Help:IPA/English: Difference between revisions

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{{IPA key|H:IPA-EN|H:IPAE|H:IPAEN}}

ThroughoutOn Wikipedia, the pronunciation of words is indicatedshown using the '''[[International Phonetic Alphabet]]''' ('''IPA'''). The following tables listbelow provide a key to the IPA symbols used for English words and pronunciations. Please note that severalsome of these symbols are used in ways that are specific to Wikipedia, and may differ from thosetheir usedusage byin dictionaries.

If the IPA symbols aredo not displayeddisplay properlycorrectly byin your browser, see the [[Help:IPA/English#See also|troubleshooting links below]].

Editors should use [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation#IPA templates on Wikipedia|IPA templates]] such as {{tl|IPAc-en}} when adding IPA to Wikipedia articles, see [[MOS:PRON#Entering IPA characters|Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters]] for guidance. These templates ensure accessibility and tooltip functionality, see [[Template:IPAc-en|the documentation page]] for usage instructions.

If you are adding a pronunciation using this key, such pronunciations should generally be formatted using the template {{t|IPAc-en}}. The template provides tooltips for each symbol in the pronunciation. See the template page for instructions.

{{Horizontal TOC|nonum=y}}

==Key==

If thereyou isare looking for an IPA symbol youthat aredoes lookingnot forappear thatin youthe dopronunciation not seekey herebelow, see [[Help:IPA]], which isprovides a more completecomprehensive list. For a table listingshowing all spellings ofhow the sounds on this page correspond to English spellings, see {{section link|English orthography|Sound-to-spelling correspondences}}. For helpassistance in converting spellingspellings to pronunciationpronunciations, seerefer to {{section link|English orthography|Spelling-to-sound correspondences}}.

TheIn some cases, words given as examples for two different symbols may sound the same to you. For exampleinstance, you maymight pronounce [[Cot–caught merger|''cot'' and ''caught'' the same]], [[Do-dew merger|''do'' and ''dew'']], or [[Marry merry mary|''marry'' and ''merry'']] the same. This oftentypically happensresults because offrom dialect variation (see our articles [[English phonology]] and [[International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects]]). If this is the caseso, you will likely pronounce those symbols the same forin other words as well.{{refn|name=localterms|This rule is generally employed in the pronunciation guide of our articles, even for local terms such as place names. However, be aware that not all editors may have followed this consistently, so for example if a pronunciation of an English town ending in ‑ford reads /‑fəd/, it doesn't mean that the /r/ would be absent in a rhotic dialect.}} Whether this isapplies true forto all words, or just when the sounds occuronly in thecertain same context,contexts depends on the specific [[sound merger]].<ref>For example, if you have the ''marry–merry'' merger, you probably only merge {{IPA|/æ/}} and {{IPA|/ɛ/}} before {{IPA|/r/}}. You would still distinguish ''man'' and ''men''.</ref> The footnotes explainprovide somefurther explanation of these cases.

{| style="background:none"

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|-

| {{big|{{IPA|dʒ}}}}

| style="text-align: left" | '''gj'''iantive, ba'''dg'''e

|-

| {{big|{{IPA|ð}}}}

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| style="text-align: left" | {{Not a typo|'''p'''ie, s'''p'''y, ca'''p'''}}

|-

| {{big|{{IPA|r}}}}{{refn|In most varieties of English, {{IPA|/r/}} is pronounced as an [[Voiced alveolar and postalveolar approximants|Voiced postalveolar approximant]] {{IPAblinkangbr IPA|ɹɹ̠}}. Although the IPA symbol {{angbr IPA|r}} represents the [[alveolar trill]], {{angbr IPA|r}} is widely used instead of {{angbr IPA|ɹɹ̠}} in broad transcriptions of English for convenience.}}

| style="text-align: left" | '''r'''ye, t'''r'''y, ve'''r'''y

|-

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| style="text-align: left" | rabb'''i'''t, b'''i'''zarre, Lat'''i'''n{{refn|name=strong-weak}}{{refn|{{angbr IPA|ɪ}} represents a strong vowel in some contexts and a weak vowel in others. In accents with the [[weak vowel merger]] such as most Australian and American accents, weak {{IPA|/ɪ/}} is not distinguished from schwa {{IPA|/ə/}}, making ''rabbit'' and ''abbot'' rhyme and ''Lenin'' and ''Lennon'' homophonous. (Pairs like ''roses'' and ''Rosa's'' are kept distinct in American accents because of the difference in morphological structure,{{efn|{{harvp|Flemming|Johnson|2007|pp=94–5}}.}} but may be homophonous in Australian.{{efn|{{harvp|Wells|1982|p=601}}.}}) In these accents, weak {{IPA|/ɪl, ɪn, ɪm/}} merge with {{IPA|/əl, ən, əm/}}, so that the second vowel in ''Latin'' may be lost and ''cabinet'' may be disyllabic (see the previous note).}}

| {{big|{{IPA|oʊ}}}}

| style="text-align: left" | mott'''o''', retr'''o'''active, foll'''ow'''er{{refn|name=strong-weak}}{{refn|name=schwa-w|{{IPA|/oʊ/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} in unstressed, prevocalic positions are transcribed as {{IPA|/əw/}} by Merriam-Webster, but no other dictionary uniformly follows this practice.{{efn|{{cite web |last=Windsor Lewis |first=Jack |author-link=Jack Windsor Lewis |date=10 April 2009 |url=http://www.yek.me.uk/archive18.html#blog174 |title=The Elephant in the Room |work=PhonetiBlog |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250306085850/http://www.yek.me.uk/archive18.html#blog174 |archive-date=6 March 2025}}}} Hence the difference between {{IPA|/əw/}} in Merriam-Webster and {{IPA|/oʊ/}} or {{IPA|/u/}} in another source is most likely one in notation, not in pronunciation, so {{IPA|/əw/}} in such cases may be better replaced with {{IPA|/oʊ/}} or {{IPA|/u/}} accordingly, to minimize confusion: {{IPA|/ˌsɪtʃəˈweɪʃən/}} → {{IPA|/ˌsɪtʃuˈeɪʃən/}}, {{IPA|/ˈfɒləwər/}} → {{IPA|/ˈfɒloʊər/}}.}}

|-

| {{big|{{IPA|i}}}}

| style="text-align: left" | {{sc2|HAPP'''Y'''}}, med'''i'''ocre{{refn|name=i-u|{{angbr IPA|i}} represents variation between {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/ɪ/}} in unstressed prevocalic or morpheme-final positions. It is realized with a quality closer to {{IPA|/iː/}} in accents with [[Happy tensing|''happy'' tensing]], such as Australian English, General American, and modern RP, and to {{IPA|/ɪ/}} in others. {{angbr IPA|u}} likewise represents variation between {{IPA|/uː/}} and {{IPA|/ʊ/}} in unstressed prevocalic positions.}}

| {{big|{{IPA|iə}}}}

| style="text-align: left" | Californ'''ia'''{{refn|The sequence {{angbr IPA|iə}} may be pronounced as two syllables, {{IPA|[i.ə]}} or {{IPA|[ɪ.ə]}}, or as one, {{IPA|[jə]}} or {{IPA|[ɪə̯]}}. When pronounced as one syllable in a non-rhotic accent, it may be indistinguishable from, and identified as, the {{sc2|NEAR}} vowel ({{IPA|/ɪər/}}).{{efn|name=wells-smoothing}} This transcription system uses {{angbr IPA|iə}}, not {{angbr IPA|i.ə}}, {{angbr IPA|jə}}, {{angbr IPA|ɪə}}, etc., to cover all these possibilities.}}

|-

| {{big|{{IPA|u}}}}

| style="text-align: left" | fr'''u'''ition{{refn|name=schwa-w}}{{refn|name=i-u}}

| {{big|{{IPA|uə}}}}

| style="text-align: left" | infl'''ue'''nce{{refn|The sequence {{angbr IPA|uə}} may be pronounced as two syllables, {{IPA|[u.ə]}} or {{IPA|[ʊ.ə]}}, or as one, {{IPA|[wə]}} or {{IPA|[ʊə̯]}}. When pronounced as one syllable in a non-rhotic accent, it may be indistinguishable from, and identified as, the {{sc2|CURE}} vowel ({{IPA|/ʊər/}}).{{efn|name=wells-smoothing}} This transcription system uses {{angbr IPA|uə}}, not {{angbr IPA|u.ə}}, {{angbr IPA|wə}}, {{angbr IPA|ʊə}}, etc., to cover all these possibilities.}}

|-

! colspan="4" | [[Syllabic consonant]]s{{refn|name=syllabic|In a number of contexts, {{IPA|/ə/}} in {{IPA|/ər/}}, {{IPA|/əl/}}, {{IPA|/ən/}}, or {{IPA|/əm/}} is often omitted, resulting in a syllable with no vowel. Some dictionaries show {{IPA|/ə/}} in those contexts in parentheses, superscript, or italics to indicate this possibility, or simply omit {{IPA|/ə/}}. When followed by a weak vowel, the syllable may be lost altogether, with the consonant moving to the next syllable, so that ''doubling'' {{IPA|/ˈdʌb.əl.ɪŋ/}} may alternatively be pronounced as {{IPA|[ˈdʌb.lɪŋ]}}, and ''Edinburgh'' {{IPA|/ˈɛd.ɪn.bər.ə/}} as {{IPA|[ˈɛd.ɪn.brə]}}.<!-- Symbols are deliberately kept diaphonemic since their realizations vary. -->{{efn|{{harvp|Wells|2008|pp=173, 799}}.}} When not followed by a vowel, {{IPA|/ər/}} merges with {{IPA|/ə/}} in non-rhotic accents.}}

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==See also==

* If your browser does not display IPA symbols, you probably need to install a font that includes the IPA (for good, free IPA fonts, see the download links in the articles for [[Gentium]], and the more complete [[Charis SIL]]; for a monospaced font, see the complete [[Everson Mono]]).

* For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation|Entering IPA characters}}.

* [[Help:IPA/Conventions for English]]

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==External links==

* [http://www.personal.psu.edu/ejp10/blogs/gotunicode/2008/09/getting-jaws-61-to-recognize-e.html Getting JAWS 6.1 to recognize "exotic" Unicode symbols]{{dead link}} – for help on getting the [[screen reader]] [[JAWS (screen reader)|JAWS]] to read IPA symbols

* [http://ipa-reader.xyzcom/ IPA Reader] – web-based IPA synthesizer using [[Amazon Polly]]

* [https://itinerarium.github.io/phoneme-synthesis/ Phoneme Synthesis] – web-based IPA synthesizer using [[eSpeak]]