This page is a key for International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols. It does not prescribe what should be used by editors on pages.
The phonemes of both General American (GA, "standard" accent in the US) and Received Pronunciation (RP, "standard" accent in England) are shown here for reference.
A tilde (~) indicates variance depending on speaker.
Consonants
| Example |
IPA
|
| but
|
b
|
| cat
|
k
|
| chin
|
tʃ
|
| dog
|
d
|
| fish
|
f
|
| goat
|
ɡ
|
| horse
|
h
|
| just
|
dʒ
|
| like
|
l
|
| make
|
m
|
| night
|
n
|
| thing
|
ŋ
|
| part
|
p
|
| rat
|
ɹ
|
| sing
|
s
|
| ship
|
ʃ
|
| tag
|
t
|
| thin
|
θ
|
| the
|
ð
|
| viking
|
v
|
| wait
|
w
|
| what
|
w~hw
|
| yes
|
j
|
| zebra
|
z
|
There are some differences between GA and RP in the treatment of /j/ after certain consonants in some contexts.
| Example
|
GA
|
RP
|
| dew
|
d
|
dj
|
| lute
|
l
|
lj
|
| new
|
n
|
nj
|
| suit
|
s
|
sj
|
| tune
|
t
|
tj
|
| enthused
|
θ
|
θj
|
| Zeus
|
z
|
zj
|
Vowels
All but one of the examples in the first two tables are taken from John C. Wells's lexical sets (1982).
| Example
|
GA
|
RP
|
| kit
|
ɪ
|
ɪ
|
| dress
|
ɛ
|
ɛ
|
| trap
|
æ
|
æ
|
| lot
|
ɑ
|
ɒ
|
| strut
|
ʌ
|
ʌ
|
| foot
|
ʊ
|
ʊ
|
| bath
|
æ
|
ɑː
|
| cloth
|
ɔ~ɑ
|
ɒ
|
| fleece
|
i
|
iː
|
| face
|
eɪ
|
eɪ
|
| palm
|
ɑ
|
ɑː
|
| thought
|
ɔ~ɑ
|
ɔː
|
| goat
|
oʊ
|
əʊ
|
| goose
|
u
|
uː
|
| price
|
aɪ
|
aɪ
|
| choice
|
ɔɪ
|
ɔɪ
|
| mouth
|
aʊ
|
aʊ
|
| happy
|
i
|
i
|
| comma
|
ə
|
ə
|
| horses
|
ɪ~ə
|
ɪ
|
The following table is for postvocalic R. "(ɹ)" is used to simplify this table; it indicates that the sound is present when before a vowel in RP, but absent otherwise.
| Example
|
GA
|
RP
|
| nurse
|
ɝ
|
ɜː(ɹ)
|
| near
|
ɪɹ
|
ɪə(ɹ)
|
| square
|
ɛɹ
|
ɛə(ɹ)
|
| start
|
ɑɹ
|
ɑː(ɹ)
|
| north
|
ɔɹ
|
ɔː(ɹ)
|
| force
|
| cure
|
ʊɹ
|
ʊə(ɹ)
|
| letter
|
ɚ
|
ə(ɹ)
|
The following table is for vowels that merge before intervocalic R in GA.
| Example
|
GA
|
RP
|
| furry
|
ɝ
|
ɜːɹ
|
| hurry
|
ʌɹ
|
| clearer
|
ɪɹ
|
ɪəɹ
|
| mirror
|
ɪɹ
|
| Mary
|
ɛɹ
|
ɛəɹ
|
| marry
|
æɹ
|
| merry
|
ɛɹ
|
| starry
|
ɑɹ
|
ɑːɹ
|
| borrow
|
ɒɹ
|
| horrid
|
ɔɹ
|
| boring
|
ɔːɹ
|
Other characters
| Character
|
Explanation
|
| ˈ |
Before a syllable, this indicates primary stress.
|
| ˌ |
Before a syllable, this indicates secondary stress.
|
| . |
This marks a break between syllables. It is optional.
|
| ː |
After a vowel sound, this indicates that the sound is pronounced longer.
|
