ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY‘symbols used for the Transcriptions American tain pe ann pet eatin pet ‘eam inp ‘eas at basin pot asin: pa asin part ieasin hey’ cxasin bay 0 a ous ein buy resin ish Sit Shania oy au asin bow (soloed schoa") as in ‘mot asin bee cousin thee ‘in moo Consonant Phonemes paint basin be Pesan asia ‘do Keasin ey Saving teint Canin sat sein hia ania tha Siinap" basin fasia'shp asin measure” hevin-bat rmasin ‘ap! tsin Ia asin aap" asin asin han hasta asin hi Asani‘ Non-phonemic symbol for English fin eu, apps Uasin to each aueza are ic schwa) asa sudden’ Pudon: vowel may be pronounce, oF may be ‘mite th the following consonant bacoming slab. Tea) asin ot {(2iippe Amen romain) in bter Symbols fe other languages ‘Mosel velar iste) Tot Bach? ‘Eis S tutlsed vowels) a 8 French vi change’, "mow, “Lebr” Bi etcetera ctv) asin Welsh Langolen Prosodic marks (priary stress) ain bee bt ‘Goconday ste) ai Tete” te’ (Goat divison) as ioe? 7a!Contents Editors’ preface to the 15th edition Introduction Part 1: Introduction tothe English Pronouncing Dictionary 1.1 Whats the English Pronouncing Dictionary? 1.2 Whose pronunciation is represented? 1.3. How are the pronunciations chosen? 1.4 Regional accents 15 Promu 1.6 Usage notes 1.7 Syllable divisions art 221 The phoneme principle 2.2 Vowels and diphthongs ation of foreign words rinciples of transcription 2.3 Consonants 24 Non-English sounds 25 Suess 26 Syllable divisions 2 Assimilation 28 Treatment off 2.9 Use of and hd 210 Syllbic consonants 2.11 Optional sounds 2.12 Blision Part 3: Explanatory notes References in introduction List of recommended reading The dictionaryInreducton Editors’ preface to the 15th Edition ‘The English Pronouncing Dictionary was fest. published in 1917, perhaps the greatest work of he {reales of British phoneticians, Daniel Jones (born In 1881). Jones was Professor of Phonetics at University College London ftom 192 uni his retirement in 1949. He was stil an occasional Visitor 10 she Department in 1967 when Peter Rosch went there as a postgraduate student of Phoneties, though he ded in December that year. ‘Tae dictionary wes preceded by a now forgoten work by Michaelis and Jones (1913) which the Phonemic transeripiion was presenied fist and the omesponding speling followed it. The lasetion in which Tones was directly involved was the 12h, and the 13th was substantially revised by his successor as Professor of Phonetics at Uriversity College, A.C. Gimson. From the 13h edition, GGimson was assisted by Dr. Susan Raisaran, and Inher preface tothe 14thediton she notes that they had been making plans fora th edion atthe ime of Gimson’s death. After this, the publishing Fights ‘were aquired from the original publishers 1. Mt Dent & Sons by Cambridge University Pres. ‘The English Pronowncing Dictionary has been in ‘se for nearly 80 yeas, and during that time it has become extablishod a a classic work of reference, both for native speakers of English wantin Authoritative guide to pronunciation abd for users (OF English as foreign or second language all ver the warld. Above al the aimaf the 1sthedition has ‘bono include information which is releant tthe reeds of contemporary users and. which is reseed inthe clearest posible way. This sim has Informed both the choice of vocabulary covered and the range promunciasons shown, ‘Over 18,000 new entries have been add to this ‘edition of the ditionary eo serve the interests and needs of today's users. For instance, large names of new words connected with sience and Technology ae now included, as are hundreds of People and places which have acguired fame or notoriety in resent years. The more cosmopolitan ature of contemporary Ife is relected nthe Increase of geographical names as Well as @ significant number of items of international euisine Personal names, both rst names and far names, are now based on census reports and statistical analysis, and many subject reas suchas iterature and lav, have been revised and update. In ation to this, U.S spellings and vocabulary items have been ada, ‘With this 15th Edition, the English Pronowncing Dictionary as entered the computer age. The type- Settext ofthe 14th Editon has been converted ino” 8 computer database, and the task of editing has boon eared outby team of phonies expers who have worked by wansfernng the data of the developing new etn in electonie form between universities in Reading, Leeds, Kansas and Hong Kong. and the Universiy Press in Cambridge Despie the complexity of this operstion, the process of updating and adding 10 the previous fition has Been made more elflcient, dil tenable future revisions and new editions to be prepared mach more sapily: We expect tha the ‘ictonary wil be wseful not only as «conventional ‘eference hook but also as 2 database in computer: based research ‘There ace many people to whom we are grateful ‘Two people in patialar have bea indispensable. Jane Setter (Assistant Professor at Hong Kong. Polytechnic University) has worked on the pronunciations since 1992: she has done an {enormous amount of work on te tanscripions, ‘Combining phoncic expertise with killin database technology and cheerfully keeping us fom drifing imo inconsistency. Liz Walter (Commissioning itor, Cambridge University Press) has overseen the project since its beginning. She has mode innumerable conibutions to the work, suffered patiently when our work has been delayed, and always been ready 0 give us guidance. Other people who have worked on the pronunciations are Lee’ Hombronk, Jonathan Rodgers, Karen Stromberg and Alison Torley, while editorial ‘contibutions have been made by Ann Kennedy, Kerry Maxwel, Clea MeEnery nd Jane Was, We have often needed assistance with computing mates, and have heen gd ofthe hep provided by Simon Arnield, Andrew Harley, Philip Makower tnd Robert Fleischman. Finally, we have often Sought the advice of ater phonetcians whea we ‘were in dou over pronunciations, We would ike to thank especially ack Windsor Lewis, Mike ‘MacMahon, Graham Pointon, Marion” Shirt ‘Michael MT Henderson and Lina Shockey. Prren Rosctt, University of Reading JANES Han MAN, University of KansasIntroduction Ie is strongly recommended that users of this slctionary read the introduction, since fll understanding ofthe information init will ensure the most effective use ofthe dictionary (PART 1) SWhat is the English Pronouncing Dictionary?: The intended ise ofthe dictionary. the principles of its design and the aceens of English represented init (PART 2) ‘Principles of Transeription’: The main characterises ofthe Britsh and American accents (PART 3) “Explanatory Notes’: How interpret ‘he infomation povided withthe individual words inthe dictionary. Part 1: Introduction to the English Pronouncing Dictionary Whatis the English Pronouncing Dictionary? “Tis dictionary is designed to provide information on the current pronation of approximately 80,000 English words and phrases. For cach entry, 1 British and an American pronunciation is shown {see Section 1.2 below). The pronunciation is given in modified phonemic transeripon, and you need to understand the principles of phonemic 'ranseription in order to he abl o make proper use oF hs information (se Section 2.1 below). ‘The Pronouncing Dictionary provides much essential information that is not avallable in a several dictionary, such as the pronunciation of proper names, tbe pronunciation of all inflected forms ofeach word, anda large amount of detail about variant promunciations than is usual in a ener ditionary 41.2 Whose pronunciation is represented? ‘A. pronouncing ditionary must base its fecatmmendstions on one or tore models. A pronunciation model ia careflly chosen and fefined aceent ofa language Inthe fest edition of this dictionary (1917), Daniel Jones described the type of pronunciation recorded as “that most Ustaly heard in everyday speech in the families of Southeen English persons whose menfolk have been educated at the great public Boarding schools", Accordingly, he felt ble to ‘mode! as “Pubic School Pronunciation” (PSP). In later edions. eg that of 1937, headed he remark that boys in boardine-schools tend to lose theit ‘markedly local peculiarities, whereas this isnot the ace for those in day-schoals. He bad by #925, however, abandoned the term PSP in favour of “Received Pronunciation” (RP). The ype of speech bad in mind had for centuries been regarded as & ‘ind of standard, having its base i the edusted pronunciation of London and dhe Home Counties (the counties sutounding London. Its use was not festiced to this region, however, being ‘characteristic bythe ninetseth century of upper ‘lass speech throughout the coun. The Eton of {he 14th Edhion ofthis detionary, A.C. Gimson, commented in 1977 “Such a deiition of RP is Navy tenable today”, and Weat oa "IP T have aed the traditional, though imprecise, term “received pronunciation’ itis because the label his such wide curteney in books on present-day English and because itis a convenient name for an ‘accent which remains generally acceptable and Ieligible wihia Briain” For this edition a more broadly-based and sccessible model accent for British English is ‘presented, and pronunciations for one broadly conceived accent of American English have been fede, The me has come to abandon the archaic tame Received Promanciation. The model used for British English is what is refened to as BBC English: his isthe pronunciation of professional speakers employed bythe BBC as newsreaders and ftmouncers on BBC? and BEC: television, the ‘World Service and BBC Radio 3 and g, aswell as ‘many commercial broadeasting oganisatons such {5 TIN. Of course, one finds differences between Sich speakers, but there is sill a reasonable consensus on” pronunciation in this group of professionals, and thee speech does not carry for ox peonle te connotations of high social class and pivilege that PSP and RP have had in the past. ‘An additional advantage in concentrating on the fccent of broadesters is that itis easy to gtin ‘access to examples, and the sound quality s wall (oa very high standard For American English, the selection aso follows ‘what i frequently heard from professional voices fon national network news and. information programmes. Is sia 1 what as been termed General Ame", which refers toa geographically (largely non-castal) and socially ‘sed se of pronunciation features. Tis importantto note that no singe dialect ~ regional or social — hasbeen singled outas an American standard. Even national media (radio, television, movies, CD- ROM, et.) with professionally rained voices have eakers with regionally mixed features. However, "Network English’, ints mex colourless farm, cat be described as felatvely homogeneous dialect ‘hat reflects the ongoing development of progressive American dialects (Canadian English thas several notable difference). This “dialect” itself contains some variant forms. The variants included within this trgted aceat involve vowels ‘before, possible diflerences in words like ‘cot ‘and ‘caught and some vowels before V. Iti fully shoe. These differences largely pass unnoviced by the audiences for Network English, and a also reflective of ag differences, What ae thought to be ‘the mote progressive (used by educated, socially ‘mobile, and younger speakers) variants are listed frstin each entry. The Intent sto list the variety of ‘romuncations with the last amount of regional or ‘Social marking, while afill being rensitve to the {til ofthe individ word 1.3 How are the pronunciations chosen? Wisimportant to femembe tat the pronunciation ‘of English words i not governed by strict set of rules; most Words have more than one ‘pronunciation, andthe speaker's choice of which to tise depends on a wide range of factors, These include the degree of formality. the amount of buckground noise, the speed of utterance, the speaker's perception of the listener and the ‘requency with Which the speaker uses the word For example, the two words “virwous’ and *virtwoso” are Closely similar in spelling and shares common erigin. However, the former is more ‘common than the later, and for British English vats. a6 is given asthe fist pronunciation of the former but f'v3:tju-20.sou! for the latter (Guhich in general i ‘Typical of more careful specch)-If such variation did not exist, most ofthe ‘work of comping a pronouncing dictionary could bbe done easily by means of one of the available computer programs that conver English spelling {toa phonemic transrition. Uimately. however, the decisions. about which pronunciation to recommend, which pronunciations have dropped ‘ou of use, and s0 On, have been based on the ‘dior intios as professional phoneticians and observers of the pronunciation of English (particularly broadcast English) over many yeas ‘The opinion of many colleagues and acquaintances asa Been avalthle source of advice Jn genera, © pronunciation typical of & more casual, informal style of speaking is given for ‘common words, and more careful pronunciation Tor uncommon words, In ral ie, speakers tend to aniculate most carefully whea listener are likely to Ihave difficulty in recognising the words they hea ‘When more than one pronunciation of a word is given the order ofthe alerativesisimponant The firs pronunciation given is believed tobe the most usual one although the distance between the alieratives may vary, with some alternant forms fivaling the frstgiven in perceived frequency ‘while others may bea more distant second, 4.4Regional Accents A pronouncing. dictionary hat systematically presented the pronunciations ofa range of regional accents would be very valuable, butt would be ‘very much bigger than the presen volume and the job of ensuring an adequate coverage which treated all accents as equally important weuld have taken ‘many years. In the case of place-name, information about local pronunciations has been retained or added aswell as “official” broadcasting ‘nes, but the other words are given only in the Standard secents chosen for British and American English 1.5 Pronunciation of foreign words ‘Many ofthe words in an English dictionary are of origin, and in previous editions of this dictionary many such words have been given both in an Anglicised pronunciation used by most English speakers, and in abroad phonetic ‘eunscrpton ofthe “authentic” pronunciation inthe origina language. This edition does not sive ‘Phonetic transcriptions of the foreign words the primary aim of this dictionary. is to list pronunciations Tikely to be used by educated Speakers of English, and en authentic pronunciation ‘Would in some circumstances he quite inappropriate (pronouncing Paris" as pei, for example). In ‘some cases the information is unnecessary (very few English speakers would attempt, or even recognise, an authentic pronunciation of a word from a non-European language), while in other cases its diel to establish the authentic original (many African placenames, for example, hive reached us after being adapted by British, French or Poruguese colonists, placenames in Spain may be pronounced in diferent ways according to their ‘gional affiliation, so that the ame of Barcelona ‘ight be given a Catalan or a Castilian Spanish pronunciation, while other Spanish names are (ferent according fo whether they originate inSpain or South America). Words and names of foreign origin are therefore given in what i et ’be the pronunciation most likely tobe used among ‘educated speakers of English Insomecaces its posible to idenilyanaltemaive pronunciation which represents an attempt 0 pronounce in a manner closer to the supposed Cxiginal This is marked by fst indicating the Tanguage which the speaker would be siming a, then giving the pronunciation, using where ecessiy atonal phonetic symbols not required forthe phonemic wanscrpton of English. For ‘example, the word "bolognese is widely used to ‘eer to a sac served with pasta, Tiss given 36 Ibola'nerz) for British English and as ‘pou a'n:z! for American; fr speakers of bat {10ups, a pronunciation aimed st being neater to the ltlian original would be /bol.9'ajet.261" (hough this would sill be diferent from the Pronunciation that would be produced by an alan peak). To indicate that this Inst pronunciation is ‘med at sounding Taian, it is med in the entry ts as f alan: bo. a'njetzet. In afew cases it has been necessary 10 mark separate Britsh and ‘American pronunciations within this Hil, as the degree of Anglicisaion of any given word may vary between Bish and American English 1.6 Usagenotes Usage notes ar included with some words. In some cases these are needed so that_users of the fictonary can understand how atemative [pronunciations are to be used. In some cases the ules needed foe coreect pronunciation are quite Complex, most noticeably in the ease of the so- called “weake-form words” such as “there, ‘he’ Explanations with examples are given in such 17 yllable divisions Earlier edition of this dictionary regularly marked ‘he division benween syllables. Ths practice was largely abandoned in the 14th Edition, but this now ceaition gives sable divisions inal cases ince it isfetrtat foreign lamers willd the information ‘sel. Syllable divisions marked with the symbel recommended by the Intemational Phonedc ‘Association. The decision om where to place & ‘pliable division isnot aloays easy, and the eules ‘sed in this work are explained later inthis Inzoduction Section 26)Part 2: Principles of transcription 2.1 The phoneme princ ‘The basic principle ofthe tanseipton used is, 2s inall previous editions, phonemic. This means that small set of symbols is used to represent the Sounds tat ean be shown tO be distinctive in English, so that replacing one phoneme by nother ccan change the identity of « word. We do not usually add phonetic detail sch as the presence of| ¢lotal stops, aspiration or vowel devoicing. Ie is sual to pt slant brackets before and after symbols representing phonemes (e.g the word “eat” would ‘be opeesented phonemically a ket). When non Phonemic symbols are used the convention is to use square brackets (eg, the glottal stop will be represented a6 [2]. Tn entries in the dictionary ise, however, we do not use these brackets in ‘order to Keep the information simple; only in explanatory notes do we use slant or square brackets. For an explanation of the principle ofthe phoneme and some of the problemi associated with Ti see Roach (1991). Chaps 5 and 13. The use of ‘Phonemic transcription in works om promineision {including this one) has remained in the “realist” dition etalished by Jones, hile aproaches to the phoneme by theoretical phoaologists have changed radially during recent decades and Tpocome much more abstract. There are a few exceptions to our general use of the phoneme ‘principle that should be mentioned ere, however. ‘One isthe use, in American pronunciations, of the I Jdizeiic to indicate the “Mapping” of / in ‘words such as “gelting’ getty), and "better" ‘beta. This sa imporant feature of American ‘pronunciation, bur speakers of British English find Alificlt te apply the rule which determines when Phonemes are lapped. Another isthe use of the {symbols [and [6] the use of which i explained below (Section 2.0) Final its necessary to use a rumor of special symbols which ar nt normally used for English phonemes. This set includes some nsalised vowels used particularly in some words taken from French, he [x] sound found in Scotish wworls such as loch’, and some nom linguistic ‘sounds sed in" corain exclamations and Iterjectons (see Section 2.4). 2.2Vowels and diphthongs vis standard practice in phonetics to represent the quality of vowels and diphthongs by placing them fn 2 four-sided figure usually known as the Cardinal Vowel quadrilateral (ese Rosch (1991), pp 11-14). This device is used in the vowel ‘eserptons in the following setion, (British English lish English (BBC accent) is generally described as having short vowels, long vowels and Aliphthongs. Thote are ssid To” be seven short vowels, Bve long ones and eght diphthongs. At the cd ofthis section some altention is also given (0 ‘iphthongs. + Shon vowels pie pet pat put pot put another + Long vowels: bean barn bom boon burs + Diphahongs: bay buy bey 10 now pe “These vowels and diphthongs may be placed on the Cardinal Vowel quadiateral as shown in Figs. 1-3. should be noted that though each vowel (or diphthong staring poim) is marked with « point (@), its misleading (0 think ofthis asa precise target; the point represents the contre ofan area ‘within which the typical vowel pronunciation fal Fi LAB Bt pwevones KKFi 3 BBC Exh ong phe A fow comments on individual vowels and vowel symbols are needed. The pronunciation of any Tanguage is constanly changing, and a dictionary such a6 this one should reflect sich changes However there isa general reluctance among users ff phonemic wansenption 10 change the symbols seo frequen this causes exiting teaching materials and textbooks to become out of date The following remarks apply chiefly to BBC pronunciation (4) The length of ong vowels and diphthongs is very much reduced when they occur in sylables closed by the consonants pt, tf f, 8, 8, J. “Thus fi in “bea has only about half te engi of in “bead or "ee": similarly fev in “place” wach reduced in length compared with fey in ays" or "pay" () The vowel fa, classified as a short vowel is nevertheless generally engthened before, J, 9, «435m Ths in “bag is considerably longer ‘han fein “back™. The quality ofthis vowel 08 ‘more open than it used to bey and the symbol ‘hight one day be considered preferable. We have retained the fa) symbol partly because it is ‘Phonetically appropriate for the corresponding ‘American vowel (6) The vowel /a/ used t bea hack vowel, andthe symbol was chosen for tis reason. This is no Tengera back vowel, but a central one. Altematve symbols could be considered inthe future (@) Among younger speakers, the fas! vowel has toed to # more front quality, with Tess lip- ‘rounding, paricularly when preceded by ff asm (6) Among the diphthongs, there seems o be & progresive decline in the use of ba, with Jo taking its place (eth pronunciation of the wont “poor as pais increasingly common}. (0 Teiphinongs create some problems. These three ‘owel sequences are generally eld to be composed ‘of one af the diphthongs fe, at, 2, 0, au plus Schwa (eg layer Meta fie” fara), In rich English many ofthese wriphhongs are pronounced svth such slight movement in vowel quality that it is diicle for foreign leamers to recognise them: forexample the mame Ireland, which ie generally transribed /ara.land frequently has an inital syllable which sounds virwally inistinguishable fom fa), It sceme reasonable in this case to teat these sounds as being monosylabie (eq the word "he" isa single syllable, ut in other words and names ransenbed with the same symbols seems necessary 1 insert a syllable division. This is Usually done (@) when there isa. morpheme boundary (ee. “huser ibe.) and i) when the word is ele to be foreign (this includes many Biblical names originating from Hebrew, ¢2 ‘Messiah. Another problem with iphthongs stat before an ‘ef consonant atthe beginning of a following syllable, the distinction betwcen /arof and fa Seems to be neutralised - it seems (o make 10 Aference whether one represents Tesh, irae as Paa.rfi/ara'ettoras anit fa reat since there sno regular distinction made in pronunciation. In general, the practice of this ion sto tansribe sich case asf () American English ‘American English is commonly described as having. lax vowels, tense vowels, and. wide ait There is an issue in the symbolization of the diphthong in the word "home". This has for many years been represented a5 /30/, but in earlier ‘edlions of this and others of Jones? works the ‘ymbolizaton Jou! indicated a rounded int vowel. This ssl the preferred transcription for tte American English diphthong. In onder to preserve compaibiliy with other works, we have ‘chosen to use /au! for BBC English and fou! for Antercan, though it ean be argued that the Inter ‘smbolization would be suitable for both ‘The American fe! vowel is somewhat closer than BBC i, nd seems to be evolving into an even loser vowel in many speakers. Tis used in the same words as BBC /! and also in most ofthe words which in BBC have /at/ when there is no leer‘ inthe spelling, e. ‘pss. ask. The quality ‘of American ais similar tthe BBC ja: vowel t is used in some of the words which have /ai/ in BBC when tere i no letter in the spelling (e.2 “athe, calm’) Ialso replaces the BBC short vowel in many words (eg. "bot, “op bother) “borher* rhymes with “father. American /ou i ‘more open in quality than BBC [ou Tis used whete BBC has /i/(e, cause’, ‘walk’) and also replaces BBC shor Join many words, e-, “long ‘dog’. American /:/ is similar to BBC, but also used where BBC has /jus/ after alveolar consonants (eg "new", ty) Table of English Consonants 23 Consonants (@) British English BBC) + Plsives: p bo t d ik g pin bin tin din kin gum + Afftcaes: fds hain Jane * Frcatves: £ ov 8 8 5 2 fine vine think this seal real s h sheep measure ow Nasals: om ° sung o Lor ow Highe right wet Appronimants i yee “These consonants canbe arranged in table frm as shown below. The layout ofthe symbols follows the principe that, where there are tv consonants ‘which differ only in voicing, they ae placed side by se with the voiceless on tothe left (@) Certain types of consonant havea distinction suc a that Between and this is commonly classed st a distinction becween voiceless and voiced consonants, but the distinction isin fact, ‘much more complex. Consonants usually classed as voiceless are fp, £, Kf, 0,8, fy hy Uff with voiced parmers fb, dy 9. ¥. 8, 3, 5! Since the presence of absence of ‘voicing’ is often less Imporant than some other phonetic features, hs been suggested that instead the terms. fortis (equivalent co voiceless) and Jens (equivalent to voiced) should be used. These term imply that the ‘main distinguishing factors the amount of energy sed in the articulation (ons eonsonans being ‘made with greater energy than lenis). These terms Biebial_Lablodeiel Dental _AMotolar Poatveolar Poloal _Ylar Giant Pixie pb td ko ‘Ait aro Poke fev |SOmOs [ae eC Sie @ | # vet ny a a Tatra 1 ‘approximant Ww Gi iv1 se no used inthis dictionary, since the usefulness of this terminology 48 uncertain. Some of the ‘harsteisties ofthe wo types of consonant are set out below () fsck ee ypiclly accompanied by aspiration (Ge. an interval of breath before the following vowel onset), especially when inl in sessed syllable. Thus, "pin’ is distinguished from ‘bin’ very largely by the aspiration accompanying /P/ However, in the sllable-inital sequences /sp-, ‘ske/: fp, k/lack such aspiration. When V ot ‘nt immeditoly fllow fp... they ae devoiced and. are pronounced as frieatves. Another characteristic of Pik" that is not marked in ‘wanscriptions i glotalization; when one of these consonants is followed by another consonant ts ‘ovr uso Find hat a gloal closure precedes the Jp ti or PK, particulary the sylable im which they occur is suessed. Thus the pronunciation of ‘captain’, “sgh, "'Yorksife’, which are phonemically "kep tint, rar, Mock f2, ould be shown (using the symbol [2] or glow losure) as (keep), [rane], (jo: fo) Similarly in American English “mountin’ has one Pronunciation that could be represented as toma. (@) Voiceless consonants havea shortening effet ‘on sounds preceding them within a sslable. Thus fnthe words right and ride’ (rant and rad) the Aiphthong is noticeably shorter inthe frst word than in the sconds inthe words “bent and bond” (bent? and fbend), both the vowel fe! and the rasa consonant fn ae shorter inthe ist word ‘Thislength differences gotalwaysceasy tobserve ineonnecied speech. (2) The consonant / has two diferent allophones Jn BBC English, the so-caled “clear” and “dark” allophones. The “clear” one (which hasan lke ‘qualiiy) occurs before vowels, the “dark” ene (Gohich hasan /uslike quality) before consonants orbefore pause (6) The consonant 5, dl re usually companied by lip-oundng. (©) American English ‘The consonants ofthe American English mode, at tho phonemic Tevel, may be represented by the Sse boat scheme used fr British Enalish above Similarly, many of de distinguishing. phonetic traits discussed for British English. hold for ormally. aspirated except when immediately preceded by /S/ Glotalizaion preceding and, st Times; replacing the plosives occurs often in api speech. There are, of course, numerous phonetic and phonological differences between British and ‘American English, as there ae within regional and Social varieties within the two political entities, ‘Two ddiferences receive sufficient attention and have atained suficient generality within the two Saieties that hey are represented here. One is phonetic: the “tapped” medial (asin "butter is. transeribed as (Se Section 2. above); the other is" phonological: the presence. in Americ English) of postvocalte a? (a8 in. “farm ‘fosr.m). 1 should so be noted that the Aifference hetveen “clear” and “dark” /V is much less marked in American than in the BBC accent, so that even prevocalic. Min American pronunciation sounds dr to English ers, 2.4Non-Englishsounds Tnadditon othe phonemes of English described above, most English speakers are aware of, nd foften atlempt to pronounce, some sounds of Tanguages other than English. The number of such sounds is small, since most foreign words and ‘ames are Anglicised so that they ae pronounced ‘sith English phonemes. We find the vorelss velar Iticative [x] inthe Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland in words sch a och and names such as ‘Strachan’, The same sound is often used by English speakers for the Germin sound which is ‘watten ch’ (eg, "Bach’ [bare] and the Spanish sound spelt" (2g. Badajoz’ [bed.o'x00] 9, though these sounds are often not rally velar Itiatives, The voiceless lateral frcative[]s found (always tepresened in spelling with 'I')in Welsh ‘words and names sich a -Llanbers'; we give he ‘pronunciation o this sound as to indicate that it Inay be pronounced as © voiceless (4) (as many Bhiish English speakers do), bu alternatively a5 a oiced ane: thus lan’ her sf The dictionary lists 4 few names with more than one ofthese sounds (eg. Llanelid, Most nom Welsh speakers ace Unley to pronounce more than nef] sain a ‘word, $0 We give te proaunciation as /0 for‘ ound after the nial one, The other case which needs special attention is the prontncation of French naslied vowels. Many English speakers atempt to produce something Simla 19 the French vowels, 0,13) in ‘words such as "vin rouge’, “restaurant, * bon. marché, Verdun’Inoction Although many speakers do aot get close tothe French vowels the principle adopted here st use symbols for” English vowels, with added ‘asalisaton, The equivalents re French English 5 @ 2sstress Stress patterns present one of the mos dificult problems in «pronouncing dictionary. One reason for this stat many polyyllabie word have more than one possible stress pater, and one must ‘consider carefully which shouldbe recommended, Secondly, the sires of many words changes in Gilferent contexts, and itis necessary to indiale how this happens. Thindly, there is 0 straightforward. way” to decide on how may diferent levels of ses ce recognisable (Where more than one stress pattem is posible, the prefered pronunciation is given frst and then alematives are listed. Many dictionaries use the ‘convention of representing stress pattems using ‘ashes to represent sylables: thus the two possible pattern for ‘igarete'(cigs'ete and ‘igarete) fan be shown as "and "= This convention hich is sometimes refered to (incorrectly) as "Morse Co”, is used in this work for shor words, sinceitis economical on space. However, in longer ‘words users are likely to find it diffe oieterre Inthe planing of this edition, an experiment was ‘aried out to est this, adit was found that readers (both native speakers and non-native speakers of English) do indeed take less dine to fead word sires pater wen the whole words given, ater ‘han jost a “dashes and dots” pattern (Stromberg and Rosch, 1993). Consequently, words of more ‘when altemaive sess patterns are being given, (6) The most common case of variable stress Placement caused by comext is what is wsuslly nowadays Known as “stes-shift" AS 4 general rule, when a word of several syllables hs tess ‘earthe end ofthe word, and is followedby another word with sess near its beginning, there is & Tendency forthe stress in the fist word fo move nearer the beginning if it conan a lable that capable of receiving sess. For example, the word "aeademic"inisolation usualy haste stesso he penultimate syllable -dem-” However, when the word ‘year follows, the sess is often found to move othe fist syllable 2k. The whole phase “academic year” wil haves primary srs on he ‘word year, so the resting stress paler will be sseademic ‘year (where, ropresenis secondary stress and" epresents primary stress). To make this process eases to undesiand, this ditonary now {ives specific examples in each case where stress shifts possible except where certain pefises such ‘sun produce hundreds of sich enscs. In general, this shift is not obligatory: would not be & :mispronunciationo say academic year However, itisundoubcedly widespread and in some cases is used almost without exception: for example, although the adjective “compact” on ts own is pronounced withthe stress pattern =i the phrase “compact die’ it s virally always pronounced with sess onthe ist syllable (6) Tis necessary to decide how many levels of, ‘resto mark. The minimum possible ranges two: siressed and unstressed. Ths is inadequate for representing English words in a pronouncing Gicconary: a werd such as ‘controversial’ clearly has stesses) on dhe Hrs and third slabs, and ually clearly has sionger stress on the third Syllable han on the fst i therefore necessary to recognise an intermediate level of sess (Csecondary"). The transenption of this word, therefore s/jkon.trvas.f. An argument can ‘be made for recognising yet another level (tertiary stress): in a word such at “indvisibilty’, for example ican be claimed thatthe level of ses on ‘he iid syllable vez is weaker than that on the frst syllale /in, which has secondary stress (primary stress being placed on the pensimate syllable oul) However, inodacing this extra level ‘reales dogioe of complexity that it etter fo avoid. In EPD14 some long polysyllahie words ‘were iransribed with two primary stress masks (eg. ‘eross-exanination’” was given a5 ‘"krosig,zzemu'netjn/): for the presen edition ‘only one primary stress may oecur in a word of compound. (2) Secondary stzesses have only limited ‘ecureace ater primary res: sucha secondary sires is only marked in closed or hyphenaled compound words where the second clement 18 polysylabie (eg. fish,monger. (Suess assignment on profi In words containing 9 peefix such 38, for example, con. de- im, in, secondarystvess is not applied to the prefix where the following (ie, second) sillable is stressed, Examples include ‘imoxiate ‘in'tok st. Ken 8 "tak. (i) Where te prefs is separable, however. 2s inimpossible, variant showing secondary ‘tess on the prefix is listed, as follows Faewpos.a.b) 1m, (Gi) tn al other cases, primary or secondary stress is applied 10 the prefix where appropriate 2.6Syllable divisions ‘The tath Edition of EPD marked syllable division (using hyphens) only when it ws important 19 distinguish between the affeate i) and the phonemes / and /ff ata syllable juncture (eg ‘atchel” 'seetfal! and “nusholl nat-feV However although native speakers may wel find no difficulty in dividing words ito syllables, it Scots that earners of English ave wouble in doing fo, andthe divisions ate therefore marked. Descriptions of suess and chythi are vsually expressed in terms of sabes and so itis helpful to have polyssllabic words clearly broken up into their consiuent sllabes. The sylabilied teansription of apolyslabie word is easier read snd interpret than an undivided one. In edition the ‘itionary is ikey 0 be of interest the Held of speech and language technology, whese syllable divisions can he Useful in developing automatic speech and language analysis systems. A. dot. is used to divide syllables, in accordance ‘withthe curent eommendations of the Intemational Phonetic Associaton (these may be read inthe Journal of she International Phonetic Assocation, Vol.19.2, (1989), pp.67-80, and in the forthcoming IPA Handboot). However, this is not sod where a sess mark occu a these are effectively also sllable division markers. No. completely satisfactory scheme of syllable division ean be produced ~ all sts of rules will ‘row up some cases which cannot be deat with propery: The principles used inthis edition ae st fut below This requires some discussion of ‘phonotactics, the study of permissible phoneme ‘equences. (a) As far as possible, syllables should not be ‘vided in a way that violates what is known of English syllable structure. The "Maximal Onsets Princip’, which is widely recognised) in contemporary phonology, is fllowed as far as possible, This means hat, where possible, syllables Should be divided in such a way that as many consonants as possible. are assigned the beginning ofthe syllable othe ight i one thinks fn verms of how they ace writen in ranscniption), father than to the end of the sable 1 the left However, when this would result in a syllable eradng with Suess Ve, fe lis ‘considered hat his would eonttte a violation of English phonotactics, and the fist (or only) {nervocalicconsonan is assigned to the preceding syllable: thus the word "betes divided bet", whereas beater is divided biz. 197- Inthe case of Unstesod shor vowel, ef and fae aso prevented frm appearing in sylable- ial postion: however, unstresed /V and uf are allowed the same "peivilege of occurence” as fa/ when a Consonant begins a following sllable, and may therefore ceour in final position in unstressed syllables esceptpre-pausally. Thus ina word such 8 develop, the syllable division is fdveL ap (©) Nowwithsanding the shove, words in ‘compounds shouldnt be redivded ylabcaly in {way that does not agree with perceived word boundaries. For example, “hirdvare’ could in theory be divided /ha:.dwveo, but most readers ‘would find this countersnitive and would prefer ‘Phosd.ea!. This pncipe applies to open, closed. 1nd hyphenated compounds 2.7 Assimilation Assimilation is @ process found in all languages ‘which causes specch sounds to be mead in & ‘nay which makes them more similar to their heighbours, A well-known example is that of English alveolar consoanis soch a5 (ty dM, which, when they ae Tallowed by a consonant ‘hich does not hve alveolar place of aiculation, tend to adopt the place of articulation of the following conscnsnt. Thus the A at dhe end of "Toot OU changes to pf whea followed by fin the word “Toothll’, giving. the pronunciation ‘up. bod. A Simla ase is the assimilation of to a following. (for if. cesoting inthe ‘promuncaton of “this ship" a5 /OJip and “this year as /OUs Fl. This assimilation can be onsidered tobe optional, ‘The assimilation of nf is rather special case many English words begin with the pete “in-™ tnd "un sand in numberof eases they ofthese refines is Tllowed by a consonant which is notIntroduction alveolar In some cases it seems to be normal that the dn is regularly assimilated to the place of culation of the following. consonant (cg “inquest” un Kwest), while in others this assimilation is optional (eg. incautions™ may be nea: fas! o tas, fas), Where tis clear that the pret is atached toa word that exists independently, so that prefix and stem are easily separable the assimilation is normally tested ‘optional. When i seems moce like an integral per ‘ofthe word th assimlation s shown as ob igatery ‘The occurrence of assimilation in British snd ‘American English may differ, 2.8 Treatment of i! ‘The accent used for British English is classed as ron-rhoie ~ the phoneme fe) is not wslly ‘pronounced except when a vowel follows it The American pronunciations. on the other hand, do show athote accent, and in general inthe accent described, ffi pronounced where the leer + is ound inthe spelling Wis necessary to show, in British English ents, eases of potential pronunciation of fi, mainly in ‘word-final postion; in other words, itis necessary to indicate, ina werd suchas ea’, that though the ‘word when sid insolation does mot hve in the ‘pronunciation (ka), there is potential which Inrealsed if a vowel fllows (ein ear owner) “This is indicated by giving the transripion 36 ‘a. where the superscript indicates the potential for pronunciation. This is waditionally Known as “linking. A controversial question is that of so-called “inwusive where the phoneme ‘iis pronounced when nor isseen inthe peli Forexample the phrase ‘china and glass wil often be pronounced with Jat the etd of the word ‘hina although this type of pronunciation Is widespread inthe speech of native speakers of the coent deseribed its stil safer not o recommend ito foreign earsers, andi is therefore avoided in this dictionary 2.9 Use of fi andiw There are many places in present-day British and American English where the distinction between i! and fs is neatalisod For example, the nal vowel ‘of ‘iy’ and “seedy” seems tobelong neither tothe Jaf phoneme nor ti. The symbol i iused inthis ‘ease (thought snot, stiedy speaking, phoneme ‘symbol: there is no obvins way 0 choose suitable brackets for this symbol, but phoneme Brackets will be used for simliciy) & parallel argument canbe made forthe distinction between and i! (Guha corresponding ‘neuralised” symbol ft), ‘hough this is needed much fess frequently. This ‘issue, and the iss which fll, ae dicaosed in etal in Roach (1991), pp. 77-78, (a) In word-inal postion, and ado not oceut ‘Word-nal close wowols ae tanseribed wath and Jur unstressed. Wordle und A ae possible both with suessandee’, bamboo") ani without (CHind’, “argue. akhoogh nthe unstressed case it {soten ot posible daw aclesr ine between i and oberween i) an A, ) In compounds such as “basybody” and names such as "Merryweater is permite to occur ‘word-medially, eg. "buspbody" i tamribed PMbrz.iibod.i 9 ‘bz.ibuzdil) and "Merry: weather as mer.i;wed.2° ‘mer iwed.9/ In all other cases word-medialy Vis used when the vowel isunstested, unless a vowel Fllows (see below) (©) The vowel symbols (and fa! oy oscar in frontof aneer vowel symbel i they form part of 2 composite (diphthong.or wiphthong)_ phoneme symbol (¢—./19, val). Otherwise fi o/s used (eg ‘sourying™ Pskar-ian/, “infuenza™ ‘wen 2a. (@ A materrelatedtothis decision concems words “eet "ia The sual ansipion ion ofthe EPD was/is). However, ‘reindeer and "windier” (comparative form of ‘windy"} do not ve identical pronunciations in their final syables in Buitish English (BBC). fn this edition, the alternative J} previously given forthe latter ‘ype of word hat been dropped ‘reindeer is, transeribed as 'reindia/ and “windier as /win 97. The later tanseription, which indicates adferent (close) vowel quality the second syllable of “windit’, and implies & ‘pronunciation with three rater than two sylabls, fs fle to be accurate in terms of conlemporary pronunciation. ‘The long vowels and fa may also occur before ‘ther vowels, but only when ina seessed syllable (eg. skiing’ skizain/, “canoeing” Aka'mu.10), 2.10 yllabic consonants Syllabicconsonanis ae frequen found in English Dronuncation: these are cases where inscad of a expected. vowel-plus-consonant sequence, the consonant alone (sual one off, 11) 8 pronounced withthe hyihmieal value ofa sylabe. (Gee Rosch, 1991, pp.78-82). In EPDr4, syllabic consonants were only marked where there isambiguity in the pronunciation of a word: for trample, in word suchas ‘bot’ he transcription Poni said to imply unambiguously thst the Vis syllabic, whereas inthe dorved form “boting” there may be two pronuncatoes. one with and one ‘without a syllabic Min this instance the EPD I Prefered promunciaion was bot}g/. with Poot given as an alternative (a) The main problem here is how to deal with ‘optional "and "ebligetory syllbicity and. the exmissbility of owes. The mos frequently found fase where an rem may have ) a schwva vowel Followed by aace-syllabi consonant, (i). asylshic ‘consonant not preceded by schwa or (ii) a none Spllabic consonant not preceded by Schwa. For ‘example, “lightening” may be (i) t-t.209/ (i) Mattn.in/ of (ii) Plai.nuy). Such items are teanseribed as la-tn.a/ and lat nu he fist representing cases (i) and (i), in whic there are three ylables apd the second presenting only the Alisyllabic pronanciaion, (i). Tha use. of superscript sch words Such as /la.n.tn/ should be interpreted as meaning thatthe schiva ‘may be pronounoed or maybe omitted while giving its syllabic character to the following consonani () ‘The problem remaining is that of ‘corresponding to the le" spelling form, preseded by any plosive or homorganie fieaive. as in “bottle, wrestle’, Ts not felt tobe acceptable in [BBC pronunciation to pronounce this witha vowel inthe second syllhle, and therefore the superscript sca convention is ot used in such cass: athe, the MV is marked as sllable, Le. The entry for "pati PDO and fr "eel, Ma KY (e) Where 2 word such asthe above caries asi ‘with an inal vowel, ab in “boing, “eyeling’, Speakers intions about the umber of sylables se very divergent, so.no single recommendation ‘ill be adequate. The entry for ‘bot gives the ‘llabic if Uhree-sylable) version of "bouling” 35 the frst recommendation, and it is therefore necessary toad forthe ing form the 10-sllable erative "bot Ley (4) Syllabic nasal are not usual where they would fesult in a nasalplosivesyllbic consonant Sequence (eg. London’, ‘abandon’ must contain feta vowel inte inal lable) 2.11 Optional sounds “The convention wed in EPD14 of rinsing phoneme symbols in lalies to indicate that they may be ‘mite is retained, though used more sparingly. It Intedction is not necessary to give alternative pronunciations that simply follow geoera rules of simplification that apply in rapid speach, For example, pointing ‘ut the possbiiy of omitting the (4) sound in “engine” seems unnecessary, wheres it does seem worth recording. the Tact that some speakers pronounce words such as “nch" and ‘French with final ni wile ors have final nf. There is 2 flference between the ewo eases: the former is & ‘Staightforvard example of elsion, and needs n0 pecal explanation tha refers toa specie werd or class of wor, while the later is particular case of fan insertion or deletion that is resticted to 2 pnicolar phonological environment speakers are Usually consistent in using one or other of the alternative promuncitins i theater eas. 2AZElision ‘Ae mentioned in the preceding section, there are many cases where sounds which are produced in ‘wotde pronounced om thet own, on slow, caret Speech are not found ina diferent tye of speech This i known as lision, and this. dictionary normally doesnot show lions in order o aveid Sekdng&latge number of adtional pronunciations ‘hat are typical of casual speech. It is usual 19 ‘plain clison in terms ofthe Piacple of Least Erfort~ we tty to avoid doing more work than is ccessary, We find lision most commonly inthe Simpliflcason of consonant clusters. A common ‘example the loss of A and fin combination with ater consonants, Examples are “acc badly kt bed (careful speech) raek'be0. (api spe). “strange person’ stremdg'pa: stn ‘port sen catful speech) /sreins'ps:.sn {Go-'pase tn (epi speech) ‘The fecstive is also frequent losin clustersin rapid speech, Examples ae ‘sith place stks0'pers (cael speech) sks ple! rapid speech) Elision of vowels i also found, and agsin this Seems ioe characteristic of apd or casual speech, Examples are ‘philesophy” silos. .f1 as so (careful speech fos. 6:4 lars. rap speech) “persuade /pa'swerd @ p> (care specch)ipswed (epi speech)Inrocion Part3: Explanatory notes In oxder to explain the way in which the information in the dictionary is laid out, several nies are presented Below with explanatory not ‘+ Throughout the dictionary we use the ‘conveationof the cutback bar. erica nel which ‘marks th pleat which a svord is divided so hat alternative endings ean be shown without having to Print the enie word gain + The brackets used for phonemic and phonetic transeriptions are not used inthe entries im the tionary for these of larity. affectation cf ck'ter.Prn,-ik’ Cas Spelling of Main Vaciant Brit ‘This sign indites hac an Ametican pronunciation. Amorian pronunciation follows. pronunciation Huhissigo is nat shown, ‘pronunciation ithe same for ‘British and American affected o'fek.tid -ly -li-ness -nas, -nis if Derive forms ofthe headword (atfeiedly &affetednes) addlle 'ed.]-es -z ing -ip, ‘wd.tmy -ed -d os Cuthack bar Tis shows where Infistions of he word endings ofinfeced forms and ——_Alliflcted fom are derived formsare added tothe shown foreach word. ‘word se‘Adam ‘zed.am Adam's ‘apple ‘Adam's apple | ‘American suess pam for Sires pater for compound word, ‘compound ord British pronunciation Aden in she Yemen: 'e1.°n © ‘ax in Grampian region: 'wed.°n loses indicate where pronunciations clfer according addict (n,) ‘aed.rkt -s- addict (v.) a'dikt -s -s ing - Labels indicate where pronunciation difers according part of speech Adriatic ,e1.dri'et.ik @ -'et - stress shift: Adriatic ‘Sea Example of suess sit when ‘he words used befor noun. advent (A) ‘zed. vent, -vant -s -s x ' “This indicates thatthe word ‘canbe spelled with capital Teter in some contentsAdidas® ‘wd.1.dees: a'dit.des a “This symbol indicates a word isa ‘edema. . Semcon indicates that slteratives dat flow cannot be ‘added wo the pronunciation given aie Acheulean, Acheulian 2'fuz.li.on ee a ‘Varun spelling ofthe word, ali characters indicate that a sounds options. References in introduction Roach, P, (1991) English Phonetics and ‘Phonology, 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press ‘Stromberg, K.and Roach, P. (1993) “The representation of ies-pallems in ‘romuncation dictionaries: ‘Merse-code" vs. ‘onthograpie marking’ Journal of he Invemational Phonetic Association, W233, pp. sss ‘Michaelis, and Jones, D.(1913)A Phonetle Dictionary of the English Language, Cael ‘Meyer (Gastav Prin), Hanover List of recommended reading ‘A. Works principally on British English Brown, G, (1977) Listening to Spoken English, Longman. An introductory book with many insights on connected speech ones, D. (1960) Online of English Phonetics, (Stned.), Cambridge Univesity Pres Tre clastic textbook writen by the original author ofthe English Pronouncing Dietionary. Fist publishedin 1918, but still readable and informative, ge, E, (1984) English Word Stress, Allen and Unwin. ‘Acomprehensve and valuable reaument of Giegeich, HJ.(1992) English Phonology, ‘Cambridge Univesity Press {A theoretical introduction to the phonology of English Gimson, A.C, revised by A.Crutenden (1994) The Pronuncation of English (Sth Eton), Edward Amol, Thebes contemporary description ofthe phonics of English, writen by the person esponsible forthe 13th and 14th editions ofthe English Pronowncing Diconary. Knowles, G.0, (1987) Paterns of Spoken “Enslish, Longman. ‘An intedvetory textbook onthe phonetics of English Kreider, CA. (1989) The Pronunciation of nelish, Bnckwel. ‘Armodem treatment ofthe phonetics and ‘phonology of English, with coverage of “Amerie 9s wells Bish English. Roach, .(1991) English Phonetics and Phonology, Cambridge University Pres. ‘An ntedvetory textbook with practical‘Roach. P (1992) imaducing Phonetics, Penguin, ‘A small encyclopuedi-siyle book giving shoet ‘explanations ofthe main concepts nd terms in phonetics. ‘Wells, J.C (1982) Accents of English, Cambridge Unisersity Press 05 ‘A very detailed and comprehensive account of ‘the diferent accents of English throughout the ‘word Wells 1.C.(1991) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, Longman, Analteratve pronouncing dictionary o this B. American English Bronstein, AJ. (1960) The Pronunciation of “American Englsh: An Intraduction 1. Phonetics, Appleton-Centry-Crots A solid iniediciory book with good level of| eal Cassidy, FG (et) (1985) Dictionary af American ‘Regional English, Belknap Pres, Harverd, ‘Anongoing publication, ach entry isting pronunciations in designated regions Kenyon, J and Knot, TA.(0953) 4 ‘Pronouncing Dictionar of American English GEC. Merion & Co, One ofthe earlier pronouncing dictionaries for ‘American Enis ‘Karat, H. and MeDavid, RE (1962) The ‘Pronunciation of English in the Adan Stats, University of Michigan Press A basic led study of pronuncistion variables ‘onthe East Coast, Labow, W,, Yaeger, Mand Steiner R. (1972) ‘Quan Study of Sound Change in Progress Philadephia, University of Pennsylvania, US: Regional Survey. Technically based insights into the dynamics oF ‘American English pronunciation. “Thomas, C.(1938) The Phonetics of American English (and ed), Roma Pres, New York. ‘A elpulintradasiory overview of basic honetiiphonemic tats. Wolfram, W. (1991) Dialect and American English Prete Hall, ‘A good view of American English nits social and regional contexts ‘an Riper, C. ana Smith, D. (1992) Intedcton 10 General American Phonetics, Waveland Press. A practical workbook