English Phonemic Chart
Monophthongs
iː bee ɪ sit
ʊ book uː food
Diphthongs
ɪə hear eɪ day
e bed ə doctor ɜː bird ɔː law
ʊə tour ɔɪ boy əʊ go
æ cat ʌ much ɑː car ɒ dog
eə hair aɪ why aʊ cow
Consonants
voiced consonant
voiceless consonant
p pet b ball t talk d dog tʃ cheap dʒ jam k key g great
f fun v van θ think ð this s sell z zoo ʃ shell ʒ vision
m man n now ŋ sing j yes l love r run w well h help
Other useful
symbols
ʔ uh oh ɫ fall
i happy
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your English pronunciation?
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Your Handy Phonetics Glossary
Allophone
A very specific variant of a phoneme, for example [ɫ] is an
allophonic variant of /l/ as it's more specific. You also use square
brackets to transcribe allophones.
Articulation
The physical production of sounds.
Pitch
The degree of highness or lowness of a tone.
Prosody
The rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.
Segmentals
Individual sounds of speech, such as vowels and consonants.
Aspiration
A puff of air that follows the release of a consonant sound,
especially the voiceless plosives like /p/, /t/, and /k/.
Diphthong
A vowel sound that begins with one vowel sound and transitions
smoothly into another within the same syllable.
Intonation
The variation of pitch while speaking. You use it to emphasise
particular words or to express emotion, ask questions, etc.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
A standardised system of phonetic notation that represents each
sound of spoken language.
Stress
The emphasis placed on certain syllables in words.
Primary Stress and Secondary Stress
Primary stress is the main stress in a word and is marked with a ˈ
symbol, like in /ˈhæp.i/. Secondary stress is not as strong as the
primary stress. It is marked with a ˌ symbol and is usually used in
much longer words, typically with a prefix, for example
/ˌɪn.təˈnæʃ.ən.əl/.
Syllable
A unit (or ‘section’) of a word, typically comprised of a vowel, such
as ‘ed-u-ca-tion’.
Tone
The use of pitch in a language to distinguish meaning in words
and sentences.
Monophthong
A single vowel sound.
Nasal
Sounds produced by releasing air through the nose, such as /m/,
/n/, and /ŋ/.
Voice/Voicing
The vibration of your vocal folds to produce sounds. Sounds can
be voiced (vocal folds vibrating, as in /z/, /b/ and /g/) or voiceless
(vocal folds not vibrating, as in /s/, /p/ and /k/).
Phoneme
The smallest unit of sound and the most general representation
of a sound in transcription.
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English Phonemic Chart
Monophthongs
iː bee ɪ sit
ʊ book uː food
Diphthongs
ɪə hear eɪ day
e bed ə doctor ɜː bird ɔː law
ʊə tour ɔɪ boy əʊ go
æ cat ʌ much ɑː car ɒ dog
eə hair aɪ why aʊ cow
Consonants
voiced consonant
voiceless consonant
p pet b ball t talk d dog tʃ cheap dʒ jam k key g great
f fun v van θ think ð this s sell z zoo ʃ shell ʒ vision
m man n now ŋ sing j yes l love r run w well h help
Other useful
symbols
ʔ uh oh ɫ fall
i happy
Are you serious about improving
your English pronunciation?
Head to
www.pronunciationwithemma.com
for more resources!
Your Handy Phonetics Glossary
Allophone
A very specific variant of a phoneme, for example [ɫ] is an
allophonic variant of /l/ as it's more specific. You also use square
brackets to transcribe allophones.
Articulation
The physical production of sounds.
Pitch
The degree of highness or lowness of a tone.
Prosody
The rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.
Segmentals
Individual sounds of speech, such as vowels and consonants.
Aspiration
A puff of air that follows the release of a consonant sound,
especially the voiceless plosives like /p/, /t/, and /k/.
Diphthong
A vowel sound that begins with one vowel sound and transitions
smoothly into another within the same syllable.
Intonation
The variation of pitch while speaking. You use it to emphasise
particular words or to express emotion, ask questions, etc.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
A standardised system of phonetic notation that represents each
sound of spoken language.
Stress
The emphasis placed on certain syllables in words.
Primary Stress and Secondary Stress
Primary stress is the main stress in a word and is marked with a ˈ
symbol, like in /ˈhæp.i/. Secondary stress is not as strong as the
primary stress. It is marked with a ˌ symbol and is usually used in
much longer words, typically with a prefix, for example
/ˌɪn.təˈnæʃ.ən.əl/.
Syllable
A unit (or ‘section’) of a word, typically comprised of a vowel, such
as ‘ed-u-ca-tion’.
Tone
The use of pitch in a language to distinguish meaning in words
and sentences.
Monophthong
A single vowel sound.
Nasal
Sounds produced by releasing air through the nose, such as /m/,
/n/, and /ŋ/.
Voice/Voicing
The vibration of your vocal folds to produce sounds. Sounds can
be voiced (vocal folds vibrating, as in /z/, /b/ and /g/) or voiceless
(vocal folds not vibrating, as in /s/, /p/ and /k/).
Phoneme
The smallest unit of sound and the most general representation
of a sound.
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