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{{Information page}}
The various English dictionaries use different and sometimes conflicting [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] transcriptions for English. For example, the transcription {{IPA|/i/}} may be used for the vowel of ''sit,'' of ''seat,'' or at the end of ''city.'' A dictionary may not even be consistent between one edition and the next. This table correlates the more widely used dictionaries with the conventions of the [[Help:IPA/English|IPA key that is used on Wikipedia]].
Most dictionaries transcribe a specific dialect or accent, such as the [[Received Pronunciation]] (RP) of the [[Oxford English Dictionary]], or a narrow range of dialects. Wikipedia's IPA key, on the other hand, is intended to cover RP, [[General American]], Australian, and other national standards. As such, Wikipedia transcribes {{IPA|/r/}} where it is found in rhotic dialects, but also the vowel distinctions found in non-rhotic dialects, without distinct UK and US transcriptions. Specific dialects may also be transcribed—local pronunciations of place names are often useful, for example—but they are normally written in addition to a more universal pronunciation.
When entering IPA in an article, please use the {{tl|IPA}} template so that it is formatted properly on all web browsers. /Slashes/ and [brackets] should be included inside the IPA template, so that they display in the same font as the IPA itself. Also, please use proper stress {{IPA|ˈ}} and length {{IPA|ː}} marks (available at the bottom of your edit window) rather than the non-IPA shortcuts of apostrophe ' and colon :. Depending on the reader's font preferences, the latter can be ambiguous.
For a list of those languages other than English which have agreed-upon transcriptions in Wikipedia, see {{tl|IPA keys}}. For a comparison of the non-IPA transcriptions found in many US dictionaries, see [[Pronunciation respelling for English]].
==Alternative pronunciations==
When dictionaries give alternative pronunciations, they may mean that people disagree. For example, some people pronounce ''bath'' {{IPA|/bæθ/}}, with the vowel of ''bat,'' while others with the same accent pronounce it {{IPA|/bɑːθ/}}, with the vowel of ''bra.'' This is the kind of difference celebrated in "[[Let's Call the Whole Thing Off|You like to-may-toes; I like to-mah-toes]]". On Wikipedia, we would normally need to transcribe both, unless only one is considered correct, as may be the case for personal and place names.
However, often variant transcriptions reflect distinctions between accents, and these we do not need to transcribe, since our IPA key already covers such distinctions. For example, Merriam-Webster transcribes ''merry'' as "{{IPA|/ˈmɛri/}}" and ''marry'' as "{{IPA|/ˈmɛri, ˈmæri/}}". The two transcriptions of ''marry'' are meant to show that some people pronounce it the same as ''merry;'' it does ''not'' mean that there are two pronunciations of ''marry'' among those who either do or do not make this distinction (see [[Mary–marry–merry merger|''Mary–marry–merry'' merger]]). It would not be possible to have the song lyric "You say ''marry'' and I say ''merry''", because only those people who say those words differently would be able to sing it. Therefore on Wikipedia we would only have one transcription for each: ''merry'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛr|i}}, ''marry'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ær|i}}. Since the IPA key defines the orthographic conventions of {{IPAc-en|ɛr}} and {{IPAc-en|ær}} according to basic English words, readers who do not make the ''marry–merry'' distinction will see {{IPAc-en|ɛr}} and {{IPAc-en|ær}} as being equivalent, much as the spelling pronunciations ''YOU-clid'' and ''EWE-clid'' for "Euclid" would be seen as equivalent.
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Stress need not be included in the notation of a monosyllabic word since it is self-evident. In phrases, however, it is advised to include stress even of a monosyllabic word because a lack of stress may indicate a different pronunciation than intended. For example, in the name [[Zack de la Rocha]], ''Zack'' and ''Rocha'' have stress, but ''de la'' does not: {{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|æ|k|_|d|ɛ|l|ə|_|ˈ|r|oʊ|tʃ|ə}}. It would therefore convey an incorrect pronunciation to leave the stress mark off ''Zack.''
OED2 does not indicate stress on monosyllables, but uses the stress mark to disambiguate disyllables: ''higher'' ({{IPA|ˈhaɪə(r)}}) vs. ''hire'' ({{IPA|haɪə(r)}}). On WP, the distinction is made with the aid of the syllabification mark: {{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|aɪ|.|ər}}, {{IPAc-en|h|aɪər}}.
OED2 is followed here. However, several dictionaries also mark full (unreduced) vowels as having secondary stress when they come after the primary stress, even though they are not actually stressed: ''cerebrate,'' dict.com {{IPA|/ˈsɛrəˌbreɪt/}}, OED2 {{IPA|(ˈsɛrɪbreɪt)}}. This practice is avoided on Wikipedia; if you have a word transcribed {{IPA|/ˈCVˌCV/}}, it should probably be {{IPA|/ˈCVCV/}}: {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɛr|ɪ|b|r|eɪ|t}}.▼
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==References==
* {{Cite book
| last = Jones
| first = Daniel
| author-link = Daniel Jones (phonetician)
| title = An English Pronouncing Dictionary
| place = London, Toronto
| publisher = J. M. Dent & Sons
| orig-year = 1917
| edition = Revised
| year = 1930 }}
* {{Cite book
| last = Jones
| first = Daniel
| author-link = Daniel Jones (phonetician)
| title = English Pronouncing Dictionary
| editors = Peter Roach, James Hartmann and Jane Setter
| place = Cambridge
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| orig-year = 1917
| year = 2003 }}
*{{Cite book
| last = Kenyon
| first = John Samuel
| author-link = John Samuel Kenyon
| last2 = Knott
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| author-link = John C. Wells
| title = Longman Pronunciation Dictionary
| publisher = Longman
horizontal}}▼
| orig-year = 1990
| year = 2003 }}
*{{Cite book
| last = Windsor Lewis
| first = J.
| title = A Concise Pronouncing Dictionary of British and American English
| place = London
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| year = 1972 }}
[[Category:International Phonetic Alphabet help|English conventions]]
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