Sounds of English
Contents
Vowels
Vowels are always voiced (which means the vocal cords vibrate when the sound is made).
ˈvaʊəlz ər 'ɔːlwəz 'vɔɪst
Long "pure" vowels
/ɑ:/
- R, star, car, far
- father, bother, bottle US
- clerk UK
/i:/
- B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V, Z US
- he, she, me, we
- sea, tea, seem, feet, key
- apostrophe, Socrates, catastrophe /kə ˈtæ strə fi/
/u:/
- 2, Q, U, W, you
- choose, use
- new, flew, grew, knew, true, blue
- to strong form only, through
/ɔː/
- 4, 40
- door, floor, shore, store
- daughter, caught, thought, fought
- law, saw, lawyer /ˈlɔː jər/
- fluorine, chlorine
/ɜː/
- first, third, 30, 30th
- shirt, clerk, certification, learn
- Some people sometimes pronounce words like sure & pure with this sound rather than ʃʊr, pjʊr, (myself included).
/ɒ/
- primarily UK. US substitutes /ɑ:/
- what UK 1
- bottle /ˈbɒ tl/, throttle
- shot, spot, lots, of UK 1, pots
- knowledge /ˈnɒl ɪdʒ
US 1 = ʌ in what and of, ɑ: in the other examples.
Short vowels
/ʌ/
- 1, 100
- sun, but, mud, uncle
- son, won, brother, other, another, above
- flood, blood
- tough, rough, enough /ɪ ˈnʌf/
/ʊ/
- Look!, a good cookbook
- put, push, pull
- woman /'wʊ mən/
/ɪ/
- 6, him, this, finish, minute (n.)
- been, again
- below, behind, between, beneath, bemoan, belabor, besmirch, etc.
- women /'wi min/, electric, elegance /'el ɪ ɡəns/, enough /ɪ ˈnʌf/
- -age 1, -e(d)ge /ɪdʒ/ (village, marriage, storage, baggage, luggage, mortgage /ˈmɔː ɡɪdʒ/, college, knowledge)
Exceptions include more recent borrowings from French, e.g. garage /ɡə 'rɑːʒ/ US</sup> /ˈɡær ɪdʒ/ UK</sup>
/e/
The precise realisation of this form varies. In South Africa the sound is closer to /e/, while in the US it is closer to /ɛ/. (fête, bête, lait, aime pouvaient). Since the distinction is not considered phonemic (since the long "A" sound is realized as the diphthong /eɪ/), the standard transcription is /e/ though the sound is closer to /ɛ/ than /e/ (fée, pourrai, pouvez, aimer.)
- 7, 10, 12, F, L, M, N, S, X, Zed
- health, wedding, nephew, elementary /ˌel ɪ ˈmen tri/
- says, said
/ə/
- The most common vowel sound in English (also the most central vowel) (quite lax) uh... (French "euh" is very similar, but with rounded lips)
- around, about, above, ago, asleep, etc.
- perpetual, residual, science, electric, elegant, woman, sermon
- -ous (famous, gelatinous, disastrous)
- -er (safer, cheaper, etc.)
- -able, -ible (understandable, comfortable 1, legible, incredible)
- -ate (in ADJ and N): chocolate (n.) /ˈtʃɑː klət/, corporate (adj.), conglomerate (adj.), associate (n.), etc.
- Some transcribe the sound of the suffix -ion as /ən/, though most dictionaries simply use "syllabic" /n/. More terminology wars... :) e.g. nation, ration, consideration, fashion /ˈfæʃ n/, etc.
1 Most commonly the first schwa is dropped entirely. ˈkʌmf təbl / 'kʌm fə təbl
/æ/
- bad, faster, fastest, that 1
- laughter US + parts of UK, draught US + parts of UK (fr. courant d'air)
1 As a demonstrative pronoun / determiner that is pronounced /ðæt/, as a relative pronoun, that is usually pronounced /ðət/, though it may be dropped entirely.
Diphthongs
/eɪ/
- A, H, J, K, 8
- they, grey
- take, plane, fate
- main, rain, paid,
said(/səd/) - day, way, say,
says(/səz/) - weigh, neighbour, freight
- vein
- aviation, (un)able, Asia (/'eɪ ʒə/)
/ɑɪ/
- I, Y, 5, 9
- rice, mice
- guide, quite quiet /'kwɑɪt 'kwɑɪ ət/
- kind, mind, behind
- light, sight, sigh, height
- align, benign, sign
/əʊ / oʊ/
- O, 0, (zero)
- close, clothes /kləʊðz/, chose, chosen
- though, although, thorough /ˈθɜː roʊ/ US /'θʌ rə/ UK, borough /ˈbɜː roʊ/ US /'bʌ rə/ UK
- own, grow, known, flown
- soap, foam
/ɑʊ/
- 1000
- out, about, around, announce, pounce
- how, now, power, tower, town
/ɔɪ/
- noisy, oil
- toys, boys
/eə/
- Mostly UK. North American English (NAME) is usually /er/
- there, where
- hair, pair
- share, care
- heir
/ʊə/
- Mostly UK. North American English (NAME) is usually /ʊr/
- poor 1, tour (guide)
- sure 1, (al)lure
1 both "poor" and "sure" can be pronounced with ɔː i.e. ʃɔː, pɔː
/ɪə/
- Mostly UK. North American English (NAME) is usually /ɪr/
- dear, near
- here
- tier
Consonants
Most consonants are paired: at each position one can make two sounds (one voiced, one unvoiced). For example:
Voiced | Unvoiced | ||
---|---|---|---|
b | big | p | pig |
v | even Stephen | f | enough phonetics |
d | stewed | t | cooked |
z | reads | s | writes |
ʒ | pleasure | ʃ | sure |
dʒ | badge, joke | tʃ | batch, choke |
g | agree | k | cake, second(s), chemistry |
- Nasal consonants — m, n, ŋ — liquids —r, l — and glides — w, j (why, yellow) — are all voiced.
- Syllabic n and l are roughly equivalent to /ən/, /əl/. (fashion, bottle)