World Wide Words: Pronunciation Guide

This list contains the main sounds of standard British English (the one that’s associated with southern England, also often called Received Pronunciation).

See the bottom of the page for some important notes.

CONSONANTS

The following letters have their usual values in English:

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, z.

IPA	Text	Examples	IPA	Text	Examples
ɡ	g	get, go, guard	tʃ	tS	chip, chin, nature
dʒ	dZ	judge, soldier	x	x	Scots loch
ŋ	N	sing, ring, finger	θ	T	thin, thick, strength
ð	D	then, bathe, lather	ʃ	S	she, sugar, machine
ʒ	Z	pleasure, vision	j	j	yet, use, beauty

SHORT VOWELS

IPA	Text	Examples	IPA	Text	Examples
æ	a	cat, bad, trap	ɛ	e	bed, net, dress
ə	@	about, comma	ɪ	I	kit, bid, hymn
i	i	happy, glorious	ɒ	Q	hot, odd, wash
ʌ	V	dug, run, strut	ʊ	U	book, put, foot

LONG VOWELS

IPA	Text	Examples	IPA	Text	Examples
ɑː	A:	cart, arm, father	iː	i:	meet, see, fleece
ɜː	3:	her, nurse, learn	uː	u:	boot, too, group
ɔː	O:	port, saw, thaw

DIPHTHONGS/TRIPHTHONGS

IPA	Text	Examples	IPA	Text	Examples
aɪ	aI	bite, my, price	aʊ	aU	brow, how, mouth
eɪ	eI	fate, day, break	əʊ	@U	goat, show, no
ɪə	I@	pier, near, weary	ɔɪ	OI	boil, choice, boy
ʊə	U@	tour, cure, jury	eə	e@	hair, dare, various
aʊə	aU@	sour, cower, flour	aɪə	aI@	fire, buyer, liar

OTHER SYMBOLS

IPA	Text	Purpose
ˈ	’	Precedes the syllable which has the primary stress
ˌ	,	Precedes a syllable which has a secondary stress
( )	( )	Surround an optional sound
ʔ	?	Glottal stop

SOME FRENCH VOWEL SOUNDS

IPA	Text	Examples	IPA	Text	Examples
ø	2	jeu	ɔ	O	bottes, bol
œ	9	oeuf, soeur	y	y	sucre, tu
ɑ̃	a~	banque, sans	ɛ̃	e~	cinq, saint
ɔ̃	o~	bonbons, son	œ̃	9~	un, lundi, brun

NOTES AND LINKS

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols appear on our Web pages; the text equivalents are for our weekly e-mail newsletters. With minor changes, the IPA scheme is that of the Oxford English Dictionary, Collins Dictionaries and the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, while the text symbols are those of the European SAMPA scheme, with minor changes to aid comprehension by non-linguists.

To view IPA you must have a font on your computer that includes the IPA extensions, such as Lucida Sans Unicode, Doulos SIL or Arial Unicode MS. If the symbols are visible in the IPA column above, then you already have such a font installed. The site preference is for Lucida Sans Unicode, a font which is widely installed on Windows systems. See your system help files for how to install fonts.

Some links that may be useful:

For more on the SAMPA system, see Professor John Wells’ page.
Not all publishers use exactly the same IPA scheme; Professor Wells has an article that gives a brief history of the evolution of IPA and which comments on the distinctive system that has been adopted by Oxford Dictionaries.

World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996–2010. All rights reserved. See the copyright page for notes about linking to and reusing this page. For help in viewing the site, see the technical FAQ. Your comments, corrections and suggestions are always welcome. Last updated 22 May 2010.