THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET – Broad Transcription
Vowels
IPA Symbol
Examples
Tongue Placement - the highest
part of the main part of the tongue
i
ɪ
e
ɛ
æ
a
Eat, Aesop, people,
beat
Hill, physics, business, it
front
Fate, weigh, gauge, ape
front
When, get, better, many
front
At, apple, plaid, sad
Pass, after, calf
front
front
Known as the “Intermediate a” in
Skinner’s Good Speech
I describe this phoneme as æ with a
tiny steeple in your mouth
ɝ
Worse, journal, myrtle,
shirt
Worse, journal, myrtle,
Shirt – without r coloring
Western, dancer, ever,
perform
Above, banana, ahead,
carnival
Up, under, flood, sum
Stressed syllables
ɜ
Non-rhotic sound, as in R.P.
ɚ
Unstressed syllables
ə
“schwa” – unstressed syllables
ʌ
front
central, or mid (dle)
central, or mid(dle)
central, or mid (dle)
central, or mid (dle)
central, or mid (dle)
Stressed syllables
ɑ
ɒ
In-between
ɑ
and
ɔ
o
ʊ
u
On, father, calm, spa
back
Odd, got, wash, hot
back
All, jaw, brought, pawn
back
Show, vocation, oasis,
obey
Put, good, would, look
back
Ooze, fruit, who, tool
back
ɔ
back
Diphthongs – a rapid blend of 2 vowels sounds in the same syllable
IPA
Examples
Symbol
Guide, buy, July, crime
aɪ
aʊ
ɔɪ
eɪ
oʊ
Pout, drought, sound, cow
Boy, noise, soil, Boise
Way, same, entrée, they
Coal, tableau, sew, brooch
ɔɚ
ɑɚ
ɛɚ
ɪɚ
uɚ
Oar, soar, war, Laurie
Car, faraway, sorry, hard
There, bear, hair, ensnare
Hear, here, weird, nearly
Sure, cure, lurid, assure
Consonants
Bilabial
Labio-dental Linguadental
Linguaalveolar
LinguaPalatal
Linguavelar
Glottal
Voiceless/Voiced
Voiceless/Voiced
Voiceless/Voiced
Voiceless/Voiced
θ
ð
t
d
s
z
Voiceless/Voiced
Voiceless/Voiced
Plosives
p
b
Fricatives
f
v
Nasals
Glides
Affricates
consonant
combinations
k
ɡ
ʃ
ʒ
h
ŋ
n
m
ʍ
w
l
tʃ
dʒ
Voiceless/Voiced
j
r
Consonant Examples
p
b
t
d
ɡ
k
Pig, pen, paper Bag, robber, lab Tow, pretty, at Day, meddle, lid Kin, choir, liquor Gone, ghost, dagger
v
f
s
z
Phony, differ, tough Vat, driver, live Scene, mister, nice Zany, sizzle, has
r
h
l
w
m
Hall, who, ahead Look, holly, soul Wreck, rabbit, run Want, away, quiet My, hummer, hymn
θ
n
ð
ʃ
ʒ
Nail, manner, sign
Think, ether, bath Them, father, bathe Shed, machine, mush Beige, casual, vision
dʒ
tʃ
ʍ
j
ŋ
Chum, righteous, catch Jilt, gem, soldier While, somewhat, which Yes, union, beyond King, banker, singer