Jump to content

Help:IPA/English

Permanently protected page
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
<Help:IPA
(Redirected fromWikipedia:IPAE)
This page is about the pronunciation of words in English. For sounds not found in English, seeHelp:IPA.For a basic introduction to the IPA, seeHelp:IPA/Introduction.For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, seeWikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Throughout Wikipedia, the pronunciation of words is indicated using theInternational 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 thelinks 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.

Key

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

The words given as examples for two different symbols may sound the same to you. For example, you may pronouncecotandcaughtthe same,doanddew,ormarryandmerry.This often happens because of dialect variation (see our articlesEnglish phonologyandInternational 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
IPA Examples
b buy, cab
d dye, cad,ladder[3]
dj dew[4]
dʒ giant, badge
ð thy, breathe, father
f find, leaf
ɡ guy, bag
h high, ahead
hw whine[5]
j[6] yes, hallelujah
k kind, sky,crack
l lie, ply, gal[7]
lj lute[4]
m my, smile, cam
n nigh, snide, can
nj new[4]
ŋ sang,sink, singer
p pie, spy, cap
r[8] rye, try, very
s sigh, mass
sj consume[4]
ʃ shy, cash,emotion
t tie, sty, cat,latter[3]
tj tune[4]
tʃ China, catch
θ thigh, path
θj enthuse[4]
v vie, leave
w wine, swine
z zoo, has
zj Zeus, resume[4]
ʒ pleasure, beige[9]
Vowels
Strong vowels ...followed by R[10]
IPA Examples IPA Examples
ɑː PALM,bra,father ɑːr START
ɒ LOT,blockade, cot, bother[11] ɒr moral[12]
æ[13] TRAP,bag, sang, tattoo[14] ær marry[15]
aɪ PRICE,pie[16] aɪər hire[17]
aʊ MOUTH,how[16] aʊər flour[17]
ɛ[18] DRESS,beg, length, prestige ɛr merry[15]
eɪ FACE,vague ɛər SQUARE,Mary[15][19]
ɪ KIT,big, sing, historic[20] ɪr mirror, Sirius
iː FLEECE,league, pedigree,idea[21] ɪər NEAR,serious[19]
oʊ[22] GOAT[20] ɔːr FORCE,hoarse[23]
ɔː THOUGHT,audacious, caught[24] NORTH,horse[23]
ɔɪ CHOICE ɔɪər coir[17]
ʊ FOOT ʊr courier
uː GOOSE,cruel[21] ʊər tour,CURE(/ˈkjʊər/)[25][19]
ʌ[26] STRUT,sung,untidy, trustee[27] ɜːr NURSE,blurry,urbane, foreword[28]
ʌr hurry[29]
Weak vowels
IPA Examples IPA Examples
ə COMMA,abbot, bazaar ər LETTER,forward, history[30]
ɪ rabbit, bizarre, Latin[20][31] oʊ motto,retroactive, follower[20][32]
i HAPPY,mediocre[33] iə California[34]
u fruition[32][33] uə influence[35]
Syllabic consonants[30]
IPA Examples IPA Examples
əl bottle,doubling([əl],[l̩],or[l]) ən button,fastener([ən],[n̩],or[n])
əm rhythm,blossoming([əm],[m̩],or[m])
Marginal segments
IPA Examples IPA Examples
x loch,Chanukah[36] ʔ uh-oh/ˈʌʔoʊ/
ɒ̃ bonvivant[37] æ̃ finde siècle[37]
ɜː Möbius(non-rhotic only)[38]
Stress[39] Syllabification
IPA Examples IPA Examples
ˈ intonation/ˌɪntəˈneɪʃən/[40] . /ˈhaɪər/hire,/ˈhaɪ.ər/higher[41]
/ˈtæks.peɪər/taxpayer
ˌ

Notes

  • Words inSMALL CAPITALSare the standardlexical sets.Not all of the sets are used here. In particular, we excluded words in the lexical setsBATHandCLOTH,which may be given two transcriptions, the former either with/ɑː/or/æ/,the latter with/ɒ/or/ɔː/.
  • 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 apolysyllabicword, a vowel in the former group is frequently shorter than the latter in other environments (seeClipping (phonetics) § English)./i,u/likewise do not mean shorter versions of/iː,uː/but represent a situation in which some speakers have/iː,uː/and others/ɪ,ʊ/(seeHappytensing).

Dialect variation

Further information:English phonologyandInternational Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects

This key representsdiaphonemes,abstractions of speech sounds that accommodateGeneral American,BritishReceived Pronunciation(RP) and to a large extent alsoAustralian,Canadian,Irish(includingUlster),New Zealand,Scottish,South AfricanandWelsh Englishpronunciations. 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 withhappytensing(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 intake.Before/ə/within the same word, another possible pronunciation is/j/as inyet.
  • Many speakers of American, Canadian, Scottish and Irish English pronouncecot/ˈkɒt/andcaught/ˈkɔːt/the same.[k]You may simply ignore the difference between the symbols/ɒ/and/ɔː/,just as you ignore the distinction between the written vowelsoandauwhen pronouncing them.
  • Most speakers of North American English (with the exception ofEastern New England) do not distinguish between the vowels infather/'fɑːðər/andbother/'bɒðər/,pronouncing the two words as rhymes. If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference between the symbols/ɑː/and/ɒ/.
  • Speakers of some rhotic dialects, for instance in Ireland and Scotland, may not distinguish between the vowels ofnear/ˈnɪər/,cure/ˈkjʊər/andsquare/ˈskwɛər/on the one hand andfreerunning/ˈfriːrʌnɪŋ/,Q-rating/ˈkjuːreɪtɪŋ/anddayroom/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 incourierand 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 thatfoot/ˈfʊt/andgoose/ˈɡuːs/also have the same vowel.[l][m]If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference between/ʊ/and/uː/in all contexts.
    • In North America, the/ʊr/ofcourierand the/ʊər/ofcuremay instead merge with/ɔːr/as innorthor/ɜːr/as innurse.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/ofmirrorand 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 inmerry/ˈmɛri/,Mary/ˈmɛəri/andmarry/ˈmæri/.If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference between/ɛr/,/ɛər/and/ær/.Some speakers keepmarryand/ormerryseparate from the rest, but in the General American accent all three vowels are the same and may not be distinct from/eɪr/as indayroom/ˈdeɪruːm/.
    • In rhotic North American English there is no distinction between the vowels innurse/ˈnɜːrs/andletter/ˈlɛtər/.If you speak such a dialect, read/ɜːr/as/ər/.The/ʌr/ofhurryoften 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 ofsquare/ˈskwɛər/andnurse/ˈnɜːrs/.[n]If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference between the symbols/ɛər/and/ɜːr/.
  • In New Zealand English, the vowels ofkit/ˈkɪt/andfocus/ˈfoʊkəs/have the sameschwa-like quality.[o][p]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 ofnear/ˈnɪər/andsquare/ˈskwɛər/are not distinguished.[q]If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference between the symbols/ɪər/and/ɛər/.
  • In Northern England English and some varieties of Irish and Welsh English, the vowels offoot/ˈfʊt/andstrut/ˈstrʌt/are not distinguished.[r]If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference between the symbols/ʊ/and/ʌ/.
  • In some varieties of Scottish English and in Northern Irish English, the vowels oftrap/ˈtræp/andpalm/ˈpɑːm/are not distinguished.[s]If you speak such a dialect, ignore the difference between the symbols/æ/and/ɑː/.
  • In Welsh English and some other dialects, the vowels ofunorthodoxy/ʌnˈɔːrθədɒksi/andan orthodoxy/ənˈɔːrθədɒksi/are not distinguished.[t]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/andfeel/ˈfiːl/orpull/ˈpʊl/andpool/ˈpuːl/may not be distinguished.L-vocalizationmay trigger even more mergers, so that e.g.cord/ˈkɔːrd/andcalled/ˈkɔːld/may be homophonous as/ˈkɔːd/in non-rhotic dialects of South East England. SeeEnglish-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 incart/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 asnew/njuː/.For example,New Yorkis transcribed/njuːˈjɔːrk/.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. (Seeyod-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 ofkitandbit,distinguished in South Africa.[u]Both of them are transcribed as/ɪ/in stressed syllables and as/ɪ/or/ə/in unstressed syllables.
  • The difference between the vowels offir,furandfern,maintained in someScottishandIrish Englishbut lost elsewhere.[v]All of them are transcribed as/ɜːr/.
  • The vowels ofnorthandforce,distinguished in Scottish English, Irish English and by a minority of American speakers.[v]Both of them are transcribed as/ɔːr/.
  • The vowels ofpauseandpaws,distinguished in Cockney and by some Estuary English speakers.[w]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 ofmanningandManning,distinguished in some parts of the United States (see/æ/raising). Both of them are transcribed as/æ/.
  • The difference between the vowels ofpainandpanefound in some English, Welsh, and Newfoundland dialects. Both of them are transcribed as/eɪ/.
  • The difference between the vowels oftoeandtowfound in some English, Welsh, and Newfoundland dialects. Both of them are transcribed as/oʊ/.
  • The difference between the vowels ofholyandwhollyfound in Cockney and many Estuary English speakers.[x]Both of them are transcribed as/oʊ/.
  • Anyallophonicdistinctions, such as:
    • The vowels ofbadandlad,distinguished in many parts ofAustraliaandSouthern England.Both of them are transcribed as/æ/.
    • The vowels ofspiderandspied her,distinguished in many parts of Scotland,[y]plus many parts of North America. Both of them are transcribed as/aɪ/.
    • The vowels ofriderandwriter,distinguished in most parts of Canada and many parts of the United States. Both of them are transcribed as/aɪ/.
    • The vowels ofpowderandpouterdistinguished in most parts of Canada and some parts of the United States. Both of them are transcribed as/aʊ/.
    • Allophonic vowel length (including theScottish vowel length rule), as inknife/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.
    • Flappingin words such asbetter,which we write/ˈbɛtər/,rather than/ˈbɛdər/.
    • Glottalizationin words such asjetlagand, in some accents,daughter,which we write/ˈdʒɛtlæɡ/and/ˈdɔːtər/,rather than/ˈdʒɛʔlæɡ/and/ˈdɔːʔər/.In this system,/ʔ/is used only forparalanguageor in loanwords where it occurs phonemically in the original language.
    • L-vocalizationin words such asbottleandAlps,which we write/ˈbɒtəl/and/ˈælps/,rather than/ˈbɒtʊ/and/ˈæwps/.
    • The difference between allophones of/ə/inbalance([ə]) vs. the ones inaboutandRussia(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 inbutton(thesyllabicityof 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 Bettyshould be transcribed/lɛtsˈpɪksəmˈɡreɪpsfərˈbɛti/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[lɛʔsˈpʰɪksəmˈɡɹɛɪpsfəˈbɛtˢɪi],a Scot as[ɫɛtsˈpʰɪksəmˈɡɾepsfɚˈbɛte],whereas someone from New Zealand will interpret that transcription as[ɫɪtsˈpʰəksəmˈɡɹæɪpsfəˈbɪɾi].Because we are transcribingdiaphonemesrather thanphones(actual sounds), it is irrelevant that, for example, the vowel inlet'sas pronounced by someone from New Zealand overlaps with how people with England and Scotland typically pronounce the first vowel inpick,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 theopen-mid front unrounded vowelin our system butanyvowel that can be identified as the vowel inlet's,depending on the accent. This is also why we use the simple symbol ⟨r⟩ for the second sound ingrapes.

Other words may have different vowels depending on the speaker.

For more extensive information on dialect variations, you may wish to see theIPA 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 arhoticdialect.

Other transcriptions

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

  • To compare the following IPA symbols with non-IPA American dictionary conventions that may be more familiar, seePronunciation 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, seeHelp:IPA/Conventions for English,which lists the conventions of eight English dictionaries published in Britain, Australia, and the United States.

See also

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 themarry–merrymerger, you probably only merge/æ/and/ɛ/before/r/.You would still distinguishmanandmen.
  3. ^abIn varieties withflapping,/t/and sometimes also/d/between a vowel and a weak or word-initial vowel may be pronounced with a voiced tap[ɾ],makinglattersound similar or identical toladder.Some dictionaries transcribe/t/subject to this process as ⟨d⟩ or ⟨t̬⟩, but they are not distinguished in this transcription system. In those varieties, the sequence/nt/in the same environment may also be realized as anasalizedtap[ɾ̃],makingwintersound similar or identical towinner.This is also not distinguished in this system.
  4. ^abcdefgIn dialects withyod dropping,/j/in/juː/,/ju/,or/jʊər/is not pronounced aftercoronal consonants(/t/,/d/,/s/,/z/,/n/,/θ/,and/l/) in the same syllable, so thatdew/djuː/is pronounced the same asdo/duː/.In dialects withyod coalescence,/tj/and/dj/mostly merge with/tʃ/and/dʒ/,so that the first syllable inTuesdayis pronounced the same aschoose.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 thewine–whinemerger,such as RP and most varieties of General American. For more information on this sound, seevoiceless 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 likehallelujahandfjord.Some dictionaries use ⟨y⟩ instead, although it represents aclose front rounded vowelin official IPA.
  7. ^/l/in thesyllable coda,as in the wordsall,cold,orbottle,is pronounced as[o],[u],[w]or a similar sound in many dialects throughL-vocalization.
  8. ^In most varieties of English,/r/is pronounced as an approximant[ɹ].Although the IPA symbol ⟨r⟩ represents thealveolar trill,⟨r⟩ is widely used instead of ⟨ɹ⟩ in broad transcriptions of English.
  9. ^A number of English words, such asgenreandgarage,may be pronounced with either/ʒ/or/dʒ/.
  10. ^Innon-rhotic accentslike RP,/r/is not pronounced unless followed by a vowel.
  11. ^In dialects with thefather–bothermergersuch as General American,/ɒ/is not distinguished from/ɑː/.
  12. ^In most of the United States,/ɒr/is merged with/ɔːr/,except for a handful of words such asborrow,tomorrowandsorry,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/.
  13. ^Some British sources, such as theOxford English Dictionary,use ⟨a⟩ instead of/æ/to transcribe this vowel. This more closely reflects the actual vowel quality in contemporaryReceived Pronunciation.[a]
  14. ^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.
  15. ^abcMany North American accents have theMary–marry–merrymergerand therefore don't distinguish between the corresponding sounds/ɛər/,/ær/,and/ɛr/.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 in RP and similar accents.[b]
  16. ^abIn much of North America,/aɪ/or/aʊ/may have a slightly different quality when it precedes avoicelessconsonant, as inpriceormouth,from that inride/pieorloud/how,a phenomenon known asCanadian raising.Since this occurs in a predictable fashion, it is not distinguished in this transcription system.
  17. ^abcSome speakers pronouncehigher, flowerandcoyer( "more coy" ) with two syllables, andhire, flourandcoirwith one. Most pronounce them the same. For the former group of words, make use of syllable breaks, as in/ˈhaɪ.ər/,/ˈflaʊ.ər/,/ˈkɔɪ.ər/,to differentiate from the latter. Before vowels, the distinction between/aɪər,aʊər,ɔɪər/and/aɪr,aʊr,ɔɪr/is not always clear; choose the former if the second element may be omitted (as in[ˈdaəri]diary).
  18. ^/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.
  19. ^abc/ɛə/,/ɪə/,or/ʊə/may be separated from/r/only when a stress follows it. TheIPAc-entemplate supports/ɛəˈr/,/ɪəˈr/,/ʊəˈr/,/ɛəˌr/,/ɪəˌr/,and/ʊəˌr/as distinct diaphonemes for such occasions.
  20. ^abcd⟨ɪ⟩ and ⟨oʊ⟩ represent strong vowels in some words and weak vowels in others. It will not always be clear which they are.[c][d]
  21. ^abWords likeidea, real,andtheatremay be pronounced with/ɪə/andcruelwith/ʊə/in non-rhotic accents such as Received Pronunciation, and some dictionaries transcribe them with/ɪə,ʊə/,[e]but since they are not pronounced with/r/in rhotic accents, they are transcribed with/iːə,uːə/,not with/ɪə,ʊə/,in this transcription system.
  22. ^/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.
  23. ^abSome accents, such asScottish English,many forms ofIrish Englishand some conservativeAmericanaccents, make a distinction between the vowels inhorseandhoarse(i.e. they lack thehorse–hoarsemerger). Since most modern dictionaries do not differentiate between them, neither does this key.
  24. ^/ɔː/is not distinguished from/ɒ/in dialects with thecot–caughtmergersuch as Scottish English, Canadian English and many varieties of General American. In North America, the two vowels most often fall together with/ɑː/.
  25. ^/ʊər/is not distinguished from/ɔːr/in dialects with thecure–forcemerger,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/.
  26. ^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 theopen-mid back vowel,is used, the typical modern pronunciation is rather close to thenear-open central vowel[ɐ]in some dialects, including Received Pronunciation.
  27. ^/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 nofoot–strutsplit.
  28. ^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.
  29. ^/ʌr/is not distinguished from/ɜːr/in dialects with thehurry–furrymergersuch as General American.
  30. ^abIn 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 thatdoubling/ˈdʌb.əl.ɪŋ/may alternatively be pronounced as[ˈdʌb.lɪŋ],andEdinburgh/ˈɛd.ɪn.bər.ə/as[ˈɛd.ɪn.brə].[i]When not followed by a vowel,/ər/merges with/ə/in non-rhotic accents.
  31. ^⟨ɪ⟩ represents a strong vowel in some contexts and a weak vowel in others. In accents with theweak vowel mergersuch as most Australian and American accents, weak/ɪ/is not distinguished from schwa/ə/,makingrabbitandabbotrhyme andLeninandLennonhomophonous. (Pairs likerosesandRosa'sare kept distinct in American accents because of the difference in morphological structure,[f]but may be homophonous in Australian.[g]) In these accents, weak/ɪl,ɪn,ɪm/merge with/əl,ən,əm/,so that the second vowel inLatinmay be lost andcabinetmay be disyllabic (see the previous note).
  32. ^ab/oʊ/and/u/in unstressed, prevocalic positions are transcribed as/əw/by Merriam-Webster, but no other dictionary uniformly follows this practice.[h]Hence the 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/.
  33. ^ab⟨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 withhappytensing,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.
  34. ^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, theNEARvowel (/ɪər/).[e]This transcription system uses ⟨iə⟩, not ⟨i.ə⟩, ⟨ɪə⟩, etc., to cover all these possibilities.
  35. ^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, theCUREvowel (/ʊər/).[e]This transcription system uses ⟨uə⟩, not ⟨u.ə⟩, ⟨ʊə⟩, etc., to cover all these possibilities.
  36. ^In most dialects,/x/can also be replaced by/k/in most words, includingloch.It is also replaced with/h/in some words, particularly of Yiddish origin, such asChanukah.
  37. ^ab/ɒ̃,æ̃/are only found in French loanwords and often replaced by another vowel and a nasal consonant:bon vivant/ˌbɒnviːˈvɒnt/,ensemble/ɒnˈsɒmbəl/,etc.[j]
  38. ^/ɜː/is only found in loanwords and represents a situation where such anr-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. Ifr-fulNURSEis used in GA too, even if spelled without⟨r⟩,as inGoetheandhors 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.
  39. ^The IPA stress marks, ⟨ˈ⟩ and ⟨ˌ⟩, comebeforethe syllable that has the stress, in contrast to stress marking inpronunciation keys of some dictionaries published in the United States.
  40. ^Scholars disagree on how to analyzedegrees of stressin English. A particular unstressed syllable with phonetic prominence or afull (unreduced) vowelis analyzed by some scholars as having secondary stress. For simplicity, we follow British rather than American English conventions, only marking secondary stress when it occurs before, not after, the primary stress.
  41. ^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.

References

  1. ^"British English Pronunciations".Oxford English Dictionary.Retrieved4 September2023.
  2. ^Vaux, Bert; Golder, Scott (2003)."How do you pronounce Mary/merry/marry?".Harvard Dialect Survey.Harvard University Linguistics Department.
  3. ^Flemming & Johnson (2007),pp. 91–2.
  4. ^Wells, John (25 March 2011)."strong and weak".John Wells's phonetic blog.
  5. ^abcWells (1982),p. 240.
  6. ^Flemming & Johnson (2007),pp. 94–5.
  7. ^Wells (1982),p. 601.
  8. ^Windsor Lewis, Jack(10 April 2009)."The Elephant in the Room".PhonetiBlog.
  9. ^Wells (2008),pp. 173, 799.
  10. ^Jones (2011).
  11. ^Wells (1982),pp. 473–6, 493, 499.
  12. ^Stuart-Smith (2004),p. 58.
  13. ^Corrigan (2010),pp. 33–5.
  14. ^Wells (1982),pp. 361, 372.
  15. ^Wells (1982),pp. 605–7.
  16. ^Bauer et al. (2007),pp. 98–9.
  17. ^Bauer et al. (2007),p. 98.
  18. ^Wells (1982),pp. 351–3, 363–4.
  19. ^Wells (1982),pp. 400, 439.
  20. ^Wells (1982),pp. 380–1.
  21. ^Wells (1982),pp. 612–3.
  22. ^abStuart-Smith (2004),p. 56.
  23. ^Wells (1982),pp. 304, 310–1.
  24. ^Wells (1982),pp. 304, 312–3.
  25. ^Stuart-Smith (2004),p. 57.

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:IPA/English&oldid=1248853109"