Help:IPA

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Across the Industria Pacificum wiki the pronunciation of words is indicated by means of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The following tables list the IPA symbols used for English words and pronunciations (The symbols used for the words and pronunciations of other Languages can be found on their respective articles). Please note that several of these symbols are used in ways that are specific to Wikipedia (and ultimately the Industria Pacificum wiki) and differ from those used by dictionaries.

If the words illustrating two symbols sound the same to you (say, if you pronounce cot and caught the same, or do and dew, or marry and merry), you can ignore the difference between those symbols.

This article has been adapted from Wikipedia's Help:IPA for English. It is advised you read that article for further detail regarding pronunciations and the handling of English dialects with the English examples given, in addition to other information.

Consonants
IPA Examples
b buy, cab
d dye, cad, do
ð thy, breathe, father
giant, badge, jam
f fan, caff, phi
ɡ guy, bag
h high, ahead
hw why
j[1] yes, hallelujah
k sky, crack
l lie, sly, gal
m my, smile, cam
n nigh, snide, can
ŋ sang, sink, singer
θ thigh, math
p pie, spy, cap
r[2] rye, try, very
s sigh, mass
ʃ shy, cash, emotion
t tie, sty, cat, atom
china, catch
v vie, have
w wye, swine
z zoo, has
ʒ equation, pleasure, vision, beige[3]
Marginal consonants
x ugh, loch, Chanukah[4]
ʔ uh-oh /ˈʔʌʔoʊ/
 
Optional sounds
IPA Examples
ʃⁱ nasturtium (/i/ is frequently dropped)
Vowels
IPA Full vowels IPA ... followed by R
ɑː palm, father, bra ɑr start, bard, barn, snarl, star
ɒ lot, pod, John ɒr moral, forage
æ trap, pad, ban ær barrow, marry
price, ride, file, fine, pie aɪər Ireland, hire
aɪ.ər higher, buyer
mouth, loud, foul, down, how aʊər flour
aʊ.ər flower
ɛ dress, bet, fell, men ɛr error, merry
face, made, fail, vein, pay ɛər square, mare, scarce, cairn, Mary
eɪ.ər layer (one who lays)
ɪ kit, lid, fill, bin ɪr mirror, Sirius
fleece, seed, feel, mean, sea ɪər near, beard, fierce, serious
iː.ər freer
ɔː thought, Maud, dawn, fall, straw ɔr north, born, war, Laura
ɔː.ər sawer
ɔɪ choice, void, foil, coin, boy ɔɪər loir
ɔɪ.ər employer
goat, code, foal, bone, go ɔər force, more, boar, oral
oʊ.ər mower
ʊ foot, good, full, woman ʊr courier
goose, food, fool, soon, chew, do ʊər boor, moor, tourist
uː.ər truer
juː cute, mule, puny, beauty, huge, you, tune jʊər cure
juː.ər fewer
ʌ strut, bud, dull, gun ɜr nurse, word, girl, fern, furry
ʌr hurry, nourish
Variable vowels
bath, dance, laugh ɒː cloth, office, wrong
i happy, serious u bedroom, roof, situation
Reduced vowels
ə Rosa’s, a mission, quiet, focus ər letter, perceive
ɨ roses, emission ʉ beautiful, curriculum
ɵ omission əl bottle
ən button əm rhythm
 
Stress Syllabification
IPA Examples IPA Examples
ˈ intonation /ˌɪntɵˈneɪʃən/ . moai /ˈmoʊ.aɪ/
Windhoek /ˈvɪnt.hʊk/
Vancouveria /væn.kuːˈvɪəriə/
Mikey /ˈmaɪki/, Myki /ˈmaɪ.kiː/[5]
ˌ
  1. Usage of "j" to represent the "y" sound may at first appear counter-intuitive to English Speakers, but some words do use what is known as a soft j, e.g. in the word "hallelujah". Additionally, other languages use the letter to represent different sounds, such as German (which use the j in the same way the IPA uses it), or for Spanish, where the letter j represents a voiceless velar fricative /x/
  2. In most varieties of English, /r/ is pronounced as an approximant [ɹ]. Although the IPA symbol [r] represents an alveolar trill, /r/ is widely used instead of /ɹ/ in broad transcriptions of English.
  3. A number of English words, such as genre and garage, are pronounced with either /ʒ/ or /dʒ/.
  4. In most dialects, /x/ is replaced by /k/ in most words, including loch. Where the sound begins a word, such as Chanukah, it is sometimes replaced with /h/. In ugh, it is often replaced by /ɡ/
  5. Syllables are indicated sparingly, where necessary to avoid confusion, for example to break up sequences of vowels (moai) or consonant clusters which an English speaker might misread as a digraph (Vancouveria, Windhoek).
    Several dictionaries, such as the OED, do not indicate stress for words of one syllable. Thus hire /ˈhaɪər/ is transcribed haɪə(r), without a stress mark, contrasting with higher /ˈhaɪ.ər/, which is transcribed ˈhaɪə(r), without a syllable mark.