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IPA: International Phonetic

Alphabet

ENGLISH FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE

EXTRA NOTES #2

EHSAN AKHGARI
OCTOBER 2007

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Introduction

y A system of phonetic notation based on the Latin

Alphabet
y A standardized representation of the sounds of
spoken language
y Consists of 107 distinct letters and 56 diacritics
y Not specific to English

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Usage

y Used by most British English dictionaries, such as:

{ Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Learner s Dictionary
{ Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

y A variation of IPA often used by most American

English dictionaries
{ For example, the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary uses a
phonetic notation which differs in some aspects to IPA, such as
using [sh] in place of [ʃ]
y Rarely used by some other dictionaries
{ For example, Czech multilingual dictionaries use IPA only for
the sounds not available in the Czech language

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Pronunciation

y We will cover the IPA subset used to pronounce the

sounds in the American English language
y For the symbols used in British English
pronunciations, see the References section
y Consonant pronunciations are the same for
American and British variations of English

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Consonants

• /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

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Consonants

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

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Full Vowels - Monophthongs

y /ɪ/: bid
y /ʊ/: good
y / /: bed
/ɛ/:
y /ʌ/: bud
y /æ/: bad
y /i/: bead
y /u/: booed
y /e/: bayed
y /o/: bode
y /ɝ/: bird
y /ɔ/ or /ɑ/: bought
y /ɑ/: body, pod, father
y Note: the vowels /e/ and /o/ are usually diphthongal, so the
transcriptions /eɪ/ and /oʊ/ are also often used.

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Full Vowels - Diphthongs

y /ɔɪ/: boy
y /aɪ/: buy,
buy thigh
y /aʊ/: bout, cow
y /ɪɹ/: beer, here
y /ʊɹ/: boor, manure
y /ɛɹ/: bear, air
y /ɔɹ/: bore
y /ɑɹ/: bar

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Reduced Vowels

y /ɨ/: roses
y /ə/: about,
about focus
y /ɚ/: runner
y /lӀ/: bottle
y /nӀ/: button
y /mӀ/: rhythm

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Suprasegmentals

y Primary stress: ˈ
y Secondary stress: ˌ
{ Example: battleship /ˈbætlӀˌʃɪp/

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Examples – Words You Know

y Little: /lɪtl/
y Divide: /dɪ
/dɪˈvɑɪd/
vɑɪd/
y Computer: /kəmˈpjutɚ/
y Software: /ˈsɑftwɛɹ/
y Technology: /tekˈnɑlədʒɪ/
y English: /ˈɪŋglɪʃ/
y Iran: /ɪˈrɑn/
y Iranian: /ɪˈreɪnɪən/, /ɪˈrɑnɪən/

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Examples – Words You Don’t Know

y Aisle y /ɑɪl/
y Dividend y /ˈdɪvɪdend/
y Militia y /mɪˈlɪʃə/
y Zephyr y /ˈzefɚ/
y Yacht y /jɑt/
y Winceyette y /ˈwɪnsɪˌet/
y Status quo y /ˌstætəs ˈkwoʊ/

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References

y http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA
y http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phoneti
http://en wikipedia org/wiki/International Phoneti
c_Alphabet_for_English
y Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current
English
y Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th
edition

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