Confused about English pronunciation? Discover the different English phonemes and their groups. Hear the examples, feel free to repeat them, and, of course, enjoy the spellings! Image: Ultra_Nancy, Pixabay.
Vowels
Short Vowels
Long Vowels
Wise Vowels
Fairy Vowels
/a/
/eɪ/
/ɑː/
/ɑː/
/ɛ/
/iː/
/aʊ/
/ɛə/
/ɪ/
/ɑɪ/
/ɔɪ/
/ɪə/
/ɔ/
/əʊ/
/ɔː/
/ɔː/
/ɐ/
/jʉː/
/ʉː/
/ʊə/
/ʊ/
/ɜː/
/ə/
Vowels may be monophthongs, e.g. /a/, or diphthongs, e.g. /eɪ/. They may be lax vowels, e.g. /ɛ/, or tense vowels, e.g. /iː/. Vowels may be supported by a semivowel, e.g. /jʉː/.
English vowels can be divided into four didactic groups:
Short vowels are the lax monophthongs, including the schwa.
Long vowels are tense monophthongs and diphthongs culturally perceived as “long” vowels. They are the alphabet names of the vowels.
Wise vowels are the other tense monophthongs and diphthongs.
Fairy vowels are the R-controlled tense monophthongs and diphthongs in non-rhotic accents. Some vowels are both wise and fairy.
Short Vowels
/a/
Pat short a
apple, that, man, thank, have, carrot
/ɛ/
Tess short e
egg, lemon, fresh, get, bread, lettuce, well
/ɪ/
Nick short i
drink, milk, is, in, this, busy, orange, lettuce
/ɔ/
Bob short o
pop, rock, cod, orange, what, want, sausage
/ɐ/
Doug short u
much, up, other, come, love, honey, country
/ʊ/
Brooke old u
put, push, woman, good, book, should, would
/ə/
Jacob schwa
about, pepper, banana, lemon, sugar, pyjamas
/i/
Amynew i
very, many, eerie, studies, unity, eulogy
Long Vowels
/eɪ/
Jane long a
name, cake, great, day, wait, eight
/iː/
Pete long e
meet, meat, people, priest, sardine, compete
/ɑɪ/
Mike long i
lime, rice, wine, pilot, buy, try, high, height
/əʊ/
Rose long o
nose, coat, know, cold, toe, soul, don’t
/jʉː/
Hugh long u
use, pupil, music, new, few, beauty, you
Wise Vowels
/ɑː/
Mawise a
last, after, half, father, plant, aunt, can’t
/aʊ/
Tauwise ow
how, now, town, brown, mouth, loud, out
/ɔɪ/
Joywise oy
oil, boy, join, employ, lawyer, enjoy, soya
/ɔː/
Maud true o
tall, salt, water, broad, sauce, daughter, saw
/ʉː/
Luke true u
rule, blue, moon, food, fruit, shoe, to, do
Fairy Vowels
/ɑː/
Mark wise a
car, park, farm, heart, clerk, large
/ɛə/
Claire eerie e
air, hair, care, heir, wear, where, prayer
/ɪə/
Keireerie i
ear, hear, here, beer, tier, dear, engineer
/ɔː/
George true o
fork, pork, corn, gorse, coarse, course, port
/ʊə/
Nooreerie u
poor, tour, sure, moor, rural, tourist, pure
/ɜː/
Bert wise e
nerve, learn, girl, work, turn, word, journey
The four groups feature the following special vowels:
The schwa is the unstressed indeterminate central vowel.
The true [long] o is the tense version of the BOB-vowel.
The true [long] u is the HUGH-vowel without semivowel support.
The old [short] u is the old version of the short u.
The new [short] i is a new suffixal version of the short i.
Consonants
Strong
Weak
Wise
/p/
/b/
/m/
/t/
/d/
/n/
/k/
/g/
/ŋ/
/tʃ/
/dʒ/
/j/
/f/
/v/
/w/
/θ/
/ð/
/ɹ/
/s/
/z/
/l/
/ʃ/
/ʒ/
/ɫ/
/h/
English consonants can be divided into three didactic groups:
Strong consonants (fortes) are voiceless and often aspirated, both plosive and fricative.
Weak consonants (lenes) are voiced and unaspirated, both plosive and fricative.
Wise consonants are the nasals and approximants. /j/ and /w/ are semivowels.
hat, hot, hut, hate, heat, height, hoot, heart, hurt
Weak Consonants
/b/
Bess bee
bake, bread, about, cabbage, grab, rub
/d/
Don dee
did, doctor, drug, radish, sudden, said
/g/
Guy guee
goes, grape, again, beggar, drug, egg
/dʒ/
Jean jess
jam, judge, large, genious, angina, legion
/v/
Val vee
vet, vast, avoid, convey, have, love, clove
/ð/
they thee
this, then, rather, whether, with, blithe, paths
/z/
Zack zee
zoo, jazz, possess, cousin, rose, loves, toys
/ʒ/
beigegenre
gendarme, aubergine, genre, vision, pleasure
Wise Consonants
/m/
Matt mee
milk, music, summer, cucumber, lamb, jam
/n/
Nat nee
nice, honey, can, corn, can’t, runner, tender
/ŋ/
Bingwing
singer, English, thinker, link, wrong, song
/j/
York yes
yacht, year, yeast, yesterday, young, youth
/w/
Wes wee
water, was, west, woman, weight, wheat, why
/ɹ/
Ruth ree
red, bread, carrot, orange, berry, porridge
/ɹ/
Bearare
car, hair, beer, fork, moor, work, pepper
/l/
Lou lee
lemon, black, palace, salad, fallen, play
/ɫ/
Jillell
ball, shall, feel, felt, kale, male, soil, soul
The three groups feature the following special cases:
In the wise group, the are is the pronounced final ree in rhotic accents. Rhotic accents do not have fairy vowels. Instead, are is added to short vowels, which may be lengthened.
In the wise group, the ell is the velarised final lee, called dark L in constrast to lee as the light L.
In the strong group, the consonant loch as the velar /x/ is of limited occurrence.
Silent Letters
∅
silent e
make, those, petite, come, every, tense, active
∅
muffled schwa
different, monastery, nation, vision, question
∅
no consonant
lamb, sign, hour, high, know, half, psycho, sword
Phonetic Literacy
Graphic Alphabet
Phonetic Alphabet
b
bee
/b/
bee
c
cee
/tʃ/
chee
d
dee
/d/
dee
f
eff
/f/
fee
g
gee
/g/
guee
h
eitch
/ʒ/
genre
j
jay
/h/
hee
k
kay
/dʒ/
jess
l
ell
/k/
kee
m
em
/l/
lee
n
en
/ɫ/
ell
p
pee
/m/
mee
q
cue
/n/
nee
r
are
/ŋ/
wing
s
ess
/p/
pee
t
tee
/ɹ/
ree / are
v
vee
/θ/
thin
w
double-u
/s/
ess
x
eks
/ʃ/
shee
y
why
/t/
tee
z
zed
/ð/
thee
/v/
vee
/w/
wee
/j/
yes
/z/
zee
The graphic alphabet contains the names of the written letters. The phonetic alphabet contains the didactic names of phonemes as the “spoken letters.”
Not every written letter has a specific spoken counterpart, and vice-versa. For example, the written cee can represent the spoken kee and *ess, among others. The spoken shee can be rendered with numerous written letters.
When written and spoken letters have the same name, an asterisc may be used before the latter: ess refers to written s, while *ess refers to spoken /s/.
The English Phonetic Alphabet
Vowels
Consonants
/a/
short a | pat
/b/
bee
/eɪ/
long a | jane
/tʃ/
chee
/ɑː/
wise a | ma
/d/
dee
/ɛ/
short e | tess
/f/
fee
/iː/
long e | pete
/g/
guee
/ɜː/
wise e | bert
/ʒ/
genre
/ɛə/
fairy e | claire
/h/
hee
/ə/
schwa | an
/dʒ/
jess
/ɪ/
short i | nick
/k/
kee
/i/
new i | amy
/l/
lee
/ɑɪ/
long i | mike
/ɫ/
ell
/ɪə/
fairy i | keir
/m/
mee
/ɔ/
short o | bob
/n/
nee
/əʊ/
long o | rose
/ŋ/
wing
/ɔː/
true o | maud
/p/
pee
/ɐ/
short u | doug
/ɹ/
ree
/ʊ/
old u | brooke
/θ/
thin
/jʉː/
long u | hugh
/s/
ess
/ʉː/
true u | luke
/ʃ/
shee
/ʊə/
fairy u | noor
/t/
tee
/aʊ/
wise ow | tau
/ð/
thee
/ɔɪ/
wise oy | joy
/v/
vee
/ɑː/
wise a | mark
/w/
wee
/ɔː/
true o | george
/j/
yes
/z/
zee
/ɹ/
are
English pronunciation is not uniform. This alphabet represents a subjective perception of British received pronunciation without allophones (with few exceptions).
This alphabet may be used as a didactic starting point for phonetic literacy. It does not lay any normative claim on English pronunciation.
Spelling Words
ship
ess eitch i pee
/ʃɪp/
shee nick pee
chicken
cee eitch i cee kay e en
/tʃɪkɪn/
chee nick kee nick nee
wrong
double-u are o en gee
/rɔŋ/
ree bob wing
heart
eitch e a are tee
/hɑːt/
hee mark tee
measure
em e a ess u are e
/mɛʒə/
mee tess genre an
action
a cee tee i o en
/akʃən/
pat kee shee an nee
nation
en a tee i o en
/neɪʃən/
nee jane shee an nee
judge
jay u dee gee e
/dʒɐdʒ/
jess doug jess
their
tee eitch e i are
/ðɛə/
thee claire
thrall
tee eitch are a double-l
/θɹɔːɫ/
thin ree maud ell
prayer
pee are a why e are
/pɹɛə/
pee ree claire
prayer
pee are a why e are
/pɹɛɹ/
pee ree tess are [rhotic]
The examples are spelt graphically and phonetically. Being able to spell words phonetically will improve your phonetic understanding (native speakers) and pronunciation skills (non-native speakers). It is an important tool for teachers.
The letter names in the English phonetic alphabet serve a didactic purpose. They do not provide a scientific description of phonemes. The vowels are called after given names. The schwa is called after the unstressed article an.