Sound correspondences between English accents
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This concise chart shows the most common applications of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to represent English language pronunciations.
See Pronunciation respelling for English for phonetic transcriptions used in different dictionaries.
- AuE = Australian English[1]
- CaE = Canadian English[citation needed]
- GA = General American[2][3]
- IrE = Irish English[citation needed]
- NZE = New Zealand English[citation needed]
- RP = Received Pronunciation (England)[4]
- ScE = Scottish English[citation needed]
- SAE = South African English[citation needed]
- WaE = Welsh English[citation needed]
- Note: An image of the chart is also available.
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| IPA: Reduced vowels[26] | |
|---|---|
| IPA | Explanation |
| ə | Reduced /ʌ, æ, ɑː, ɒ/ |
| ɪ̈ (ə) | Reduced /ɪ, iː, ɛ, eɪ, aɪ/ |
| ʊ̈ (ə) | Reduced /ʊ, uː/ |
| ɵ (ə) | Reduced /oʊ/ |
| ɚ (ə) | Reduced /ɝː/ (ɜr) |
| IPA: Other symbols used in transcription of English pronunciation | |
|---|---|
| IPA | Explanation |
| ˈ | Primary stress indicator (placed before the stressed syllable); for example, rapping /ˈɹæpɪŋ/ |
| ˌ | Secondary stress/full vowel indicator (placed before the stressed syllable); for example, pronunciation /pɹɵˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃən/ |
| . | Syllable separation indicator; for example, ice cream /ˈʌɪs.krim/ vs. I scream /ˌaɪ.ˈskrim/ |
| ̩ | Syllabic consonant indicator (placed under the syllabic consonant); for example, ridden /ˈɹɪdn̩/ |
Notes
- ^ Harrington, Cox & Evans (1997)
- ^ Kenyon, Knott & 1944/1953
- ^ Kenyon (1950)
- ^ Roach (2004:241-243). See Pronunciation respelling for English#International Phonetic Alphabet for the alternative system devised by Clive Upton for Oxford University Press dictionaries.
- ^ a b c This is the compromise IPA transcription used in the entries of Wikipedia articles. It covers most dialects of English.
- ^ Pronounced [ɾ] in some positions in GA and Australian English, and is possible in RP in words like butter, [ʔ] in some positions in English English, American English and Australian English, and [t̞] non-initially in Irish English.
- ^ Pronounced [ɾ] in some positions in GA and Australian English.
- ^ Pronounced [t̪] in some varieties of Irish English, merges with /f/ in some varieties of English English, and merges with /t/ in some varieties of Caribbean English.
- ^ Pronounced [d̪] in some varieties of Irish English, merges with /v/ in some varieties of English English, and merges with /d/ in some varieties of Caribbean English.
- ^ Marginal elsewhere.
- ^ Pronounced [ɱ] before f (e.g. symphony [ˈsɪɱfəni)
- ^ In some dialects (e.g. Brummie) "ringer", "sing" etc are pronounced with an additional /ɡ/, like "finger": /ˈɹɪŋɡə/ rather than /ˈɹɪŋə/
- ^ [ɫ] does not occur in Irish English, and [l] does not occur in Australian, New Zealand, Scottish, or American English. RP and some other English accents, along with South African English, however, have clear [l] before vowels and dark [ɫ] elsewhere.
- ^ The tap [ɾ] is found in some varieties of Scottish and Irish English.
- ^ Some dialects, such as Scottish English, Irish English, and much of the American South dialects; see whine and wine and voiceless labiovelar approximant
- ^ See bad-lad split for this distinction.
- ^ Often transcribed /a/ for RP, for example in dictionaries of the Oxford University Press.
- ^ See low back merger for more discussion of this vowel in American English.
- ^ Becomes more centralized (often [ə]) in contexts that are not velar or palatal.
- ^ Often transcribed /e/ for RP, for example in Collins English Dictionary.
- ^ a b c d e f See Fern-fir-fur merger for this distinction.
- ^ Sometimes transcribed for GA as [əɹ], especially in transcriptions that represent both rhotic and non-rhotic pronunciations, as [ə(ɹ)].
- ^ a b In Canadian English, the raised diphthongs [ʌi] and [ʌu] are found before voiceless consonants, as in right [ɹʷʌit] and out [ʌut]; in other environments, [aɪ] and [aʊ] are used. In much of US English, this happens with /ʌɪ/. See Canadian raising.
- ^ Alternative symbols used in British dictionaries are /ɛː/ (Oxford University Press) and /ɛə/.
- ^ >Roach, 2004 & 241-243, pp. 21-22, 25-26. Roach notes that many people in England use /ɔː/ for this vowel, but also that RP is supposed to distinguish between maw /mɔː/ and moor /mʊə/, tore /tɔː/ and tour /tʊə/, paw /pɔː/ and poor /pʊə/.
- ^ /ɔː, aʊ, ɔɪ/ are never reduced. In some dialects, such as Australian, all reduced vowels become [ə].
See also
- "Vowel wheel" - a subjective schematic of English vowel sounds as pronounced in a General American accent.
- NATO phonetic alphabet - also known as the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet or military alphabet. The NATO phonetic alphabet is often confused with the IPA because of the occurrence of "phonetic" in its name. However, the NATO alphabet is a cipher of the Latin alphabet, while the IPA strives for one-to-one representation of the sounds of all spoken languages.
- Phonetic alphabets
- Pronunciation respelling for English
- SAMPA chart for English
- English phonology
References
- Gimson, A. C. (1980). An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English (3rd edn. ed.). London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 0-7131-6287-2.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - Harrington, J.; Cox, F.; Evans, Z. (1997). "An acoustic phonetic study of broad, general, and cultivated Australian English vowels". Australian Journal of Linguistics. 17: 155–84. doi:10.1080/07268609708599550.
- Kenyon, John Samuel (1950). American Pronunciation (10th ed.). Ann Arbor: George Wahr.
- Kenyon, John S.; Knott, Thomas A. (1944/1953). A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster. ISBN 0-87779-047-7.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - Schneider, Edgar W.; Kortmann, Bernd (2004). A Handbook of Varieties of English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-017532-0.
- Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768
- Wells, J. C. (2000). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (2nd edn. ed.). Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited. ISBN 0-582-36468-X.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help)
External links
- Learning the IPA for English, (Standard American English)
- Online keyboard with MP3 sound files for IPA symbols
- IPA chart with AIFF sound files for IPA symbols
- IPA chart with MP3 sound files for all IPA symbols on the chart (limited version is available to anyone)
- The International Phonetic Alphabet (revised to 2005) Symbols for all languages are shown on this one-page chart.
- lexconvert a GPL command-line program to convert between Unicode IPA and the ASCII notations of various English speech synthesizers
- LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English ONLINE uses IPA.
- Online IPA editor for English
- Online/Offline IPA editor for English
- IPA transcription systems for English — discussion by John C. Wells of RP transcriptions