International Phonetic Alphabet
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The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is the alphabet used by linguists throughout the world to show pronunciation. It is an expanded English alphabet, with the Greek letter theta (θ) representing the unvoiced 'th' sound of 'thin', and the Icelandic letter eð (ð) representing the voiced 'th' sound of 'then'.
Key to IPA representation of English sounds
A guide to the sounds of English, in a sort of alphabetical order:
- ɑ is pronounced as is the 'a' in 'father', or in British English 'fast', or 'o' in American English 'not'
- æ is pronounced as the 'a' in 'cat', or AmE 'fast'
- aɪ as 'i' in 'time'
- aʊ as 'ow' in 'now'
- ɒ as in BrE 'not'
- ʌ as 'u' in 'up'
- b as in 'be'
- d as in 'do'
- dʒ as 'j' in 'just', or 'g' in 'gene'
- ð as 'th' in 'this'
- eə as the diphthong in 'hair'
- eɪ as 'ei' in 'vein' or 'ai' in 'vain'
- ə as 'a' in 'about', or 'e' in 'open'
- əʊ as 'o' in 'go'
- ɛ as 'e' in 'get'
- ɜ as the vowel sound in 'her', 'fir', 'fur' and 'work'
- f as in 'for'
- g as in 'go'
- h as in 'he'
- i as in 'machine', or 'ee' in 'see'
- ɪ as in 'it'
- ɪə as the diphthong in 'fear'
- j as 'y' in 'you'
- k as in 'kiss', or 'c' in 'cat'
- l as in 'like'
- m as in 'me'
- n as in 'no'
- ɔ as 'o' in 'or', or 'aw' in 'awful'
- ɔɪ as 'oi' in 'coin'
- p as in 'pip'
- r as in 'right'
- s as in 'sit', or 'c' in 'nice'
- ʃ as 'sh' in 'she', or 'ti' in 'edition'
- t as in 'tell'
- tʃ as 'ch' in 'choose'
- θ as in 'think'
- u as in 'true', or 'oo' in 'food'
- ʊ as 'u' in 'put' or 'oo' in 'foot'
- ʊə as the diphthong in 'pure'
- v as in 'very'
- w as in 'we'
- z as in 'zoo' or 's' in 'these'
- ʒ as 'si' in 'vision'
- ː lengthens a preceding vowel