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Phonetic alphabets reference

The IPA column contains the symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet, as used in phonemic transcriptions in
modern English dictionaries.
The ASCII column shows the corresponding symbol in the Antimoon ASCII Phonetic Alphabet, which can be used to
type the pronunciation of words on a computer without the use of special fonts.
For a full description of the alphabets + audio recordings of the sounds, visit www.antimoon.com/ipa

vowels
IPA
ASCII
U

^
@9

a:

@
?

..
d

e
29q

e:(r)
H

i
h9

i:
P

o
N9

o:
T

u
t9

u:
`H

ai
`T

au
Ou
nT/?T

d?q

e..(r)
dH

ei
H?q

i..(r)
nH

oi
T?q

u..(r)

special symbols
IPA
ASCII
!

q

'

(r)

i(:)

k

-k-

m

-m-

examples
cup, luck
arm, father
cat, black
away, cinema
met, bed
turn, learn
hit, sitting
see, heat
hot, rock
call, four
put, could
blue, food
five, eye
now, out
go, home
where, air
say, eight
near, here
boy, join
pure, tourist

consonants
IPA
ASCII
b
b
d
d
f
f
g
g
h
h
j
j
k
k
l
l
m
m
n
n
M
N
p
p
r
r
s
s
R
S
t
t
sR
tS
S
th
C
TH
v
v
w
w
z
z
Y
Z
cY
dZ

examples
bad, lab
did, lady
find, if
give, flag
how, hello
yes, yellow
cat, back
leg, little
man, lemon
no, ten
sing, finger
pet, map
red, try
sun, miss
she, crash
tea, getting
check, church
think, both
this, mother
voice, five
wet, window
zoo, lazy
pleasure, vision
just, large

meaning
! is placed before the stressed syllable in a word. For example, the noun contract
is pronounced .!jPmsqjs., and the verb to contract is pronounced .j?m!sqjs..
.j`9q. means .j`9q. in American English and .j`9. in British English.
.h. means .h. or .H. or something in between.
Examples: very .!udqh., ability .?!aHkHsh., previous .!oqh9uh?r..
?
. k. shows that the consonant .k. is pronounced as a syllable. This means that
there is a short vowel (shorter than the .?. sound) before the consonant.
?
?
Examples: little .!kHs k., uncle .!UMj k..
?
. m. shows that the consonant .m. is pronounced as a syllable.
?
?
Examples: written .!qHs m., listen .!kHr m..