of course, these
differences must be reflected in phonetic transcriptions. There are two basic ways to do this:

 Separate transcriptions for British and American English, for example:

dot BrE /dɒt/, AmE /dɑ:t/

farm BrE /fɑ:m/, AmE /fɑ:rm/

go BrE /gəʊ/, AmE /goʊ/

mother BrE /ˈmʌðəʳ/, AmE /ˈmʌðər/ (or /ˈmʌðɚ/)

 This system is used in advanced learner's dictionaries from Longman, Oxford and
Cambridge.
 One "compromise" transcription for both British and American English. This is done by
using mostly British phoneme symbols plus the ʳ symbol.

dot /dɒt/

farm /fɑ:ʳm/

go /goʊ/
 mother /ˈmʌðəʳ/

 In this system, transcriptions are shorter, but the reader must know that, in American
English, ɒ changes to ɑ: and ʳ changes to r. This system is used e.g. in the Collins
COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary and on Antimoon.

Phonetic symbols for English

This is the standard set of phonemic symbols for English (RP and similar accents).

Consonants Vowels

p pen, copy, happen ɪ kit, bid, hymn, minute

b back, baby, job e dress, bed, head, many

t tea, tight, button æ trap, bad

d day, ladder, odd ɒ lot, odd, wash

k key, clock, school ʌ strut, mud, love, blood

g get, giggle, ghost ʊ foot, good, put

tʃ church, match, nature iː fleece, sea, machine

dʒ judge, age, soldier eɪ face, day, break

f fat, coffee, rough, photo aɪ price, high, try

v view, heavy, move ɔɪ choice, boy

θ thing, author, path uː goose, two, blue, group

ð this, other, smooth əʊ goat, show, no

s soon, cease, sister aʊ mouth, now

z zero, music, roses, buzz ɪə near, here, weary

ʃ ship, sure, national eə square. fair, various

ʒ pleasure, vision ɑː start, father

h hot, whole, ahead ɔː thought, law, north, war

m more, hammer, sum ʊə poor, jury, cure

n nice, know, funny, sun ɜː nurse, stir, learn, refer

ŋ ring, anger, thanks, sung ə about, common, standard

l light, valley, feel i happy, radiate. glorious

r right, wrong, sorry, arrange u thank you, influence, situation

j yet, use, beauty, few n̩ suddenly, cotton

w wet, one, when, queen l̩ middle, metal

(glottal stop) ˈ (stress mark)

ʔ
department, football