Help:IPA/English

< Help:IPA
This page is about the pronunciation of words in English. For sounds not found in English, see Help:IPA.
For a basic introduction to the IPA, see Help:IPA/Introduction. For a guide to adding IPA characters to
Wikipedia articles, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

This is the pronunciation key for IPA

transcriptions of English on Wikipedia.
It provides a set of symbols to represent the
pronunciation of English in Wikipedia articles, and
example words that illustrate the sounds that
correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained
between the key and the transcriptions that link here;
do not change any symbol or its value without
establishing consensus on the talk page first.

Throughout Wikipedia, the pronunciation of words is indicated by means of the International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA). The following tables list the IPA symbols used for English words and pronunciations. Please
note that several of these symbols are used in ways that are specific to Wikipedia and differ from those used by
dictionaries.

If the IPA symbols are not displayed properly by your browser, see the links below.

If you are adding a pronunciation using this key, such pronunciations should generally be formatted using the
template {{IPAc-en}}. The template provides tooltips for each symbol in the pronunciation. See the template
page for instructions.

Contents
Key · Dialect variation · Other transcriptions · See also · Notes · References · Bibliography ·
External links

Key
If there is an IPA symbol you are looking for that you do not see here, see Help:IPA, which is a more complete
list. For a table listing all spellings of the sounds on this page, see English orthography § Sound-to-spelling
correspondences. For help converting spelling to pronunciation, see English orthography § Spelling-to-sound
correspondences.

The words given as examples for two different symbols may sound the same to you. For example, you may
pronounce cot and caught the same, do and dew, or marry and merry. This often happens because of dialect
variation (see our articles English phonology and International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects). If
this is the case, you will pronounce those symbols the same for other words as well.[1] Whether this is true for
all words, or just when the sounds occur in the same context, depends on the merger.[2] The footnotes explain
some of these cases.
Consonants Vowels
IPA Examples Strong vowels ...followed by R[13]
b buy, cab IPA Examples IPA Examples

d
dye, cad, ɑː PALM, bra ɑːr START
ladder[3]
ɒ LOT, blockade[14] ɒr moral[15]
dj dew[4]
æ TRAP, tattoo[16] ær marry[17]
dʒ giant, badge
aɪər hire[19]
thy, breathe, aɪ PRICE, pie[18]
ð father aɪ.ər higher[20]
f fan, leaf
aʊər flour[19]
aʊ MOUTH, how[18]
ɡ guy, bag
aʊ.ər flower[20]
h high, ahead
ɛ DRESS, prestige[21] ɛr merry[17]
hw whine[5]
ɛər SQUARE, Mary[17][22]
j[6] yes, hallelujah eɪ FACE
eɪər player[20]
k sky, crack
ɪ KIT, historic[23] ɪr mirror
l lie, sly, gal[7]
ɪər NEAR, serious[22]
lj lute[4] iː FLEECE, pedigree, idea[24]
iːər freer
m my, smile, cam
oʊ GOAT[25][23] oʊər mower
n nigh, snide, can
ɔːr NORTH, FORCE[27]
nj new[4] ɔː THOUGHT[26]
ɔːər sawer
sang, sink,
ŋ singer ɔɪər coir[19]
ɔɪ CHOICE
p pie, spy, cap ɔɪ.ər employer[20]
r[8] rye, try, very
ʊ FOOT ʊr courier
s sigh, mass
ʊər tour, CURE (/ˈkjʊər/)[22][28]
uː GOOSE, cruel[24]
sj consume[4]
uːər truer
shy, cash,
ʃ NURSE, blurry, urbane,
emotion ɜːr
foreword[31]
ʌ STRUT, untidy, trustee[29][30]
tie, sty, cat,
t ʌr hurry[32]
latter[3]

tj tune[4] Weak vowels

IPA Examples IPA Examples
tʃ China, catch
ə COMMA, addition, abbot ər LETTER, forward, history[33]
θ thigh, math
edition, rabbit, Latin, motto, retroactive,
θj enthuse[4] ɪ heating[23][34]
oʊ follower[23][35]
v vine, leave i HAPPY, mediocre[36] iə California[37]
w wine, swine
u fruition[35][36] uə influence[38]
z zoo, has
Syllabic consonants[33]
zj Zeus[4] IPA Examples IPA Examples

ʒ pleasure, beige[9] ən button (either [ən] or [n̩])

əl bottle (either [əl] or [l̩])
əm rhythm (either [əm] or [m̩])

Marginal segments
IPA Examples Stress[39] Syllabification
ugh, loch, IPA Examples IPA Examples
x
Chanukah[10]
ˈ /ˈhaɪər/ hire, /ˈhaɪ.ər/ higher[40]
ʔ uh-oh /ˈʔʌʔoʊ/ intonation /ˌɪntəˈneɪʃən/ .
/ˈtæks.peɪər/ taxpayer
ˌ
ɒ̃ bon vivant[11]

æ̃ fin de siècle[11]

Möbius (UK
ɜː only)[12]

Notes

Words in SMALL CAPITALS are the standard lexical sets.[41]

The length mark ⟨ː⟩ does not mean that the vowels transcribed with it are always longer than
those without it. When unstressed, followed by a voiceless consonant, or in a polysyllabic
word, a vowel in the former group is frequently shorter than the latter in other environments (see
Clipping (phonetics) § English).

Dialect variation
Further information: English phonology and International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects

This key represents diaphonemes, abstractions of speech sounds that accommodate General American,
Received Pronunciation (RP) and to a large extent also Australian, Canadian, Irish (including Ulster), New
Zealand, Scottish, South African and Welsh pronunciations. Therefore, not all of the distinctions shown here
are relevant to a particular dialect:

⟨i⟩ does not represent a phoneme but a variation between /iː/ and /ɪ/ in unstressed positions.
Speakers of dialects with happy tensing (Australian English, General American, modern RP)
should read it as an unstressed /iː/, whereas speakers of other dialects (e.g. some Northern
England English) should treat it the same as /ɪ/. In Scotland, this vowel can be considered the
same as the short allophone of /eɪ/, as in take. Before /ə/ within the same word, another
possible pronunciation is /j/ as in yet.
Many speakers of American and Canadian English pronounce cot /ˈkɒt/ and caught /ˈkɔːt/ the
same.[j] You may simply ignore the difference between the symbols /ɒ/ and /ɔː/, just as you
ignore the distinction between the written vowels o and au when pronouncing them.
Speakers of rhotic dialects (Irish English, North American English, Scottish English) do not
distinguish between the vowels of near /ˈnɪər/, cure /ˈkjʊər/ and square /ˈskwɛər/ on the one
hand and freerunning /ˈfriːrʌnɪŋ/, Q-rating /ˈkjuːreɪtɪŋ/ and dayroom /ˈdeɪruːm/ on the other. If
you speak such a dialect, read /ɪər, ʊər, ɛər/ as /iːr, uːr, eɪr/.
In Northern Ireland, Scotland and many North American dialects the distinction between /ʊr/ as
in courier and the aforementioned /ʊər/ and /uːr/ does not exist. If you speak such a dialect,
ignore the difference between /ʊr/, /ʊər/ and /uːr/.
In Northern Ireland and Scotland this merger occurs in all environments, which means that
foot /ˈfʊt/ and goose /ˈɡuːs/ also have the same vowel.[k][l] If you speak such a dialect,
ignore the difference between /ʊ/ and /uː/ in all contexts.
In North America, the /ʊr/ of courier and the /ʊər/ of cure may instead merge with /ɔːr/ as in
north or /ɜːr/ as in nurse. No such merger is possible in the case of the sequence which we
transcribe as /uːr/ as there is an implied morpheme boundary after the length mark.
In North American dialects that do not distinguish between /ʊr/, /ʊər/ and /uːr/ there is also
no distinction between the /ɪr/ of mirror and the aforementioned /ɪər/ and /iːr/. If you speak
such a dialect, ignore the difference between /ɪr/, /ɪər/ and /iːr/.
In many North American dialects there is also no distinction between the vowels in merry /
ˈmɛri/, Mary /ˈmɛəri/ and marry /ˈmæri/. If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference
between /ɛr/, /ɛər/ and /ær/. Some speakers keep marry and/or merry separate from the
rest, but in the General American accent all three vowels are the same and may not be
distinct from /eɪr/ as in dayroom /ˈdeɪruːm/.
In rhotic North American English there is no distinction between the vowels in nurse /ˈnɜːrs/
and letter /ˈlɛtər/. If you speak such a dialect, read /ɜːr/ as /ər/. The /ʌr/ of hurry often joins
this neutralization; if you have it in your speech, read /ɜːr/, /ər/ and /ʌr/ as /ər/.
Some speakers from Northern England do not distinguish the vowel of square /ˈskwɛər/ and
nurse /ˈnɜːrs/.[m] If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference between the symbols /ɛər/
and /ɜːr/.
In New Zealand English, the vowels of kit /ˈkɪt/ and focus /ˈfoʊkəs/ have the same schwa-like
quality.[n][o] If you are from New Zealand, ignore the difference between the symbols /ɪ/ and /ə/.
In contemporary New Zealand English and some other dialects, the vowels of near /ˈnɪər/ and
square /ˈskwɛər/ are not distinguished.[p] If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference
between the symbols /ɪər/ and /ɛər/.
In Northern England English, the vowels of foot /ˈfʊt/ and strut /ˈstrʌt/ are not distinguished.[q] If
you are from Northern England, ignore the difference between the symbols /ʊ/ and /ʌ/.
In Welsh English and some other dialects, the vowels of unorthodoxy /ʌnˈɔːrθədɒksi/ and an
orthodoxy /ən ˈɔːrθədɒksi/ are not distinguished.[r] If you speak such a dialect, ignore the
difference between the symbols /ʌ/ and /ə/.
Depending on the dialect, vowels can be subject to various mergers before /l/, so that e.g. fill /
ˈfɪl/ and feel /ˈfiːl/ or pull /ˈpʊl/ and pool /ˈpuːl/ may not be distinguished. L-vocalization may
trigger even more mergers, so that e.g. cord /ˈkɔːrd/ and called /ˈkɔːld/ may be homophonous as
/ˈkɔːd/ in non-rhotic dialects of South East England. See English-language vowel changes
before historic /l/ for more information.
In many dialects, /r/ occurs only before a vowel; if you speak such a dialect, simply ignore /r/ in
the pronunciation guides where you would not pronounce it, as in cart /kɑːrt/.
In other dialects, /j/ (yes) cannot occur after /t, d, n/, etc., within the same syllable; if you speak
such a dialect, then ignore the /j/ in transcriptions such as new /njuː/. For example, New York is
transcribed /njuː ˈjɔːrk/. For most people from England and for some New Yorkers, the /r/ in
/jɔːrk/ is not pronounced; for most people from the United States, including some New Yorkers,
the /j/ in /njuː/ is not pronounced and may be ignored. (See yod-dropping.)

On the other hand, there are some distinctions which you might make but which this key does not encode, as
they are seldom reflected in the dictionaries used as sources for Wikipedia articles:

The vowels of kit and bit, distinguished in South Africa.[s] Both of them are transcribed as /ɪ/ in
stressed syllables and as /ɪ/ or /ə/ in unstressed syllables.
The difference between the vowels of fir, fur and fern, maintained in some Scottish and Irish
English but lost elsewhere.[t] All of them are transcribed as /ɜːr/.
The vowels of north and force, distinguished in Scottish English, Irish English and by a minority
of American speakers.[t] Both of them are transcribed as /ɔːr/.
The vowels of pause and paws, distinguished in Cockney and by some Estuary English
speakers.[u] Both of them are transcribed as /ɔː/ when the spelling does not contain ⟨r⟩ and /ɔːr/
or /ʊər/ (depending on the word) when it does.
The vowels of manning and Manning, distinguished in some parts of the United States (see /æ/
raising). Both of them are transcribed as /æ/.
The difference between the vowels of pain and pane found in some English, Welsh, and
Newfoundland dialects. Both of them are transcribed as /eɪ/.
The difference between the vowels of holy and wholly found in Cockney and many Estuary
English speakers.[v] Both of them are transcribed as /oʊ/.
Any allophonic distinctions, such as:
The vowels of bad and lad, distinguished in many parts of Australia. Both of them are
transcribed as /æ/.
The vowels of spider and spied her, distinguished in many parts of Scotland,[w] plus many
parts of North America. Both of them are transcribed as /aɪ/.
The vowels of rider and writer, distinguished in most parts of Canada and many parts of the
United States. Both of them are transcribed as /aɪ/.
The vowels of powder and pouter distinguished in most parts of Canada and some parts of
the United States. Both of them are transcribed as /aʊ/.
Allophonic vowel length (including the Scottish vowel length rule), as in knife /ˈnaɪf/ vs.
knives /ˈnaɪvz/. Phonemic vowel length, which exists in some dialects and involves pairs
such as /ɛ/ vs. /ɛər/ and /ə/ vs. /ɜːr/ is also not marked explicitly. /i/ and /u/ do not represent
phonemes; see above.
Flapping in words such as better, which we write /ˈbɛtər/, rather than /ˈbɛdər/.
Glottalization in words such as jetlag and, in some accents, daughter, which we write /
ˈdʒɛtlæɡ/ and /ˈdɔːtər/, rather than /ˈdʒɛʔlæɡ/ and /ˈdɔːʔər/. In this system, /ʔ/ is used only
for paralanguage or in loanwords where it occurs phonemically in the original language.
L-vocalization in words such as bottle and Alps, which we write /ˈbɒtəl/ and /ˈælps/, rather
than /ˈbɒtʊ/ and /ˈæwps/.
The difference between allophones of /ə/ in balance ([ə]) vs. the ones in about and Russia
(and, in non-rhotic dialects, better), both of which may be closer to /ʌ/ in dialects with the
foot-strut split (that is, [ɐ]) vs. the one in button (the syllabicity of the following consonant).
All are transcribed as /ə/ in our system.
The difference between the phonetic realization of English sounds (mostly vowels) in
various dialects. Let's pick some grapes for Betty should be transcribed /lɛts ˈpɪk səm
ˈɡreɪps fər ˈbɛti/ regardless of the variety of English and everyone should interpret that
transcription according to their own dialect. Thus, a person from South East England will
read it as something like [lɛʔs ˈpʰɪk səm ˈɡɹɛɪps fə ˈbɛtˢɪi], a Scot as [ɫɛts ˈpʰɪk səm ˈɡɾeps
fɚ ˈbɛte], whereas someone from New Zealand will interpret that transcription as [ɫɪts ˈpʰək
səm ˈɡɹæɪps fə ˈbɪɾi]. Because we are transcribing diaphonemes rather than phones
(actual sounds), it is irrelevant that, for example, the vowel in let's as pronounced by
someone from New Zealand overlaps with how people with England and Scotland typically
pronounce the first vowel in pick, or that the Scottish realization of /r/ after /ɡ/ overlaps with
the New Zealand realization of /t/ between vowels. In other words, the symbol ⟨ɛ⟩ does not
stand specifically for the open-mid front unrounded vowel in our system but any vowel that
can be identified as the vowel in let's, depending on the accent. This is also why we use the
simple symbol ⟨r⟩ for the second sound in grapes.

Other words may have different vowels depending on the speaker.

The pronunciation of the /æ/ vowel in most dialects of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Northern England and
Wales has always been closer to [a]. Received Pronunciation has moved away from the traditional near-open
front realization [æ] towards almost fully open front realization [a], and both the Oxford English Dictionary
and the 2014 edition of Gimson's Pronunciation of English transcribe the vowel in lad, bad, cat, trap with
/a/.[x]

For more extensive information on dialect variations, you may wish to see the IPA chart for English dialects.

Note that place names are not generally exempted from being transcribed in this abstracted system, so rules
such as the above must be applied in order to recover the local pronunciation. Examples include place names
in much of England ending ‑ford, which although locally pronounced [‑fəd] are transcribed /‑fərd/. This is
best practice for editors. However, readers should be aware that not all editors may have followed this
consistently, so for example if /‑fəd/ is encountered for such a place name, it should not be interpreted as a
claim that the /r/ would be absent even in a rhotic dialect.

Other transcriptions
If you feel it is necessary to add a pronunciation respelling using another convention, then please use the
conventions of Wikipedia's pronunciation respelling key.

To compare the following IPA symbols with non-IPA American dictionary conventions that may
be more familiar, see Pronunciation respelling for English, which lists the pronunciation guides
of fourteen English dictionaries published in the United States.
To compare the following IPA symbols with other IPA conventions that may be more familiar,
see Help:IPA/Conventions for English, which lists the conventions of eight English dictionaries
published in Britain, Australia, and the United States.

See also
If your browser does not display IPA symbols, you probably need to install a font that includes
the IPA (for good, free IPA fonts, see the download links in the articles for Gentium and the
more complete Charis SIL; for a monospaced font, see the complete Everson Mono)
To add IPA pronunciations to Wikipedia articles, see the {{IPA}} template
For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Wikipedia:Manual of
Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.
Help:IPA/Conventions for English
Help:Pronunciation respelling key
Pronunciation respelling for English

Notes
1. This rule is generally employed in the pronunciation guide of our articles, even for local terms
such as place names. However, be aware that not all editors may have followed this
consistently, so for example if a pronunciation of an English town ending in ‑ford reads /‑fəd/, it
doesn't mean that the /r/ would be absent in a rhotic dialect.
2. For example, if you have the marry–merry merger, you probably only merge /æ/ and /ɛ/ before
/r/. You would still distinguish man and men.
3. In varieties with flapping, /t/ and sometimes also /d/ between a vowel and a weak or word-initial
vowel may be pronounced with a voiced tap [ɾ], making latter sound similar or identical to
ladder. Some dictionaries transcribe /t/ subject to this process as ⟨d⟩ or ⟨t ̬⟩, but they are not
distinguished in this transcription system. In those varieties, the sequence /nt/ in the same
environment may also be realized as a nasalized tap [ɾ̃], making winter sound similar or
identical to winner. This is also not distinguished in this system.
4. In dialects with yod dropping, /j/ in /juː/, /ju/, or /jʊər/ is not pronounced after coronal consonants
(/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /θ/, and /l/) in the same syllable, so that dew /djuː/ is pronounced the same as
do /duː/. In dialects with yod coalescence, /tj/ and /dj/ mostly merge with /tʃ/ and /dʒ/, so that the
first syllable in Tuesday is pronounced the same as choose. In some dialects /sj/ and /zj/ are
also affected and frequently merge with /ʃ/ and /ʒ/. Where /j/ in /juː/, /ju/, or /jʊər/ following a
coronal is still pronounced in yod-dropping accents, place a syllable break before it: menu /
ˈmɛn.juː/.
5. The phoneme /hw/ is not distinguished from /w/ in the many dialects with the wine–whine
merger, such as RP and most varieties of General American. For more information on this
sound, see voiceless labialized velar approximant.
6. The IPA value of the letter ⟨j⟩ may be counterintuitive to English speakers, but the spelling is
found even in some common English words like hallelujah and fjord.
7. /l/ in the syllable coda, as in the words all, cold, or bottle, is pronounced as [o], [u], [w] or a
similar sound in many dialects through L-vocalization.
8. In most varieties of English, /r/ is pronounced as an approximant [ɹ]. Although the IPA symbol
⟨r⟩ represents the alveolar trill, ⟨r⟩ is widely used instead of ⟨ɹ⟩ in broad transcriptions of
English.
9. A number of English words, such as genre and garage, may be pronounced with either /ʒ/ or
/dʒ/.
10. In most dialects, /x/ can also be replaced by /k/ in most words, including loch. It is also replaced
with /h/ in some words, particularly of Yiddish origin, such as Chanukah.
11. /ɒ̃, æ̃/ are only found in French loanwords and often replaced by another vowel and a nasal
consonant: bon vivant /ˌbɒn viːˈvɒnt/, ensemble /ɒnˈsɒmbəl/, etc.[a]
12. /ɜː/ is only found in loanwords and represents a situation where such an r-less vowel is used
only in British or Southern Hemisphere accents, and therefore a transcription that includes it
must always be prefaced with a label indicating the variety of English. It is to be used only
when a reliable source shows that General American has a different vowel in the same
position. If r-ful NURSE is used even in GA, even if spelled without ⟨r⟩, as in Goethe and hors
d'oeuvre, use /ɜːr/. /ɜː/ is also not the same as ⟨œ⟩ seen in some American dictionaries. ⟨œ⟩ in
those dictionaries is merely a notational convention and does not correspond to any vowel in
any accent of English, so a transcription containing ⟨œ⟩ cannot be converted to one that uses
this key.
13. In non-rhotic accents like RP, /r/ is not pronounced unless followed by a vowel.
14. In dialects with the father–bother merger such as General American, /ɒ/ is not distinguished
from /ɑː/.
15. In most of the United States, /ɒr/ is merged with /ɔːr/, except for a handful of words such as
borrow, tomorrow and sorry, which instead have /ɑːr/. In some parts of the Southern and
Northeastern US, it is always merged with /ɑːr/. In Canada, it is always merged with /ɔːr/.
16. In North America, /æ/ is often pronounced like a diphthong [eə~ɛə] before nasal consonants
and, in some particular regional dialects, other environments. See /æ/ raising.
17. /ær/, /ɛr/ and /ɛər/ are not distinguished in many North American accents (Mary–marry–merry
merger). Some speakers merge only two of the sounds (most typically /ɛər/ with one of the
short vowels) and less than a fifth of speakers of American English make a full three-way
distinction, like RP and similar accents.[b]
18. In much of North America, /aɪ/ or /aʊ/ may have a slightly different quality when it precedes a
voiceless consonant, as in price or mouth, from that in ride/pie or loud/how, a phenomenon
known as Canadian raising. Since this occurs in a predictable fashion, it is not distinguished in
this transcription system.
19. In some dialects, especially in the UK, the second segment in a diphthong followed by /ə/ is
often omitted. This process or lack thereof may help choose between /aɪər, aʊər, ɔɪər/ in some
words (diary, admirer) and /aɪr, aʊr, ɔɪr/ in others (pirate, siren), a distinction not always clear.
20. Some speakers pronounce higher, flower, mayor and coyer ("more coy") with two syllables, and
hire, flour, mare and coir with one. Most pronounce them the same.
21. /ɛ/ is transcribed with ⟨e⟩ in many dictionaries. However, /eɪ/ is also sometimes transcribed with
⟨e⟩, especially in North American literature, so ⟨ɛ⟩ is chosen here.
22. /ɛə/, /ɪə/, or /ʊə/ may be separated from /r/ only when a stress follows it. The IPAc-en template
supports /ɛəˈr/, /ɪəˈr/, /ʊəˈr/, /ɛəˌr/, /ɪəˌr/, and /ʊəˌr/ as distinct diaphonemes for such occasions.
23. /ɪ/ and /oʊ/ may be strong or weak depending on context.[c] Whether an instance of unstressed
/ɪ/ is strong or weak may not be clear in some circumstances.[d]
24. Words like idea, real, theatre, and cruel may be pronounced with /ɪə/ or /ʊə/ in non-rhotic
accents such as Received Pronunciation, and some dictionaries transcribe them with /ɪə,
ʊə/,[e] but since they do not stem from historical /r/ and are not pronounced with /r/ in rhotic
accents, they should be transcribed with /iːə, uːə/, not with /ɪə, ʊə/, in this transcription system.
25. /oʊ/ is often transcribed with ⟨əʊ⟩, particularly in British literature, based on its modern
realization in Received Pronunciation. It is also transcribed with ⟨o⟩, particularly in North
American literature.
26. /ɔː/ is not distinguished from /ɒ/ in dialects with the cot–caught merger such as Scottish
English, Canadian English and many varieties of General American. In North America, the two
vowels most often fall together with /ɑː/.
27. Some conservative dialects make a distinction between the vowels in horse and hoarse, but
the number of speakers who make this distinction any longer is very small and many
dictionaries do not differentiate between them (horse–hoarse merger). The vowel in hoarse
was formerly represented as /ɔər/ on Wikipedia, but is now represented as /ɔːr/, identical to
horse.
28. /ʊər/ is not distinguished from /ɔːr/ in dialects with the cure–force merger, including many
younger speakers. In England, the merger may not be fully consistent and may only apply to
more common words. In conservative RP and Northern England English /ʊər/ is much more
commonly preserved than in modern RP and Southern England English. In Australia and New
Zealand, /ʊər/ does not exist as a separate phoneme and is replaced either by the sequence
/uːər/ (/uːr/ before vowels within the same word, save for some compounds) or the
monophthong /ɔːr/.
29. Some, particularly North American, dictionaries notate /ʌ/ with the same symbol as /ə/, which is
found only in unstressed syllables, and distinguish it from /ə/ by marking the syllable as
stressed. Also note that although ⟨ʌ⟩, the IPA symbol for the open-mid back vowel, is used, the
typical modern pronunciation is rather close to the near-open central vowel [ɐ] in most dialects,
including Received Pronunciation and General American.
30. /ʌ/ is not used in the dialects of the northern half of England, some bordering parts of Wales,
and some broad eastern Ireland accents. These words would take the /ʊ/ vowel: there is no
foot–strut split.
31. In Received Pronunciation, /ɜːr/ is pronounced as a lengthened schwa, [əː]. In General
American, it is phonetically identical to /ər/. Some dictionaries therefore use ⟨əː, ər⟩ instead of
the conventional notations ⟨ɜː, ɜr⟩. When ⟨ər⟩ is used for /ɜːr/, it is distinguished from /ər/ by
marking the syllable as stressed. Word-initially, /ər/ never occurs, giving way to /ɜːr/. Where
there is a free variation between /ɜːr/ and /ər/ in RP, it is acceptable to transcribe only the more
common variant (e.g. /ər/ for persona).
32. /ʌr/ is not distinguished from /ɜːr/ in dialects with the hurry–furry merger such as General
American.
33. In a number of contexts, /ə/ in /ər/, /əl/, /ən/, or /əm/ is often omitted, resulting in a syllable with
no vowel. Some dictionaries show /ə/ in those contexts in parentheses, superscript, or italics to
indicate this possibility, or simply omit /ə/. When followed by a weak vowel, the syllable may be
lost altogether, with the consonant moving to the next syllable, so that doubling /ˈdʌb.əl.ɪŋ/ may
alternatively be pronounced as [ˈdʌb.lɪŋ], and Edinburgh /ˈɛd.ɪn.bər.ə/ as [ˈɛd.ɪn.brə].[i] When
not followed by a vowel, /ər/ merges with /ə/ in non-rhotic accents.
34. In accents with the weak vowel merger such as most Australian and American accents, /ɪ/ in
unstressed positions is not distinguished from /ə/, making rabbit and abbot rhyme and Lenin
and Lennon homophonous. Pairs like roses and Rosa's are kept distinct in American accents
because of the difference in morphological structure,[f] but may be homophonous in
Australian.[g] In these accents, unstressed /ɪl, ɪn, ɪm/ merge with /əl, ən, əm/, so that the second
vowel in Latin may be lost and cabinet may be disyllabic (see the previous note).
35. /oʊ/ and /u/ in unstressed, prevocalic positions are transcribed as /əw/ by Merriam-Webster, but
no other dictionary uniformly follows this practice.[h] Hence a difference between /əw/ in
Merriam-Webster and /oʊ/ or /u/ in another source is most likely one in notation, not in
pronunciation, so /əw/ in such cases may be better replaced with /oʊ/ or /u/ accordingly, to
minimize confusion: /ˌsɪtʃəˈweɪʃən/ → /ˌsɪtʃuˈeɪʃən/, /ˈfɒləwər/ → /ˈfɒloʊər/.
36. ⟨i⟩ represents variation between /iː/ and /ɪ/ in unstressed prevocalic or morpheme-final
positions. It is realized with a quality closer to /iː/ in accents with happy tensing, such as
Australian English, General American, and modern RP, and to /ɪ/ in others. ⟨u⟩ likewise
represents variation between /uː/ and /ʊ/ in unstressed prevocalic positions.
37. The sequence ⟨iə⟩ may be pronounced as two syllables, [i.ə] or [ɪ.ə], or as one, [jə] or [ɪə̯ ].
When pronounced as one syllable in a non-rhotic accent, it may be indistinguishable from, and
identified as, the NEAR vowel (/ɪər/).[e] This transcription system uses ⟨iə⟩, not ⟨i.ə⟩, ⟨ɪə⟩, etc., to
cover all these possibilities.
38. The sequence ⟨uə⟩ may be pronounced as two syllables, [u.ə] or [ʊ.ə], or as one, [wə] or [ʊə̯ ].
When pronounced as one syllable in a non-rhotic accent, it may be indistinguishable from, and
identified as, the CURE vowel (/ʊər/).[e] This transcription system uses ⟨uə⟩, not ⟨u.ə⟩, ⟨ʊə⟩, etc.,
to cover all these possibilities.
39. The IPA stress mark ⟨ˈ⟩ comes before the syllable that has the stress, in contrast to stress
marking in pronunciation keys of some dictionaries published in the United States.
40. Syllable divisions are not usually marked, but the IPA dot ⟨.⟩ may be used when it is wished to
make explicit where a division between syllables is (or may be) made.
41. Not all of the sets defined in Wells Standard Lexical Sets for English are used here. In
particular, we excluded words in the lexical sets BATH and CLOTH, which may be given two
transcriptions, the former either with /ɑː/ or /æ/, the latter with /ɒ/ or /ɔː/.

References
a. Jones (2011).
b. Vaux, Bert; Golder, Scott (2003). "How do j. Wells (1982), pp. 473–6, 493, 499.
you pronounce Mary/merry/marry?" (http://di k. Stuart-Smith (2004), p. 58.
alect.redlog.net/staticmaps/q_15.html). l. Corrigan (2010), pp. 33–5.
Harvard Dialect Survey. Harvard University
Linguistics Department. m. Wells (1982), pp. 361, 372.
c. Flemming & Johnson (2007), pp. 91–2. n. Wells (1982), pp. 605–7.
d. Wells, John (25 March 2011). "strong and o. Bauer et al. (2007), pp. 98–9.
weak" (http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/20 p. Bauer et al. (2007), p. 98.
11/03/strong-and-weak.html). John Wells's q. Wells (1982), pp. 351–3, 363–4.
phonetic blog. r. Wells (1982), pp. 380–1.
e. Wells (1982), p. 240. s. Wells (1982), pp. 612–3.
f. Flemming & Johnson (2007), pp. 94–5. t. Stuart-Smith (2004), p. 56.
g. Wells (1982), p. 601. u. Wells (1982), pp. 304, 310–1.
h. Windsor Lewis, Jack (10 April 2009). "The v. Wells (1982), pp. 304, 312–3.
Elephant in the Room" (http://www.yek.me.u
w. Stuart-Smith (2004), p. 57.
k/archive18.html#blog174). PhonetiBlog.
i. Wells (2008), pp. 173, 799. x. Cruttenden (2014), pp. 119–20.

Bibliography
Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul; Bardsley, Dianne; Kennedy, Marianna; Major, George (2007).
"New Zealand English". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 37 (1): 97–102.
doi:10.1017/S0025100306002830 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100306002830).
Corrigan, Karen P. (2010). Irish English, volume 1 – Northern Ireland (https://books.google.com/
books?id=zv2qBgAAQBAJ). Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-3429-3.
Cruttenden, Alan (2014). Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-
4441-8309-2.
Flemming, Edward; Johnson, Stephanie (2007). "Rosa's roses: reduced vowels in American
English" (http://web.mit.edu/flemming/www/paper/rosasroses.pdf) (PDF). Journal of the
International Phonetic Association. 37 (1): 83–96. doi:10.1017/S0025100306002817 (https://do
i.org/10.1017%2FS0025100306002817).
Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English
Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
Stuart-Smith, Jane (2004). "Scottish English: phonology". In Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge,
Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.). A Handbook of Varieties of
English. Volume 1: Phonology. Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 47–67.
doi:10.1515/9783110175325.1.47 (https://doi.org/10.1515%2F9783110175325.1.47). ISBN 3-
11-017532-0.
Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Volume 1: An Introduction (pp. i–xx, 1–278), Volume
2: The British Isles (pp. i–xx, 279–466), Volume 3: Beyond the British Isles (pp. i–xx, 467–674).
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52129719-2, 0-52128540-2, 0-52128541-0.
Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-
4058-8118-0.

External links
Getting JAWS 6.1 to recognize "exotic" Unicode symbols (http://www.personal.psu.edu/ejp10/bl
ogs/gotunicode/2008/09/getting-jaws-61-to-recognize-e.html) – for help on getting the screen
reader JAWS to read IPA symbols
IPA Reader (http://ipa-reader.xyz/) – web-based IPA synthesizer using Amazon Polly
Phoneme Synthesis (https://itinerarium.github.io/phoneme-synthesis/) – web-based IPA
synthesizer using eSpeak

International Phonetic Alphabet keys

Adyghe · Afrikaans · Albanian · Amharic · Arabic (Modern Standard · Egyptian · Hejazi · Lebanese ·
Tunisian) · Armenian · Assamese · Asturian · Australian languages · Azerbaijani · Basque · Belarusian ·
Bengali · Berber · Breton · Bulgarian · Burmese · Catalan · Chinese (Mandarin · Cantonese ·
Taiwanese Hokkien) · Corsican · Czech · Danish · Dari · Dutch · English (Old English) · Emilian-Romagnol ·
Esperanto · Estonian · Extremaduran · Fijian · Finnish · Franco-Provençal · French · Galician · Georgian ·
German (Standard · Alemannic · Colognian) · Greek · Gujarati · Haitian Creole · Hawaiian · Hebrew · Hindi ·
Hungarian · Icelandic · Indonesian · Inuktitut · Inupiaq · Irish · Isan · Italian (dialects) · Japanese · Kazakh ·
Khmer · Korean · Kurdish · Kyrgyz · Lao · Latin · Latvian · Ligurian · Lithuanian · Lombard · Luxembourgish ·
Macedonian · Maithili · Malagasy · Malay · Malayalam · Maltese · Manx · Māori · Marathi · Marshallese ·
Mauritian Creole · Mayan · Mongolian · Mirandese · Nahuatl · Navajo · Neapolitan · Nepali · Northern Thai ·
Norwegian · Occitan · Odia · Persian · Piedmontese · Polish · Portuguese · Punjabi · Quechua · Romanian ·
Romansh · Russian · Sanskrit · Sardinian · Scottish Gaelic · Serbo-Croatian · Shan · Sicilian · Slovak ·
Slovene · Spanish · Swahili · Swazi · Swedish · Tagalog · Tai Lue · Tajik · Tamil · Tatar · Telugu · Thai ·
Tibetan · Tigrinya · Turkish · Turkmen · Ukrainian · Urdu · Uzbek · Venetian · Vietnamese · Walloon · Welsh ·
West Frisian · Xhosa · Yiddish · Zulu
IPA conventions for English · English dialects · Wikipedia pronunciation respelling
Comparisons
· Other English pronunciation respellings
Introductory guides Symbols · For English speakers · Manual of Style: Pronunciation

IPA templates
{{IPA}} · {{IPA-all}} · {{IPA link}} · {{IPAblink}} [a] · {{IPAslink}} /a/ ·
Formatting {{IPAalink}} ⟨a⟩ · {{IPAplink}} · {{angbr IPA}} · {{Chinese tone letter}}
· {{Audio-IPA}}
{{IPAc-en}} · {{IPA-ca}} · {{IPAc-cmn}} · {{IPA-cs}} · {{IPA-de}} ·
Inline
Language- {{IPA-el}} · {{IPA-es}} · {{IPA-fr}} · {{IPA-it}} · {{IPA-ko}} · {{IPA-my}} ·
specific {{IPA-nl}} · {{IPA-pl}} · {{IPAc-pl}} · {{IPA-pt}} · {{IPA-ro}} · {{IPA-ru}} ·
{{IPA-sh}} · {{IPA-sl}} · {{IPA-th}} · etc.
Maintenance {{Needs IPA}} · {{Pronunciation needed}}
{{IPA navigation}} · {{Infobox IPA}} · {{IPA keys}} · {{IPA key}} · {{WikiIPA}} ·
Navigation
{{Contains special characters|IPA}}
{{IPA vowels}} · {{IPA pulmonic consonants}} · {{IPA non-pulmonic consonants}} ·
Charts
{{IPA co-articulated consonants}} · {{IPA affricates}}
{{IPA symbol}} · {{IPA audio link}} · {{IPA common}} · {{IPA soundbox}} ·
Meta templates
{{Usage of IPA templates}}
Others See Category:IPA templates

Wikipedia help pages

Visit the Teahouse or the Help desk for an interactive Q & A forum.

FAQs (?) · Reference desks (?) · Noticeboards (?) · Cheatsheet (?) · Directories (?)
About Wikipedia (?) Administration (Purpose · Principles) · Policies and guidelines ·
What Wikipedia is not · Disclaimer (parental advice) · Making requests ·
Who writes Wikipedia?
FAQ · Books · Copyright · Glossary · Mobile access · Navigation ·
Help for readers (?)
Other languages · Searching · Students · Viewing media
Advice for young editors · Avoiding common mistakes · Etiquette ·
Contributing Simplified Manual of Style · Simplified rule-set ("Ignore all rules" ·
to Wikipedia (?) "The rules are principles") · Style-tips · Tip of the day ·
Your first article (article wizard)
Why create an account? · Introductions by topic · The Wikipedia Adventure ·
Getting started (?) Graphics tutorials (Picture tutorial · IRC (live chat) tutorial) ·
VisualEditor user guide
Accessibility · Biographies · Biographies (living) · Categorization · Consensus ·
Dos and don'ts (?) Discussions · Disambiguation · Images · Leads · Links · Lists · References ·
Tables · Titles (of articles)
Appealing blocks · Article deletion · Categories · Citations/references
(Referencing for beginners · Citation Style 1 · Cite errors ·
References and page numbers) · Convert · Diff · Editing (Minor edit · toolbar ·
How-to pages and
edit conflict) · Find sources · Files · Footnotes · Image deletion · Infoboxes ·
information pages (?)
Linking (link color) · Logging in · Merging · Page name (Renaming pages) ·
Redirect · Passwords (Email confirmation) · Reverting
(Simple vandalism cleanup) · Talk pages (archiving) · User contributions
Wiki markup · Barcharts · Calculations · Characters · Columns · Hidden text ·
Coding (?) HTML · Lists · Magic words · Music symbols · Sections · Sounds · Tables ·
Templates · Transclusion · URL · Visual files
Abbreviations · Contents (Encyclopedia proper) · Departments · Editor's index ·
Directories (?) Essays · FAQs · Glossary · Guidelines · Manual of Style · Policies · Tasks · Tips
· Tools
Missing Manual

(?)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:IPA/English&oldid=996549211"

This page was last edited on 27 December 2020, at 07:19 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.