IPA Pronunciation Guide

Introduction

• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system used to represent the pronunciation of words.
• It provides a one-to-one correspondence between speech sounds and symbols, unlike standard alphabets.

IPA Symbols for American English

Consonants

• IPA symbols for consonants with examples:
  • p: pit, lip
  • b: bit, tub
  • t: tip, sit
  • d: dig, sad
  • k: cup, sky, click
  • g: guy, bag
  • m: my, jam
  • n: not, ran
  • ŋ: sing, finger, link
  • tʃ: check, etch
  • dʒ: just, giant, judge, age
  • f: fish, cuff
  • v: vowel, leave
  • θ: thigh, breath
  • ð: thy, father, breathe
  • s: sip, mass
  • z: zip, jazz
  • ʃ: shop, wish
  • ʒ: genre, pleasure, beige
  • h: house, ahead
  • w: wit, swap
  • j: yes, young
  • r: rip, water, write
  • l: lap, pull

Vowels

• IPA symbols for vowels with examples:
  • i: feet, seat, me, happy
  • ɪ: sit, gym
  • eɪ: late, break, say
  • ɛ: let, best
  • æ: cat, mad
  • ʌ: but, trust, under (stressed positions)
  • ə: comma, bazaar, the (unstressed positions)
  • u: goose, rude, cruel
  • ʊ: foot, took
  • oʊ: boat, owe, no
  • ɔ: frog, bought, launch
  • ɑ: not, father
  • aɪ: buy, aisle, isle
  • aʊ: cow, mouth
  • ɔɪ: soil, boy

Less Common Sounds

• x: loch, challah
• ʔ: uh-oh, aa

Additional Notes

• Pronunciations represent common phonemes in North American English, but dialects may vary (e.g., "cot" vs. "caught").
• Primary stress in a word is marked by a raised vertical line (ˈ) before a syllable and secondary stress by a lowered vertical line (ˌ).
• Example: "Tennessee" is transcribed as /ˌtɛnəˈsiː/.
• For readability, /r/ is used instead of ɹ to represent the "r" sound in American English.