Wikipedia:Pronunciation (simple guide to markup, American)

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Some feel that Wikipedia needs a SIMPLE guide to indicate the pronunciation of English words. This article is a proposed response to that perception. Please see the talk page for discussion of need and design philosophy.

Pronunciation refers to the sound of how words are spoken.

Introduction[edit]

Pronunciation can change over time. Dictionaries may list the most commonly used forms of words, but as language changes, dictionaries change as well. At best, any guide to suggested pronunciation can reflect the preponderance of usage. A word like immediately, for example, is variously pronounced by Americans as:

ihMEEdeeuhtlee
uhMEEdeeuhtlee
eeMEEdeeuhtlee

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary suggests the first pronunciation.

Similarly, this pronunciation markup guide will choose the most widely used form.

NOTE: This guide is designed to be simple and easy to use. This can only be achieved by giving up scope and freedom from occasional ambiguity. For a more extensive guide to indicating pronunciation, see below.

Guide to simple American pronunciation markup[edit]

Rev. 0.91 Reference: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary [1]

Vowels	Used in	Example
aa	relax, past	rihLAAKS- relax
ay	date, same	DAYT- date
ah	father, far	FAHthuhr- father
aw	chainsaw, thaw	CHAYNsaw- chainsaw
eh	federal, pet	FEHDuhruhl- federal
ee	meander, bleed, feed, speed	meeAANduhr- meander
ih	swish, trip, snip	SWIHSH- swish
iy	frightful, side, buy	FRIYTfuhl- frightful
oh	boneless, know, beau	BOHNlehs- boneless
oi	destroy, annoy	dihSTROI- destroy
oo	reunion, rule, fool	reeYOONyuhn- reunion
ow	flout, noun, sound	FLOWT- flout
uh	monotony, ton, fun, abut	muhNAHtuhnee- monotony
uu	wood, would, book	WUUD- would

Consonants	Used in	Example
b	baby, bone	BAYbee- baby
ch	chubby, checker	CHUHbee- chubby
d	bidder, do, did, done	BIHduhr- bidder
f	stuff, rough, fluff	STUHF- stuff
g	got, big, rag	GAHT- got
h	headwind, hat, hold	HEHDwihnd- headwind
j	journey, join, jab, nudge	JUHRnee- journey
k	carrot, cake, kite, ache, book	KEHruht- carrot
l	valley, cool, flash	VAAlee, valley
m	mammal, dam, move	MAAmuhl- mammal
n	never, pan	NEHVuhr- never
ng	something, sang, sink	SUHMthihng- something
p	plus, lip, trapper	PLUHS- plus
r	rambunctious, race, terror	raamBUNKshus- rambunctious
s	citation, salad, less, city	siyTAYshuhn- citation
sh	machine, mash, mission, special	muhSHEEN- machine
t	later, untie, latter	LAYtuhr- later
th	thing, ether, thoughtful	THIHNG- thing
t~h	neither, then, this	NEEt~hur- neither
v	volume, invite	VAHLyoom- volume
w	away, willing, wander	uhWAY- away
wh	while, whale, when	WHIYL- while
y	young, cue, yet	YUHNG- young
z	raise, zone, breeze	RAYZ- raise
zh	revision, garage	reeVIHzhuhn- revision

Introduction[edit]

Guide to simple American pronunciation markup[edit]

See also[edit]