IPA Chart With Explanation
IPA Chart With Explanation
IPA Chart With Explanation
This page lets you hear the sounds that the symbols represent, but remember
that it is only a rough guide. There is lots of variation in how these sounds are
said depending on the language and context. For example, in English
voiceless plosives usually end with a puff of air called aspiration, but the
voiceless plosives on this page aren't aspirated
Pulmonic consonants
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.
Areas shaded grey indicate articulations judged impossible.
Non-pulmonic consonants
Clicks Voiced implosives Ejectives
ʘBilabial ɓBilabial pʼBilabial
ǀDental ɗDental/alveolar tʼDental/alveolar
ǃ(Post)alveoalar ʄPalatal kʼVelar
ǂPalatoalveolar ɠVelar sʼAlveolar fricative
ǁAlveolar lateral ʛUvular ʼetc…
Other symbols Affricates
ʍVoiceless labial-velar fricative ͡ tsVoiceless alveolar affricate
wVoiced labial-velar approximant ͡ tʃVoiceless palato-alveolar affricate
ɥVoiced labial-palatal approximant ͡ tɕVoiceless alveolo-palatal affricate
ʜVoiceless epiglottal fricative ͡ ʈʂVoiceless retroflex affricate
ʢVoiced epiglottal fricative d͡zVoiced alveolar affricate
ʡEpiglottal plosive d͡ʒVoiced post-alveolar affricate
ɕVoiceless alveolo-palatal fricative d͡ʑVoiced alveolo-palatal affricate
ʑVoiced alveolo-palatal fricative ɖ͡ʐVoiceless retroflex affricate
ɺAlveolar lateral flap
ɧSimultaneous ʃ and x
Sources: http://www.ipachart.com/
Phonetics: Consonants, Vowels,
Diphthongs, IPA Chart definition
and examples
For many learners of English, one of the hardest things to grasp about the
language is its pronunciation. Not only are there many accents to get
accustomed to – American, British, Australian, among others – but there are
many fundamental sounds within the language that can be difficult to produce.
To make things even worse, English’s spelling system is horrendous and seldom
a reliable indication – even for native speakers – of how to pronounce most
word.
Because of this, it’s useful to try to depict the pronunciation of the English
language through a set of symbols besides the Latin alphabet – namely, the
International Phonetic Alphabet. Known as the IPA for short, this phonetic
system might be familiar to you, and in my experience, it’s a useful tool for
learning any language.
The great thing about the IPA is that its symbols are meant to be universal. This
means that if you learn the set of symbols used for English sounds, you can
apply them to most other languages you might want to learn, from French to
Arabic to Japanese.
It is not a perfect system, since its details can only be so fine, and nuances like
tone and stress are often overlooked in IPA transcription, which can be a bit of a
problem with tonal languages like Mandarin and Vietnamese.
However, for our purposes with English, these phonetic symbols can definitely
come in handy if you’re looking to improve your pronunciation.
CONSONANTS
The first set of symbols presented here represents consonant sounds. Most are
fundamental to English pronunciation regardless of accent. Since you might be
unfamiliar with some of the terms used to describe the sounds, here are some
definitions you might find useful:
Voiced: a voiced sound is a sound where the vocal cords vibrate, thus
producing some sort of pitch. This is the kind of sound most people associate
with regular talking or singing.
Stop: a consonant sound where the airflow is stopped completely by the mouth
and then sharply released. Think of sounds like “p,” “k,” and “t.” All languages
contain stops.
Fricative: a consonant sound where the airflow becomes noisy and turbulent
because it only has a very small space to travel through in the mouth. Think of
sounds like “f,” “s,” and “sh.” Most languages have fricatives, but not all.
Nasal: a consonant sound where the airflow passes exclusively through the
nose instead of the mouth. Think of sounds like “m,” “n,” or “ng.” Almost all
languages have nasals.
Affricate: a consonant sound that begins like a stop but then releases like a
fricative, thus making it a sort of combination sound. Think of sounds like “ch”
and “j.” Affricates are common, especially in English.
Alveolar ridge: a ridge found on the roof of the mouth between the upper
teeth and the hard palate, which is used in conjunction with the tip of the
tongue to make many sounds
Soft palate: the soft tissue in the back of the roof of your mouth, which is used
In conjunction with the back of the tongue to make many sounds
Glottis: the part of the larynx (air passage) that contains the vocal cords and
the opening between them
/P/
Voiceless stop made with both lips
Found in words like: pen, spin, tip, happy
Letters that usually represent it: “p”
/B/
Voiced stop made with both lips
Found in words like: but, web, baby
Letters that usually represent it: “b”
As you may have noticed, the only difference between producing /p/ and /b/ is
the voicing, while all other factors remain the same.
It’s common, including in English, to have pairs of words that are essentially the
same, except one is voiced and the other is unvoiced. If you’re having trouble
pronouncing certain sounds, try to identify a corresponding sound with a
different voicing as a reference.
/T/
Voiceless stop made with the tip of the tongue on the alveolar ridge
Found in words like: two, sting
Letters that usually represent it: “t”
/D/
Voiced stop made with the tip of the tongue on the alveolar ridge
Found in words like: do, daddy, odd
Letters that usually represent it: “d”
/K/
Voiceless stop made with the back of the tongue on the soft palate
Found in words like: cat, kill, skin, queen, unique, thick, chaos
Letters that usually represent it: “k,” “c,” “q,” “que,” “ck,” sometimes “ch”
/G/
Voiced stop made with the back of the tongue on the soft palate
Found in words like: go, get, beg, bigger
Letters that usually represent it: “g”
/F/
Voiceless fricative made by putting your upper front teeth on your lower lip
Found in words like: fool, enough, leaf, off, photo, glyph
Letters that usually represent it: “f,” “ph,” sometimes “gh”
/V/
Voiced fricative made by putting your upper front teeth on your lower lip
Found in words like: voice, have, of, over
Letters that usually represent it: “v,” sometimes “f”
/Θ/
Voiceless fricative made by putting your tongue between your teeth
Found in words like: thing, teeth, Athens
Letters that usually represent it: “th”
If you’re curious about this symbol, it comes from the Greek letter “theta,”
which makes the same sound in Greek.
/Ð/
Voiced fricative made by putting your tongue between your teeth
Found in words like: this, breathe, father
Letters that usually represent it: “th”
You might have noticed that both /θ/ and /ð/ are represented by “th” in English.
Although sometimes there are rules as to when a letter or letter cluster makes
different sounds, there really is no rule for “th.”
Sometimes it’s voiced, and sometimes it’s unvoiced, and you’ll just have to
memorize the difference as you come across each word with a “th” in it. This
letter seems to be based off of the Greek letter “delta,” which makes the same
sound in Greek.
/S/
Voiceless fricative made by putting the tip the tongue nearly on the alveolar
ridge
Found in words like: see, city, pass, lesson
Letters that usually represent it: “s,” sometimes “c”
/Z/
Voiced fricative made by putting the tip the tongue nearly on the alveolar ridge
Found in words like: zoo, rose, clothes, asthma
Letters that usually represent it: “z,” sometimes “s,” rarely “th”
/Ʃ/
Voiceless fricative made by putting the tip the tongue a little bit past the
alveolar ridge
Found in words like: she, sure, session, emotion, leash
Letters that usually represent it: “sh,” “si,” “ti,” sometimes “s,”
/Ʒ/
Voiced fricative made by putting the tip the tongue a little bit past the alveolar
ridge
Found in words like: genre, pleasure, beige, equation, seizure, vision
Letters that usually represent it: “g,” “si,” “ti,” “z,” sometimes “s”
/TƩ/
Voiceless affricate made with the tip of the tongue on the alveolar ridge
Found in words like: chair, nature, teach
Letters that usually represent it: “ch,” sometimes “t”
This is one of the two affricates in English, the other being /dʒ/. As stated in the
definitions above, an affricate is a combination of a stop and a fricative, so the
“ch” sound is actually represented by two IPA symbols. The same goes for the
“j” sound.
/DƷ/
Voiced affricate made with the tip of the tongue on the alveolar ridge
Found in words like: gin, joy, edge, did you, judgment
Letters that usually represent it: “j,” sometimes “g,” “dg,” sometimes “d”
/H/
Voiceless fricative made by a forced breath through the glottis
Found in words like: genre, pleasure, beige, equation, seizure, vision
Letters that usually represent it: “g,” “si,” “ti,” “z,” sometimes “s”
/ʔ/
Glottal stop made by shutting and releasing airflow through the glottis
Found in words like: uh–oh, kitten, Manhattan, bet, important (American)
Letters that usually represent it: “t,” “-,” the beginnings of vowels
You can also feel this stop happen every time you begin to pronounce a vowel
without a consonant before it. The glottal stop is common in some British
accents, but it’s especially common in American accents, where the letter “t” is
often replaced by this sound in the middle and ends of words. Yes, it’s true.
Most Americans don’t pronounce “kitten” with such a strong, harsh /t/ in the
middle, but rather with a /ʔ/ instead.
/M/
Nasal sound formed while the lips are shut
Found in words like: man, them, hammer
Letters that usually represent it: “m”
/N/
Nasal sound formed while the tip of the tongue is on the alveolar ridge
Found in words like: no, tin, winner
Letters that usually represent it: “n”
/Ŋ/
Nasal sound formed while the back of the tongue is on the soft palate
Found in words like: ringer, sing, finger, drink
Letters that usually represent it: “ng,” sometimes part of “ng,” part of “nk”
The letters “ng” can be problematic because the /ŋ/ sound is sometimes
followed by a /g/ sound, but sometimes it isn’t. Note the difference between
“singer” and “finger,” where “finger” has that extra /g/ sound, but “singer”
doesn’t.
This difference is random and should be memorized, just like the “th”
phenomenon, but there are a few tricks that can help. For example, if a word
ends in “ng,” then there is never a following /g/ sound. There also is no /g/
sound if the word ends in “-ing,” which turns verbs into participles or gerunds.
/ɾ/
A momentary stop-like sound called a flap or tap, caused by the tip of the
tongue lightly throwing itself against the alveolar ridge
Found in words like: better, hidden, hater, odor
Letters that usually represent it: “t,” “d”
This is another sound that might confuse you. This is because it’s primarily
found in American accents and is essentially another way that Americans
become lazy with the letter “t.” You saw previously that the glottal stop is a way
to replace the /t/ sound in the middle and ends of words.
However, Americans sometimes use the flap instead in the middle of words,
though note that the /ʔ/ and /ɾ/ sounds are mutually exclusive. For example, an
American would pronounce the word “button” with a /ʔ/ in the middle, but not a
/ɾ/. Meanwhile, “better” is pronounced with a /ɾ/ but not a /ʔ/, at least in an
American accent.
/ɾ/ is actually the letter “r” in many other languages like Spanish, Korean, and
Arabic (the symbol even looks like some degenerate letter “r”). In terms of
sound, consider it to be a softer version of /d/, which is why the letter “d” is
often replaced by it, too.
/X/
Voiceless fricative made by putting the back of your tongue nearly on your soft
palate
Found in words like: loch (Scottish), ugh
Letters that usually represent it: “gh”
ALMOST CONSONANTS?
So far we have seen sounds that are, for the most part, unmistakably
consonants. At this point, you might think we’d move onto vowels. However,
there are some sounds that seem to share characteristics of both consonants
and vowels.
Already, you have seen the nasals /m/ and /n/, which almost act like vowels but
up in the nasal cavity. But in the IPA, there is another class of sounds called
“approximants” that lie somewhere between vowels and consonants. Two
categories within these approximants are known as “glides” and “liquids.”
Glides are sounds that are phonetically similar to vowels but function more as
consonants, while liquids are sounds in which the tongue creates a partial
closure in the mouth, resulting in a vowel-like sound.
/L/
Liquid created by keeping the tip of the tongue on the upper teeth
Found in words like: left, bell, table, please
Letters that usually represent it: “l”
Though the /l/ symbol is used for the “l” sound in most European languages, the
sound in English is a little bit different in that the tip of the tongue touches the
teeth rather than other places of the mouth like the alveolar ridge.
This is what gives the “l” that fuller, arguably uglier quality, almost like you’re
about to swallow your tongue. In British English, the tip of the tongue tends to
touch the alveolar ridge instead.
/ɹ/
Liquid created by curling the tongue backward toward the back of the mouth.
The tip of the tongue should not be touching any part of the mouth.
Found in words like: run, very, probably, far, earnest
Letters that usually represent it: “r”
The /ɹ/ sound is arguably one of the most difficult English sounds for foreigners
to grasp. Although it is found in almost all accents of English, it is most common
in American accents.
For example, even though an American would typically pronounce the “r” in
“car,” but a British person wouldn’t, both speakers would usually pronounce the
“r” in “grow.”
Notice that /ɹ/ is actually an upside-down letter “r.” The /r/ can sometimes be
used to replace /ɹ/ when the language is assumed to be English, but the actual
/r/ symbol is a trilled “r,” like in the Spanish word “perr”
/J/
Glide created by bringing the middle of the tongue very close to the roof of the
mouth, and then releasing
Found in words like: yes, neuron, cube
Letters that usually represent it: “y,” sometimes other vowels
Though /j/ seems like it is the vowel /i/ but shorter, the tongue is tenser in this
sound so that it can be brought closer to the roof of the mouth.
If pronounced correctly, you should be able to pronounce the word “year” and
hear a distinction between the /j/ sound and the vowel after it. The letter “u”
also tends to be pronounced with the /j/ sound in certain words, such as “cute”
or “pure.”
/W/
Glide created by pursing the lips closely together, and then releasing
Found in words like: we, queen, Huang, lower
Letters that usually represent it: “w,” sometimes “u”
VOWELS
Though there are many consonants in English (and in general), much more than
can be individually represented by the 26 letters in the alphabet, vowels can
sometimes be even harder to describe.
While consonants can at least be described with precise terms and actions,
vowels tend to be more of approximations in the IPA. This is because vowels
tend to lie more on a spectrum than consonants, and also because vowels can
change subtly from accent to accent and from language to language.
So some of the following examples will mostly serve as a way to get you
familiar with some of these IPA symbols. But even the same symbol can
represent slightly different vowels, since, as mentioned before, vowels tend to
lie on a spectrum.
Really, it is best to use your ears to listen to how English is spoken by different
people, and then compare that to the IPA symbols.
Three major factors in the production of vowels are the openness, or height, of
the mouth, the position of the tongue, and the roundness of the lips.
• If the tongue is positioned near the front of the mouth, any vowel
produced would be a front If the tongue were set slightly more back in
the mouth, the vowel would be a central vowel. If the tongue were set
in the far back of the mouth, the vowel would be a back vowel.
• If a vowel is produced while the lips are tense and rounded, it would be
considered a rounded. If the vowel is produced while the lips are
relaxed, it would be considered an unrounded vowel.
In order to better visualize these differences, it’s helpful to look at a chart.
Think of the following chart as a diagram of the mouth facing left sideways,
where the position of the tongue traces along the different points to produce
different vowels.
/Æ/
Found in words like: cat, lad, bat
Letters that usually represent it: “a”
/Ɑ/
Found in words like: off, loss, cloth (General American)
Letters that usually represent it: “o,” “a”
Notice that this symbol is different from the symbol /a/, which some people
pronounce in the word “father.” However, the symbol has been omitted from
this list.
/Ɔ/
Found in words like: law, caught, all, talk
Letters that usually represent it: “a,” “aw,” “au,” “al”
At least in the General American accent, this is an interesting sound because it’s
starting to fall out of usage. For example, there used to be a clear geographical
distinction in the United States between people who pronounced the words “cot”
and “caught” the same and those who pronounced with different vowels (/ɑ/
and /ɔ/).
These days, however, there is a much blurrier distinction between these two
pronunciations, and many more Americans are beginning to pronounce both
“cot” and “caught” with the /ɑ/ vowel. This is what linguists call the “cot-caught
merger” and is an example of how certain sounds are currently dying out of
English pronunciations.
/Ə/
Found in words like: about, the, spotted, lemon, basil, analysis, acumen
Letters that usually represent it: almost any vowel
This symbol is known as the “schwa” and is often called the neutral vowel.
Technically, it is the “mid central unrounded vowel,” and in English, it is only
used for unstressed vowels. Stressed vowels that make a similar sound are
represented by the /ʊ/ symbol.
What’s interesting about the schwa is that almost any vowel letter in English
can make this sound, probably because it is the neutral vowel, and therefore a
logical go-to for any vowel that becomes weakened from a lack of stress.
/Ɪ/
Found in words like: sit, hidden, amiss
Letters that usually represent it: “i,” “y”
/I/
Found in words like: city, see, meat, theme, fluorine, people
Letters that usually represent it: “ee,” “ea,” “y,” “i”
This is one of the few IPA symbols where its uppercase counterpart is a
separate symbol. Notice the difference between /i/ and /ɪ/.
/Ɛ/
Found in words like: bed, instead, friend
Letters that usually represent it: “e,” “ea”
In Australian and other accents, this sound is replaced entirely by the /e/
sound, which is a more close, front vowel and has a brighter sound.
/ɹ̩/ OR /ɚ/
Found in words like: burn, herd, earth, bird, worm, amateur, winner (General
American)
Letters that usually represent it: “er,” “ear,” “ir,” “or,” “ur,” “eur”
These two symbols feature diacritics, which are small markings added to IPA
symbols to modify their sounds. The small notch placed beneath the /ɹ/ symbol
indicates that it can constitute its own syllable without the help of a vowel.
Meanwhile the little tail added to the schwa colors it with the /ɹ/ sound.
/Ɜ/
Found in words like: burn, herd, earth, bird, worm (Received Pronunciation)
Letters that usually represent it: “er,” “ear,” “ir,” “or,” “ur,” “eur”
/Ʊ/
Found in words like: put, look, would
Letters that usually represent it: “oo,” “oul,” “u”
Remember that this sound is very similar to the schwa sound, but it is typically
reserved for stressed syllables.
/U/
Found in words like: tube, you, choose, through, threw, issue
Letters that usually represent it: “oo,” “u,” “ou,” “ew”
However, it is more accurate to use this symbol for sounds such as the “u” in
the Spanish word “tú” or “luna,” where the vowel is much purer than in English.
For a narrower transcription in English, you can use the symbols /ʊu/ or /əu/,
depending on the accent.
/O/
Found in words like: no, toe, soap, throw, though
Letters that usually represent it: “o,” “oe,” “oa,” “ow”
Similar to /u/’s case, this symbol is acceptable to use in a broad transcription of
English, but it really represents the sound that “o” makes in the Spanish word
“hola” or “gato.”
DIPHTHONGS
So far, we have seen mostly symbols for pure vowels, and with these symbols,
we can represent almost any sound made in common accents of English.
However, English is a language known for being full of diphthongs (double
vowels) that are represented by combinations of symbols.
Examples already given for this are [ʊu] and [oʊ], but there are many more.
Here are the most common examples:
/AJ/
Found in words like: my, wise, high, Thai, island
Letters that usually represent it: “i,” “y,” “igh,” “ai”
/EJ/
Found in words like: date, day, pain, whey, rein, neighbor
Letters that usually represent it: “a,” “ay,” “ai,” “ey,” “ei,” “eigh”
In Received Pronunciation, this diphthong is more of a /ɛj/ sound.
/ƆJ/
Found in words like: boy, noise, Euler
Letters that usually represent it: “oy,” “oi”
/AW/
Found in words like: now, trout, Laos
Letters that usually represent it: “ow,” “ou”
/JU/
Found in words like: cute, ewe, use, new (in some accents), you
Letters that usually represent it: “u,” “ew”
Though the /j/ sound can be combined with mostly any vowel, it appears very
often before the /u/ sound, even without the appearance of the letter “y.”
NARROWER TRANSCRIPTION
You’ve already encountered a couple diacritics that slightly change the nuances
of certain sounds, but there are plenty more that can be useful in English.
Though I won’t go too in depth with them, here are a few more IPA features,
just to give you a general idea of what they do.
1. BRACKETS
2. STRESS
3. LENGTH
You might have heard of long vowels and short vowels as a feature of
languages such as Finnish, Japanese, or Ancient Greek. However, English also
features length in its vowels, though in a subtler way.
Think of the difference in vowel length between “city” and “clean.” To mark a
vowel as long, linguists use a colon-like symbol. For example, “clean” would be
written as [kliːn], while “city” would remain [ˈsɪti] (or [ˈsɪɾi], if you’re American).
4. SYLLABIC CONSONANTS
A syllabic consonant is a consonant that can act as a syllable without the help of
a vowel, and is indicated by a small notch below the IPA symbol.
You’ve already seen this with /ɹ̩ /, but /l/, which is also a liquid, as well as nasals
like /m/ and /n/ can become syllabic. For example, the word “table” features a
syllabic consonant and is therefore written as /ˈtejbl̩/. Similarly, the word
“hidden” can be written as /ˈhɪɾn̩/.
5. NASALIZATION
In some accents, especially American accents, the /æ/ vowel is not always
completely pure. When it comes directly before a nasal consonant, it becomes a
bit distorted, or “nasalized,” as if it is anticipating the consonant that comes
after it.
For example, though a British person would say the word “man” with a clean
/æ/, an American would nasalize the /æ/, making it sound almost like an [eə]
sound. To indicate nasalization, you can put a tilde above the vowel, so /mæn/
would become [mæ̃n].
6. ASPIRATION
Now, pronounce the word “span,” and notice that some of that breathiness
might go away. This is the phenomenon of aspiration, and it makes a huge
difference in the meaning of Korean words, for example.
However, it is not such a big deal in English, which is why the indication of
aspiration in IPA is considered part of a narrower transcription. It is indicated by
a small “h” next to the IPA symbol, so a sound like /t/ would become [th] in
most cases.
8. UNRELEASED STOPS
It is also typical for stop sounds to not have a release when they occur at the
ends of words. For example, even though /p/ is typically aspirated as [ph], when
it comes at the end of a word like “stop,” the sound has no audible release and
there is no sound of aspiration.
To represent this, we would write /p/ as [p ̚]. With the /t/ sound in American
English, it becomes so extreme that it is replaced entirely by a glottal stop.
Source: https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/phonetics-consonants-vowels-diphthongs-ipa-chart/