International Phonetic Alphabet: symbols

In most dictionaries, the pronunciation symbols used to show how words are pronounced are adapted from the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). If we know how to interpret the symbols, many of which are familiar letters of the alphabet, a dictionary can be a great help for learning pronunciation as well as for understanding meaning. Consonant soundsThere is less variation in consonants between speakers of different dialects than between vowels. British and American consonants are the same. Most of the consonant symbols are similar to the normal alphabet of written English. Just a few have to be learned.Here are the 24 consonants of English: No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 symbol p b t d k g s z t d f v w j h m n pen/pen/ big/bg/ ten /ten/ den /den/ key /ki/ get /get/ see /si/ zoo /zu/ shoe /u/ measure /me/ check /tek/ jet /det/ fan /fn/ van /vn/ wet /wet/ yes /jes/ hen /hen/ thin /n/ then /en/ men /men/ no /n/ ring /r/ Example words peep/pip/ babe /beb/ let /let/ red /red/ cake /kek/ leg /leg/ guess /ges/ buzz /bz/ wish /w/ treasure /tre/ watch /wt/ judge /dd/ laugh /lf/ wave /wev/ wait /wet/ you /ju/ hat /ht/ thought /t/ that /t/ name /nem/ phone /fn/ sang /s/

23 24

l r

let /let/ rat /rt/

tell /tel/ read /rid/

Vowel soundsMost English-speaking people would say there are five vowels in English, but they are thinking of the written language. In fact, in the spoken language there are many more. The exact number depends on the dialect of the speaker. The following list of 12 vowels and 8 diphthongs is based on standard British English, often referred to as RP (Received Pronunciation). There are simple vowels, like //as in "hit", and complex ones (diphthongs), like/a/ as in "my", where two vowels combine and run into each other.The number of vowels an individual uses depends on the regional dialect spoken. For example some speakers of English use the sound /u/ in "bus". Their dialect does not have the sound //. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 symbol i e a u e a a e feet /fit/ fit /ft/ men /men/ man /mn/ mud /md/ fast /fast/ top /tp/ fall /fl/ book /bk/ boot /but/ girl /gl/ a lot /lt/ mail /mel/ fly /fla/ boy /b/ cow /ka/ sold /sld/ beer /b/ hair /he/ sure // example words leap /lip/ lip /lp/ bed /bed/ bad /bd/ nut /nt/ pass /pas/ rock /rk/ lord /ld/ foot /ft/ food /fud/ bird /bd/ apart /pt/ May /me/ buy /ba/ boil /bl/ house /has/ low /l/ dear /d/ rare /re/ pure /pj/