English as an Additional Language/Pronunciation

Pronunciation

Consonants

The symbols used for consonants are shown in the following table. Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the left is voiceless, the one to the right voiced.

	Bi­labial	Labio- dental	Labio- velar	Den­tal	Alveo­lar	Post- alveo­lar	Pala­tal	Velar	Glot­tal
Stop	p  b				t  d			k  g
Affricate						tʃ  dʒ
Nasal	m				n			ŋ
Fricative		f  v		θ  ð	s  z	ʃ  ʒ		(x)	h
Approximant			(ʍ)  w		ɹ		j
Lateral approximant					l

/p/: pit /b/: bit /t/: tin /d/: din /k/: cut /ɡ/: gut /tʃ/: cheap /dʒ/: jeep /m/: map /n/: nap /ŋ/: bang /f/: fat /v/: vat

/θ/: thin /ð/: then /s/: sap /z/: zap /ʃ/: she /ʒ/: measure /x/: loch, Chanukah (often replaced by /-k/ and /h-/, respectively) /h/: ham /ʍ/: whine (also written /hw/, often replaced by /w/) /w/: we /ɹ/: run (often written /r/ in broad transcription) /j/: yes /l/: left

Vowels

Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation is the prestige British accent, sometimes referred to as BBC English. It is used as the standard in most media within Great Britain.

Full vowels

Full vowels are those that appear in stressed syllables.

Monophthongs	Short			Long
	Front	Back		Front	Central	Back
Close	ɪ	ʊ		iː		uː
Mid	ɛ	ʌ			ɜː	ɔː
Open	æ	ɒ			ɑː

/ɪ/: bid /ʊ/: good /ɛ/: bed (sometimes transcribed /e/) /ʌ/: bud /æ/: bat (sometimes transcribed /a/) /ɒ/: pot

/iː/: bead /uː/: booed /ɜː/: bird (sometimes transcribed /əː/) /ɔː/: bought, board /ɑː/: father, bard

Diphthongs	Closing			Centring
	to /ɪ/	to /ʊ/
Starting close				ɪə  ʊə
Starting mid	eɪ  ɔɪ	əʊ		ɛə
Starting open	aɪ	aʊ

/eɪ/: bay /ɔɪ/: boy /əʊ/: toe /aɪ/: buy (sometimes transcribed /ʌɪ/) /aʊ/: cow

/ɪə/: beer /ʊə/: boor (falling out of use in British English; often replaced by /ɔː/) /ɛə/: bear (sometimes transcribed /ɛː/)

Reduced vowels

Reduced vowels occur in unstressed syllables.

• /ɪ/: roses
• /ə/: Rosa’s, runner
• /l̩/: bottle
• /n̩/: button
• /m̩/: rhythm

General American

General American is the standardized accent of the United States, and is the dialect most commonly used in spoken media there.

Full vowels

Monophthongs	Checked				Free
	Front	Central	Back		Front	Central rhotacized	Back
Close	ɪ		ʊ		i		u
Close-mid					e		o
Open-mid	ɛ	ʌ				ɝ	ɔ
Open	æ						ɑ

/ɪ/: bid /ʊ/: good /ɛ/: bed /ʌ/: bud /æ/: bad

/i/: bead /u/: booed /e/: bayed /o/: bode /ɝ/: bird /ɔ/ or /ɑ/: bought /ɑ/: body, pod, father

Note: the vowels /e/ and /o/ are usually diphthongal, so the transcriptions /eɪ/ and /oʊ/ are also often used.

Diphthongs	Closing			Rhotacized
	to /ɪ/	to /ʊ/
Starting close				ɪɹ  ʊɹ
Starting mid	ɔɪ			ɛɹ  ɔɹ
Starting open	aɪ	aʊ		ɑɹ

/ɔɪ/: boy /aɪ/: buy, thigh /aʊ/: bout, cow

/ɪɹ/: beer, here /ʊɹ/: boor, manure (often replaced by /ɝ/, sometimes by /ɔɹ/ in American English) /ɛɹ/: bear, air /ɔɹ/: bore (sometimes phonemicized /oɹ/) /ɑɹ/: bar

Reduced vowels

• /ɨ/: roses (for many Americans merged with /ə/)
• /ə/: Rosa’s
• /ɚ/: runner
• /l̩/: bottle
• /n̩/: button
• /m̩/: rhythm

General Australian

Full vowels

Monophthongs	Short				Long
	Front	Central	Back		Front	Central	Back
Close	ɪ		ʊ		iː	ʉː
Mid	e		ɔ		eː	ɜː	oː
Open	æ	a			æː	aː

/ɪ/: bid /ʊ/: good /e/: bed /ɔ/: pot /æ/: bat /a/: bud

/iː/: bead /ʉː/: booed /eː/: bared /ɜː/: bird /oː/: bought, board /æː/: bad /aː/: father, bard

Diphthongs	Closing			Centring
	to unrounded	to rounded
Starting close				ɪə  ʊə
Starting mid	oɪ	əʉ
Starting open	æɪ  ɑe	æɔ

/oɪ/: boy /əʉ/: toe /æɪ/: bay /ɑe/: buy /æɔ/: cow

/ɪə/: beer /ʊə/: tour (falling out of use in Australian English; often replaced by disyllabic /ʉːə/ or monophthongal /oː/)

Reduced vowels

• /ə/: roses, Rosa’s, runner
• /l̩/: bottle
• /n̩/: button
• /m̩/: rhythm