Speech 1342 – Sounds of English
These are the sounds of American Standard English as represented by the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). These symbols are meant to represent
the spoken sounds of the language and not the alphabetic representations. In
fact, the spoken sounds of American English can represented by multiple
alphabetic spellings and often sounds will share spellings when represented
in the written form. For example the word lead has two pronunciations and
depending on the context is either pronounced with the [i] or the [ε] sound.
Vowel sounds are categorized by the place of articulation in the mouth and
throat where one produces them.
Vowels
Front - [i], [ɪ], [e], [ε], [æ]
[ɚ] Diphthongs - [ɪɚ], [ɛɚ], [ʊɚ], [ɔɚ]
Back - [u], [ʊ], [o], [ɔ], [ɑ]
Mid - [ʌ], [ə], [ɝ], [ɚ]
Diphthongs - [ɔɪ], [ɑʊ], [ɑɪ]
Consonant sounds are categorized by the place of articulation, parts of the
mouth used and forcefulness of production of sound.
Consonants
Plosives - [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g]
Fricatives - [f], [v], [θ], [ð], [s], [z], [ ʃ ], [ʒ], [h]
Nasals - [m], [n], [ŋ]
Glides - [ʍ, w], [r], [j]
Laterals and Affricates - [l], [tʃ], [dʒ ]
Vowels
Front
[i] – A long vowel sound often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘e’ it is
found in words like see [si] and heat [hit].
It can appear in the beginning, middle and end of words.
It is produced as a high, tense front vowel sound.
[ɪ] – A short vowel sound often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘i’ it is
found in words like sit [s ɪ t] and itch[ɪ tʃ].
It can appear in the beginning, middle and end of words. At the end of words
it is often represented by the alphabetic letter ‘y’ as in honey [hʌnɪ].
It is produced as high, relaxed front vowel sound.
[e] – A long vowel sounds often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘a’ it is
found in words like fate [fet] and rain [ren].
It can appear in the beginning, middle and end of words.
It is produced as mid-front, tense vowel sound.
[ε] – A short vowel sound often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘e’ it is
found in words like met [mεt] and end [εnd].
It can appear in the beginning and middle of words but only at the end when
combined with the [ɚ] sound as in stair [stεɚ].
It is mid-front, relaxed vowel sound.
[æ] – A short vowel sound often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘a’ it is
found in words like bat [bæt] and glad [glæd].
It can appear in the beginning and middle of words but never at the end.
It is low-front, slightly tense sound.
Back
[u] – A long vowel sound often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘u’ it is
found in words like flew [flu] and shoe [ʃu].
It mostly appears in the middle and at the end of words. It very rarely appears
at the beginning of words unless it pre-ceded by the consonant sound [j] such
as in the word use [juz] or you [ju].
It is a high - back, tense vowel sound.
[ʊ] – A short vowel sound often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘o’ it
found in words like wood [wʊd] and could [kʊd].
It only occurs in the middle of words.
It is high-back, relaxed vowel sound.
[o] – A long vowel sound often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘o’ it is
found in words like road [rod] and post [post].
It can appear in the beginning, middle and end of words.
It is a mid-back, tense vowel sound.
[ɔ] – A long vowel sound, one must round the lips to produce it properly. It is
often associated as a variation of the short alphabetic ‘a’ sound and is found in
words like ball [bɔl] and autumn [ɔtəm].
It appears in the beginning, middle and end of words.
It is a mid-back, relaxed vowel sound.
[ɑ] – A long vowel sound also associated with the short alphabetic ‘a’ it
produced by widening the mouth. It is found in words like stop [stɑp] and
calm [cɑm].
It appears in the beginning and middle of words. There are no words that end
in this sound.
It is also mid-back, relaxed vowel sound.
Mid
[ʌ] – A short vowel sound often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘u’ it is
found in words like under [ʌndɚ]and luck [ lʌk]. While one of the least
complicated to produce, it is often substituted for the [ɑ] sound since it is not
native to many languages. So many non-native English speakers will
pronounce words like luck as lock.
It appears in the beginning and middle of words. There are no words that end
in this sound.
It is low-mid, stressed vowel sound.
[ə] A short, unstressed vowel sound. It is produced like the sound [ʌ] but can
represent any unstressed vowel sound in a word such as apart [əpɑrt] and
parade [pəred].
It can appear in all positions of word and can even be occur multiple times in
the same word.
It is low, mid-central, unstressed vowel sound.
[ɝ] A long, stressed, vowel sound that is a unique sound in English created
from the combination of the [ɛ] and the [r] sounds and is found words like early
[ɝlɪ] and world [wɝld].
It can appear in the stressed syllables of words at beginning and middle of
multiple syllable words but never at the end and only appears as an ending
sound in single syllable, stressed words.
It is a mid-central, stressed sound.
[ɚ] A long, unstressed sound that is a combination of any unstressed vowel [ə]
and the [r] sound in English. Production is the same as the [ɝ] sound only
difference is stress. It is found in words such as other [ʌðɚ] and perhaps
[pɚhæps].
It appears in the middle and end of words when the syllable is unstressed and
never in the beginning.
It is a mid-central, unstressed sound.
Diphthongs
[ɔɪ] A [ɔ] diphthong that begins as a low-back vowel that becomes a high-back
sound. It is a combination of the [ɔ] and the [ɪ] sounds. It appears in words
such as boil [bɔɪl] and enjoy [ɛnd͡ ʒɔɪ].
It appears mostly in the middle and end of words with some beginning words.
[ɑʊ] A [ɑ] diphthong that begins as a low-back vowel that becomes a highback sound. It is a combination of the [ɑ] sound and the [ʊ] sounds. It
appears in words such as round [rɑʊnd] and towel [tɑʊl].
It appears in the beginning and middle of words. There are no words that end
with this sound.
[ɑɪ] A [ɑ] diphthong that begins as a low-back vowel and then glides into a
high-front vowel sound. It is a combination of the [ɑ] and the [ɪ] sounds. It is
often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘i’ and it appears in words such as
light [lɑɪt]and sky [skɑɪ].
It can found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[ɚ] Diphthongs
[ɪɚ] A combination of the [ɪ] and [ɚ] sounds and appears is words such as fear
[fɪɚ] and near [nɪɚ].
[ɛɚ] A combination of the [ɛ] and the [ɚ] sounds and appears in words such as
stair [stɛɚ] and chair [t͡ʃɛɚ].
[ʊɚ] A combination of the [ʊ] and the [ɚ] sounds and appears in words such
as sure [ʃʊɚ] and tour [tʊɚ].
[ɔɚ] A combination of the [ɔ] and the [ɚ] sounds and appears in words such as
door [dɔɚ] and four [fɔɚ].
Consonants
Plosives
[p] A voiceless, bilabial plosive. It is produced by stopping the airstream with
your lips and then suddenly releasing the air. It is often associated with the
alphabetic letter ‘p’ and appears in words such as rope [rop] and staple [stepl].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[b] A voiced, bilabial plosive. It is produced the same as the [p] only with
more forcefulness. It is often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘b’ and is
found in words such as bat [bæt] and cab[kæb].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[t] A voiceless, lingua-alveolar plosive. It is produced by blocking the
airstream with the tongue and upper gum ridge the suddenly releasing it. It is
often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘t’ and can be found in words such
as took [tʊk] and better [bɛtɚ].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[d] A voiced, lingua-alveolar plosive. It is produced the same as [t] but with
more forcefulness. It is often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘d’ and is
found words such as damp [dæmp] and muddy [mʌdɪ].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[k] A voiceless, lingua-velar plosive. It is produced by blocking breath stream
with the back of the tongue and soft palate and the releasing the air. It is often
associated with the alphabetic ‘k’ and many times ‘c’ and can be found in
words such cash [kæʃ] and lock [lɔk].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[g]A voiced, lingua-velar plosive. It is produced the same as [k] but with more
vibration of the vocal chords. It is often associated with the alphabetic letter
‘g’ and can be found in words such as grass [græs] and bag [bæg].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
The letter ‘x’ using [k] and [g] sounds.
Often the letter ‘x’ is mispronounced when combined with [k] and [g]. The
combinations of [ks] and [gz] are what create two of the different ‘x’ sounds.
Rules: When x is follow by a vowel in a stressed syllable, it’s almost always
pronounced [gz] such as in exam [ɛgzæm] .
When x is followed by a pronounced consonant or an unstressed vowel, it’s
pronounced [ks] such as exceed[ɛkssid] or oxen [ɔksɪn] .
Fricatives
[f] A voiceless labio-dental fricative. It is produced by forcing breath between
your upper teeth and lower lip. It is often associated with the alphabetic letter
‘f’ and can be found words such as fight [fɑɪt] and cough [kɔf].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[v] A voiced labio-dental fricative. It is produced the same as [f] but with
more forcefulness and is often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘v.’ It can
be found in words such as every [ɛvri] and visor [vɑɪzɚ].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[θ] A voiceless, lingua-dental fricative. It is produced by squeezing breath
between your tongue and teeth. It is mainly associated with the alphabetic
spelling ‘th’ and can be found in words such as thick [θɪk] and both [boθ].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[ð] A voiced, lingua-dental fricative. It is produced the same as [θ] but with
more air pushed through the teeth. It is also associated with the alphabetic
spelling ‘th’ and only sound for the spelling ‘the.’ It is found in words such as
bathe [beð]and other[ʌðɚ].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
The use of ‘the’
The word the is one the most frequently used in the English language. Yet
many are confused on how to pronounce it. Here are some rules to help:
It is [ðə] when followed by a consonant.
It is [ði] when followed by a vowel.
So it’s [ðə] in the beginning and [ði] at the end.
[s] A voiceless, lingua-alveolar fricative. It is produced by forcing air between
your tongue and your teeth in a slight hissing fashion. It most often associated
with the alphabetic letters ‘s’ and ‘c’ and is found in words such as grass[græs]
and spice[spɑɪs].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[z] A voiced, lingua-alveolar fricative. It produced the same as [s] but with
more vibration of the tongue against the teeth. It is most often associated
with the alphabetic letter ‘z’ and can be found in words such as zone [zon]and
choose [t͡ʃuz].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[ ʃ ] A voiceless, lingua-palatal fricative. It is produced very much like [s] but
with the tongue towards the back again the middle of the upper palate. It is
most often associated with the alphabetic spelling ‘sh’ and can be found in
word such as shove [ʃʌv] and wish [wɪʃ].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[ʒ] A voiced, lingua-palatal fricative. It is produced very much like the [ ʃ ] but
with more force and vibration of the tongue against the upper palate. It is
often associated with the alphabetic spelling ‘ge’ and the end spelling ‘sion.’ It
can be found in words such as garage [gərɔʒ]and occasion [əkeʒn].
It can found in the middle and end of words but never in the beginning.
[h] A voiceless, glottal fricative. It is produced by a simple stream of air from
the larynx directed through the open mouth. It mainly represented by the
alphabetic letter ‘h’ and occasionally by the alphabetic spelling ‘wh.’ It can be
found in words such as house [hɑʊs] and whole [hol].
It appears in the beginning and middle of words. There are no words in
English that end with this sound. It is often alphabetically combined with
other consonants to create some of the other sounds in English such as [ʃ, t͡ʃ, θ,
ð] and represented by spellings such as ‘sh,’ ‘ch,’ or ‘th.’ It will also be silent
in other sounds such as [o, ɑɪ, e, f] and represented by spellings such as ‘ph,’
‘gh,’ ‘igh,’ ‘eigh,’ or ‘ough’.
Nasals
[m] A voiced, bilabial nasal. It is produced by the closing and opening of the
lips with pushing air through your nose. It is often associated with the
alphabetic letter ‘m’ and can be found in words such as metal [mɛtl] and term
[tɝm].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[n] A voiced, lingua-alveolar nasal. It is produced by blocking the air stream at
the gum ridge with your tongue and emitting it nasally. It is often associated
with the alphabetic letter ‘n’ and be found in words such as nail [nel] and
penny [pɛnɪ] .
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[ŋ] A voiced, lingua-velar nasal. It is produced by blocking the air stream with
the tongue and soft palate with a closed mouth and allowing the sound to emit
from the nostrils. It is associated with the alphabetic spelling ‘ng’ and can be
found in words such as king [kɪŋ]and think [θɪŋk].
Production Rules:
Use [ŋ] when the word end in ng. Example: sing [sɪŋ]
Use [ŋ] when the ng or another suffix is added to a root word. Example:
singing [sɪŋɪŋ]
Use [ŋ] + [g] when the ng is in the middle of the original word. Example: finger
[fɪŋgɚ]
Exceptions: Use [ŋ] + [g] in the superlative and comparative forms of certain
words such as: long, longer, longest [lɔŋg, lɔŋgɚ, lɔŋgɛst]
Note: nge is not pronounced [ŋ] but [ndʒ] as in lunge [lʌnd͡ ʒ].
It can be found in the middle and end of words but never in the beginning.
Glides
[w] A voiced, bilabial glide. It is produced emitting air from the larynx
through open, rounded lips. It is mainly represented by the alphabetic letter
‘w’ and can be found in words such as weather [wɛðə] and wide [wɑɪd].
It can appear in the beginning and middle of words but never at the end. It is
silent in all alphabetic spellings found at the end of words representing the [o,
u] sounds such as ‘ow’ and ‘ew,’ the alphabetic spelling ‘wr’ to represent the
[r] sound in the beginning of words and in the alphabetic spelling ‘aw’
representing the [ɔ] vowel sound.
[ʍ] A voiced, bilabial glide. It produced the same of the [w] but rather than
smooth emitting of air from the larynx there is a slight addition of the same
production for the [h] sound towards the completion of the production. It
associated with the alphabetic spellings ‘wh,’ ‘tw’ and ‘qu.’ It can be found in
words such as where [ʍɝ] and twist [tʍɪst].
It can be found in the beginning and middle of words and never at the end.
[r] A voiced, lingua-alveolar sound. It is produced in two ways. When in the
beginning of words it produced more like fricative by curling the tip of the
tongue on the bottom gum ridge and opening the mouth with producing
vibrating air stream from the larynx. The second way is usually when it is
following a vowel sound and then it more like glide. The tongue remains
curled on the bottom gum ridge but the mouth is wide open as the air stream
is vibrated from the larynx.
It is mainly represented by the alphabetic letter ‘r’ and it is found in words
such as rule [rʊəl] and star [stɑr].
The [r] sound is also part of the [ɚ, ɝ] vowel sounds and are mainly
represented by the alphabetic spellings ‘er,’ ‘ir,’ ‘or’ and ‘our’ which are
combinations of the [r] sound with the vowel sounds [ə, ɛ]. It is also found
in the vowel combinations with the [ɚ] sound (see all [ɚ] diphthongs listed
in the vowels section).
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[j] A voiced, lingua-palatal glide. It is produced by raising the tongue toward
the palate and gliding it towards the upper gum ridge while emitting air from
the base of the throat and through the open mouth. It is mostly associated
with the alphabetic letter ‘y’ and can be found in words such as yellow [jɛlo]
and yesterday [jɛstɚde].
It can found in the beginning and middle of words but never at the end.
If the alphabetic letter ‘y’ appears at the end of a word it is not pronounced
with the [j] sound but rather is part of a vowel sound, mainly [e], [i], or [ɑɪ].
Pronunciation and Omission with [j]
Even native American Standard English speakers confuse when to use [j]
when represented by any letter other than y. The general rule is that [j] is
used after consonant sounds such as [k, b, f, v, h, p] and before a [u]:
For example:
cu as in cupid [kjupɪd]
eau as in beauty [bjuti]
ew as in few [fju]
ie as in view [vju]
pu as in computer [kʌmpjutɚ]
Laterals and Affricates
[l] A voiced, lingua-alveolar lateral. It is the only lateral sound in English. It is
produced by dropping the tongue from the top gum ridge to the bottom in a
direct movement while air streams through from the larynx. It is mainly
represented by the alphabetic letter ‘l’ and can be found in word such as late
[let] and cool [kul].
It can appear in the beginning, middle and end of words.
Clear and Dark [l] production
The [l] sound has two pronunciations: ‘clear’ and ‘dark.’
Production: The ‘Clear’ [l] production of the sound occurs when you place the
tip of your tongue against your upper gun ridge. Open your mouth wide
enough to slip the tip of your finger between your teeth. Keep the sides of the
tongue down. Produce voice. Don’t let any air through your nose.
The ‘Dark’ production of the [l] sound occurs when the back of the tongue is
raised and creates a slightly muffled sound. You should feel both the tip of
your tongue on your gum ridge but a slight raising of the back of your tongue
at the end.
Here are the rules:
Clear – This occurs when the [l] spelling is at the beginning of a word or
immediately after a beginning consonant. Example: let [lɛt]
Dark - This is done when the [l] spelling is at the end of a word. Example: ball
[bɔl]
[tʃ] A voiceless, lingua-alveolo palatal affricate. It is produced placing the
tongue on the upper gum ridge and while opening your mouth to push air
through you move the tongue to the bottom gum ridge. It is often associated
with the alphabetic spelling ‘ch’ and is found in words such as chair [t͡ʃɛɚ] and
picture [pɪkt͡ʃʊɚ].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
[dʒ ] A voiced, lingua-alveolo palatal affricate. It is produced the same as the
[tʃ] sound but with the tongue remaining on the bottom gum ridge and air
vibrated from the larynx. It is often associated with the alphabetic letter ‘j’
and can be found in words such as jump [d͡ ʒʌmp] and page [ped͡ ʒ].
It can be found in the beginning, middle and end of words.
Consonant Articulation Chart – Speaking Clearly 6th
Edition