THE IPA

Describing the 44 Sounds of English:

How to read the charts and tables
Describing Phonemes (1)
Vowels
Describing Monophthongs
Monophthongs are described according to:
• Height of the tongue
• HIGH
• MID
• LOW
• Forward or backward position of the tongue
• FRONT
• CENTRAL
• BACK
• Roundness of lips
• UNROUNDED
• NEUTRAL
• ROUNDED
 TONGUE
HEIGHT

HIGH

MID

LOW
 TONGU
E
FRONT FRONT

LIPS
UNROUNDED
UNROUNDED
 TONGUE
CENTRAL CENTRAL

LIPS
NEUTRAL
NEUTRAL
 TONGUE
BACK BACK

LIPS
ROUNDED
ROUNDED
Describing Dipthongs
Diphthongs are described according to:
• Height of the tongue at the start of the diphthong
• HIGH
• MID
• LOW
• Forward or backward position of the tongue at the start of the diphthong
• FRONT
• CENTRAL
• BACK
• Position towards which the tongue moves in the second stage of the diphthong
• FRONT-CLOSING
• CENTRING
• BACK-CLOSING
 MID FRONT-
FRONT CLOSING
 LOW FRONT-
FRONT CLOSING
 MID FRONT-
BACK CLOSING
 HIGH CENTRIN
FRONT G
 MID CENTRIN
FRONT G
HIGH CENTRIN
BACK G
LOW BACK-
BACK CLOSING
 MID BACK-
CENTRA CLOSING
L
Describing Phonemes (2)
Consonants
Consonantss are described according to their VPM
(Voice, Place, Manner) features:
• Voice • Manner of Articulation
• VOICED • STOP (PLOSIVE)
• VOICELESS • FRICATIVE
• Place of Articulation • AFFRICATE
• BILABIAL • NASAL
• LABIO-DENTAL • APPROXIMANT (LIQUIDS AND
GLIDES)
• (INTER) DENTAL
• ALVEOLAR
• PALATO-ALVEOLAR (POST- ALVEOLAR)
• VELAR
• GLOTTAL
VOICED
VOICELE
SS
Describing Phonemes (4)
Consonants: Place of Articulation
BILABIA
L
LABIO-
DENTAL
(INTER)
DENTAL
ALVEOL
AR
 POST-
ALVEOL
AR
PALATAL
VELAR
GLOTTA
L
 Describing Phonemes (5)
Consonants: Manner of Articulation
 STOPS
(PLOSIVE
S)
FRICATI
VES
AFFRICAT
ES
NASALS
LATERAL
S
APPROXIMA
NTS
LIQUIDS
 GLIDES
(SEMI-
VOWELS)
 Charts and Tables
How to make sense of them and use
them for description and identification
Using the charts to describe
sounds (1)
MONOPHTHONGS
Example 1
Describing the English monophthong sound represented by the IPA symbol /æ/

1. Look for the symbol on the vowel chart

2. Is it HIGH, MID or LOW?

3. Is it FRONT, CENTRAL or BACK?

4. Is it UNROUNDED, NEUTRAL or ROUNDED?

Therefore, /æ/ = a LOW FRONT UNROUNDED MONOPHTHONG

Example 2
Describing the English monophthong sound represented by the IPA symbol /ɜ/

1. Look for the symbol on the vowel chart

2. Is it HIGH, MID or LOW?

3. Is it FRONT, CENTRAL or BACK?

4. Is it UNROUNDED, NEUTRAL or ROUNDED?

Therefore, /ɜ/ = a MID CENTRAL NEUTRAL MONOPHTHONG

Example 3
Describing the English monophthong sound represented by the IPA symbol /u/

1. Look for the symbol on the vowel chart

2. Is it HIGH, MID or LOW?

3. Is it FRONT, CENTRAL or BACK?

4. Is it UNROUNDED, NEUTRAL or ROUNDED?

Therefore, /u/ = a HIGH BACK ROUNDED MONOPHTHONG

Using the charts to describe
sounds (2)
DIPHTHONGS
Example 1
Describing the English diphthong sound represented by the IPA symbol /eɪ/

1. Look for the symbol on the vowel chart

2. Does it start from HIGH, MID or LOW position?

3. Does it start from a FRONT, CENTRAL or BACK position?

4. Is it CLOSING (to the FRONT or BACK) or is it CENTRING?

Therefore, /eɪ/ = a MID FRONT, FRONT-CLOSING DIPHTHONG

Example 2
Describing the English diphthong sound represented by the IPA symbol /əʊ/

1. Look for the symbol on the vowel chart

2. Does it start from HIGH, MID or LOW position?

3. Does it start from a FRONT, CENTRAL or BACK position?

4. Is it CLOSING (to the FRONT or BACK) or is it CENTRING?

Therefore /əʊ/ = a MID CENTRAL, BACK-CLOSING DIPHTHONG

Example 3
Describing the English diphthong sound represented by the IPA symbol /ʊə/

1. Look for the symbol on the vowel chart

2. Does it start from HIGH, MID or LOW position?

3. Does it start from a FRONT, CENTRAL or BACK position?

4. Is it CLOSING (to the FRONT or BACK) or is it CENTRING?

Therefore /ʊə/ = a HIGH BACK, CENTRING DIPHTHONG

Using the charts to describe
sounds (3)
CONSONANTS
(Reminder: Consonants are described with the VPM order – i.e.
Voicing + Place of Articulation + Manner of Articulation)
Example 1
Describing the English consonant sound represented by the IPA symbol /θ/

1. Look for the symbol on the consonant chart

2. Is it VOICED or VOICELESS?

3. What is its PLACE of Articulation?

4. What is its MANNER of Articulation?

Therefore, /θ/ = a VOICELESS DENTAL FRICATIVE

Example 2
Describing the English consonant sound represented by the IPA symbol /b/

1. Look for the symbol on the consonant chart

2. Is it VOICED or VOICELESS?

3. What is its PLACE of Articulation?

4. What is its MANNER of Articulation?

Therefore, /b/ = a VOICED BILABIAL STOP

Example 3
Describing the English consonant sound represented by the IPA symbol /ŋ/

1. Look for the symbol on the consonant chart

++
2. Is it VOICED or VOICELESS?

3. What is its PLACE of Articulation?

4. What is its MANNER of Articulation?

Therefore, /ŋ/ = a VOICED VELAR NASAL

 Using the charts to identify
sounds (1)
MONOPHTHONGS

Note: There is no need for the categories of Unrounded/Neutral/Rounded when describing English vowels as
each matches the respective categories of FRONT (Unrounded), CENTRAL (Neutral) and BACK (Rounded)
Example 1
A MID FRONT English Monophthong is represented by which IPA symbol?

1. Look for the MID position on the vowel chart

2. Cross reference point 1 with the FRONT position

3. Look for the symbol in the box where the colours have blended

Therefore, a MID FRONT English Monophthong is represented by /ɛ/

Example 2
A LOW CENTRAL English Monophthong is represented by which IPA symbol?

1. Look for the LOW position on the vowel chart

2. Cross reference point 1 with the CENTRAL position

3. Look for the symbol in the box where the colours have blended

Therefore, a MID FRONT English Monophthong is represented by /ʌ/

 Example 3
A HIGH BACK English Monophthong is represented by which IPA symbol?

1. Look for the HIGH position on the vowel chart

2. Cross reference point 1 with the BACK position

3. Look for the symbol in the box where the colours have blended

Therefore, a HIGH BACK English Monophthong is represented by both /u/ and /ʊ/

NOTE: Because no two sounds can have exactly the same description or identification, it is
customary to refer to both /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ as being ‘NEAR HIGH’. Alternatively, /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ are
traditionally labelled ‘SHORT’ while /i/ and /u/ are traditionally labelled ‘LONG’.
 Example 4
A LOW BACK English Monophthong is represented by which IPA symbol?

1. Look for the LOW position on the vowel chart

2. Cross reference point 1 with the BACK position

3. Look for the symbol in the box where the colours have blended

Therefore, a LOW BACK English Monophthong is represented by both /ɑ/ and /ɒ/

NOTE: Because no two sounds can have exactly the same description or identification, it is
customary to refer to /ɑ/ as having the additional feature of ‘ADVANCED’ which is enough to
distinguish it from its nearest neighbour. Alternatively, /ɑ/ is traditionally labelled ‘LONG’ to
distinguish it from /ɒ/ which is traditionally labelled ‘SHORT’.
Using the charts to identify
sounds (2)
DIPHTHONGS
Example 1
A HIGH FRONT, CENTRING English Diphthong is represented by which IPA
symbol?

1. Look for the HIGH position on the vowel chart

2. Cross reference point 1 with the FRONT position
3. Check in which direction the arrow attached to the
symbol in the darker shaded box is pointing

Therefore, a HIGH FRONT CENTRING English Diphthong is represented by /ɪə/

Example 2
A LOW BACK, BACK-CLOSING English Diphthong is represented by which IPA
symbol?

1. Look for the LOW position on the vowel chart

2. Cross reference point 1 with the BACK position
3. Check in which direction the arrow attached to the
symbol in the darker shaded box is pointing

Therefore, a LOW BACK, BACK-CLOSINGEnglish Diphthong is represented by /aʊ/

Example 3
A MID BACK, FRONT-CLOSING English Diphthong is represented by which IPA
symbol?

1. Look for the MID position on the vowel chart

2. Cross reference point 1 with the BACK position
3. Check in which direction the arrow attached to the
symbol in the darker shaded box is pointing

Therefore, a MID BACK, BACK-CLOSINGEnglish Diphthong is represented by /ɔɪ/

Using the charts to identify
sounds (3)
CONSONANTS
Example 1
A VOICED, PALATO-ALVEOLAR AFFRICATE English Consonant is represented by
which IPA symbol?

1. Look for the PLACE of articulation on the

consonant chart
2. Cross reference point 1 with the MANNER
of articulation
3. Cross reference point 1 with the VOICE (+V)
or (-V) feature
4. The symbol you require is in the box where
all three colours merge

Therefore, the symbol for a VOICED PALATO-ALVEOLAR AFFRICATE is /d͡ʒ/

Example 2
A VOICELESS, GLOTTAL FRICATIVE English Consonant is represented by which IPA
symbol?

1. Look for the PLACE of articulation on the

consonant chart
2. Cross reference point 1 with the MANNER
of articulation
3. Cross reference point 1 with the VOICE (+V)
or (-V) feature
4. The symbol you require is in the box where
all three colours merge

Therefore, the symbol for a VOICELESS, GLOTTAL FRICATIVE is /h/

Now look at the two tables of sounds and example words (pictured in
minature on the following slide. These are available in full size on
Blackboard via the folder pictured below which is filed under Content.
Make sure you can describe and identify all of the 24 consonants and all
of the 20 vowels following the instructions on this PowerPoint.