Phonetic Alphabet For English Language Learners
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2W r i t i n g & L a n g u a g e D e v e l o p m e n t C e n t e r
P h o n e t i c A l p h a b e t
f o r E n g l i s h L a n g u a g e L e a r n e r s
P
A—The Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic symbols developed by linguists to represent
each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. This includes
both vowel and consonant sounds. The IPA is used to signal the pronunciation of words. Each symbol is treated
separately, with examples (like those used in the dictionary) so you can pronounce the word in American
.
English
Single consonant sounds
Symbol
Sound
Example
p
p in “pen”
pin, play, top, pretty, poppy, possible, pepper, pour
t
t in “taxi”
tell, time, toy, tempted, tent, tender, bent, taste, to
ɾ or ţ
t in “bottle”
butter, writer, rider, pretty, matter, city, pity
ʔ or t¬
t in “button”
,
cotton, curtain
kitten, Clinton, continent, forgotten
k
c in “corn”
c in “car”, k in “kill”, q in “queen”, copy, kin, quilt
s
s in “sandal”
c in “cell” or s in “sell”, city, sinful, receive, fussy, so
f
f in “fan”
f in “face” or ph in “phone” gh laugh, fit, photo, graph
m
m in “mouse”
miss, camera, home, woman, dam, mb in “bomb”
b
b in “boot”
bother, boss, baby, maybe, club, verb, born, snobby
d
d in “duck”
dude, duck, daytime, bald, blade, dinner, sudden, do
g
g in “goat”
go, guts, giggle, girlfriend, gift, guy, goat, globe, go
z
z in “zebra”
zap, zipper, zoom, zealous, jazz, zucchini, zero
v
v in “van”
very, vaccine, valid, veteran, achieve, civil, vivid
n
n in “nurse”
never, nose, nice, sudden, tent, knife, knight, nickel
l
l in “lake”
liquid, laugh, linger, little, belly, bell, soul, language
y or j
y in “yacht”
yield, yucky, yesterday, yum, yell, yellow, yawn, yo
h
h in “house”
happy, house, horse, holiday, heaven, hold, hello, hi
r
r in “rabbit”
, riddle, right, wr in “write” wr in
“wrong”
,
river
forever
ɔ
w in “wolf”
wonder, winter, wh in “which”, witch, wh in “where”
Double consonant sounds and symbols
Symbol
Sound
Example
ʃ
sh in “ship”
s in “sugar”, ch in “machine, shock, mustache, wish
tʃ
ch in “chip”
chicken, church, children, chick, cheese, chose, chair
θ
th in “throw”
think, throw, threw, through, thank, theory
ð
th in “there”
this, the, them, they, thee, rhythm, breathe, father
ʒ
s in “treasure”
Asian, measure, casual, leisure, pleasure
dʒ
j in “jacket”
jest, jacket, juice, rejoice, g in “gym”, j in “Jim”, joy
ŋ
ng in “singer”
wing, ring, wrong, strong, bang, anger, jungle, finger
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