Guide to pronunciation symbols
This list contains the main sounds of standard British English (the one that’s associated with southern England, also often called Received Pronunciation). The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols appear on my Web pages; the text equivalents were for the plain-text versions of my weekly e-mail newsletters. See the bottom of the page for some important notes.
Consonants
The following letters have their usual values in English:
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z.
IPA | Text | Examples | IPA | Text | Examples | |
ɡ | g | get, go, guard | tʃ | tS | chip, chin, nature | |
dʒ | dZ | judge, soldier | x | x | Scots loch | |
ŋ | N | sing, ring, finger | θ | T | thin, thick, strength | |
ð | D | then, bathe, lather | ʃ | S | she, sugar, machine | |
ʒ | Z | pleasure, vision | j | j | yet, use, beauty |
Short vowels
IPA | Text | Examples | IPA | Text | Examples | |
æ | a | cat, bad, trap | ɛ | e | bed, net, dress | |
ə | @ | about, comma | ɪ | I | kit, bid, hymn | |
i | i | happy, glorious | ɒ | Q | hot, odd, wash | |
ʌ | V | dug, run, strut | ʊ | U | book, put, foot |
Long vowels
IPA | Text | Examples | IPA | Text | Examples | |
ɑː | A: | cart, arm, father | iː | i: | meet, see, fleece | |
ɜː | 3: | her, nurse, learn | uː | u: | boot, too, group | |
ɔː | O: | port, saw, thaw |
Diphthongs/triphthongs
IPA | Text | Examples | IPA | Text | Examples | |
aɪ | aI | bite, my, price | aʊ | aU | brow, how, mouth | |
eɪ | eI | fate, day, break | əʊ | @U | goat, show, no | |
ɪə | I@ | pier, near, weary | ɔɪ | OI | boil, choice, boy | |
ʊə | U@ | tour, cure, jury | eə | e@ | hair, dare, various | |
aʊə | aU@ | sour, cower, flour | aɪə | aI@ | fire, buyer, liar |
Other symbols
IPA | Text | Purpose |
ˈ | ’ | Precedes the syllable which has the primary stress |
ˌ | , | Precedes a syllable which has a secondary stress |
( ) | ( ) | Surround an optional sound |
ʔ | ? | Glottal stop |
Some French vowel sounds
IPA | Text | Examples | IPA | Text | Examples | |
ø | 2 | jeu | ɔ | O | bottes, bol | |
œ | 9 | oeuf, soeur | y | y | sucre, tu | |
ɑ̃ | a~ | banque, sans | ɛ̃ | e~ | cinq, saint | |
ɔ̃ | o~ | bonbons, son | œ̃ | 9~ | un, lundi, brun |
Notes
With minor changes, the IPA scheme is that of the Oxford English Dictionary, Collins Dictionaries and the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, while the text symbols are those of the European SAMPA scheme, with minor changes to aid comprehension by non-linguists.
To view IPA you must have a font on your computer that includes the IPA extensions, such as Lucida Sans Unicode, Doulos SIL or Arial Unicode MS. If the symbols are visible in the IPA column above, then you already have such a font installed. The site preference is for Lucida Sans Unicode, a font which is widely installed on Windows systems. See your system help files for how to install fonts.