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English Pronunciation: An Introduction to the IPA

June 24, 2014 by Melanie 28 Comments

An Introduction to the IPA | English Teacher Melanie

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a set of symbols that represent all the sounds in a language.

All the sounds that make up American English pronunciation can be represented by symbols.

I strongly believe that all English learners should learn the IPA. I use the IPA in many of my pronunciation video lessons and in the transcripts of the English Teacher Melanie Podcast.

English words are not always pronounced the way they look. An English word doesn’t always tell you how it is pronounced. In some languages, you can read a word and know immediately how the word is pronounced. You can’t do that with a lot of words in English.

However, if you know the IPA symbols that represent the sounds of American English pronunciation, you can look up any word in the dictionary and know immediately how it is pronounced. (There is a list of online dictionaries for English learners at the end of this post.)

 

Vowel Sounds

VOWELS

 

Consonant Sounds

Consonant Pairs

The mouth position for each pair of consonant sounds below is the same, but one sound is unvoiced while the other sound is voiced.

unvoiced = only air comes out of your mouth
voiced = your vocal cords produce a sound

Consonant Pairs

 

More Consonant Sounds

Consonants 5

 

The American R Sounds

 

Here’s where things get confusing.

This is the symbol for the American R consonant sound:
R1
However, in most dictionaries, books & on websites, this is the symbol used for the American R consonant sound:
R7

One of the main differences between British and American pronunciation is that Americans pronounce the R after a vowel, and the British don’t. The American vowel R sound (like at the -er end of brother) is written a few different ways.

When the American vowel R sound occurs in a one-syllable word or a stressed syllable, you will see it written these ways:
R5
When the American vowel R sound occurs in an unstressed syllable, you will see it written these ways:

R6

 

Dictionaries for English Learners

All the major online dictionaries for English learners use the IPA. Use these dictionaries to look up new words. You will know the correct pronunciation by reading the IPA transcription!

Cambridge Dictionaries Online
(Choose American English from the list of dictionaries.)

Cambridge - English

 

MacMillan Dictionary
(Make sure the bottom of the entry says “This is the American English definition of ________.” If it doesn’t, then click on “View American English definition of ___.”)

Macmillan - English

 

 

Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary (American)

Merriam-Webster - English

 

 

Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

Oxford - English

 

Test Yourself!

 

Each set of symbols is the IPA transcription of a common English word. The apostrophe symbol ‘ tells you which syllable is the stressed syllable.

What is the word that each set of symbols represents?

  1. /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/
  2. /ˈkwestʃən/
  3. /ˈtʃɑklət/
  4. /ˈvɛdʒtəbəl/
  5. /ˈθɝzˌdeɪ/
  6. /dʒoʊk/
  7. /jiɚ/
  8. /ˈfeɪsbʊk/
  9. /nɔɪz/
  10. /kɑld/

The answers are in the first comment below.

Filed Under: Blog, Study Tips Tagged With: consonants

Comments

  1. Melanie says

    June 25, 2014 at 6:33 pm

    1. English
    2. question
    3. chocolate
    4. vegetable
    5. Thursday
    6. joke
    7. year
    8. Facebook
    9. noise
    10. called

    Reply
    • Amal Attaya says

      May 10, 2017 at 5:23 pm

      Thanks a lot How a useful illustration. I benefited a lot .

      Reply
  2. Jacob says

    June 26, 2014 at 2:59 pm

    Thank you.. It was an interesting post :)

    Reply
  3. Suradi says

    June 26, 2014 at 5:58 pm

    It’s a very useful post. Thank you.

    Reply
  4. Antonino says

    June 26, 2014 at 5:59 pm

    very useful. You need some time to be confident with them but in a glance you can have a better pronunciation

    Reply
  5. Jonathan says

    June 26, 2014 at 8:10 pm

    Thank you so much it was really helpful Melanie :D

    Reply
  6. Cineas Basile says

    June 26, 2014 at 8:35 pm

    thank you very much teacher.

    Reply
  7. francia says

    June 26, 2014 at 10:37 pm

    Very helpful. thank you so much :)

    Reply
  8. Bony says

    June 27, 2014 at 2:13 am

    very helpful thank u

    Reply
  9. regino says

    June 27, 2014 at 3:13 pm

    it is very important.
    Thanks teacher.

    Reply
  10. raja prodhan says

    June 30, 2014 at 2:42 am

    thanks you.

    Reply
  11. narcisse says

    June 30, 2014 at 11:45 am

    thanks for this course. actually I teach English in secondary school in Côte d’Ivoire most of the student find it very difficult to pronounce English

    Reply
  12. Alfred says

    July 1, 2014 at 12:40 am

    Very very useful. I will continue to use it to improve my pronunciation.

    Reply
  13. Pao says

    July 9, 2014 at 12:18 am

    All People in Thailand don’t understand almost all native english speakers said because They don’t know how to pronounce each word correctly and Thai teacher of English always mispronouce!. Now I’m working with The Education for libetaration of Siam group! I will revolt English teaching.

    Reply
  14. Noor Fatima says

    July 17, 2014 at 12:47 pm

    Thanks a lot my TEACHER

    Reply
  15. Malachie says

    August 18, 2014 at 11:32 am

    Thank you so much for your help. I’m new in USA but I came to learn quickly by learning the pronounciation

    Reply
  16. vinh says

    September 8, 2014 at 11:32 am

    thank you so much!

    Reply
  17. Jean-paul Mulamba says

    October 8, 2014 at 6:11 am

    Thank you! This is an important lesson.

    Reply
  18. Hugo says

    April 22, 2015 at 8:11 am

    Hi Melanie, I am very glad for have found your website on my search for ways to improve my English,and when I compare with others, I dare to say “you are second to none”. Congratulations and a lot of thanks for what you are doing.

    Reply
  19. gulzar says

    August 29, 2015 at 9:42 am

    it very very helpful.THANK YOU

    Reply
  20. Shyam says

    November 28, 2015 at 2:23 am

    Thank you so much. This is an amazing and simple introduction of ipa. Very good

    Reply
  21. N'DENI says

    July 11, 2016 at 9:26 pm

    Hi dear Melanie, I am an ESL Learner from Côte d’Ivoire and today is the first time I came across your website. You are really doing a great job! You are helping us. All my congratulations!

    Reply
  22. José Roberto says

    October 17, 2016 at 8:44 am

    I loved this text because It´s very important know how read and pronounce any word and don´t stay embarassed in public.

    Reply
  23. Alzira de A. Camporez says

    November 14, 2016 at 12:10 pm

    Hi, Melanie !

    I just love each one of your lessons.They`re really dynamic and up to dated.I,ve been forwading them to many other people interested in learning and mastering their English. Thanks a lot . You,re doing an excellent job which I believe is helping learners all over the world. Thanks a lot.

    Reply
    • Melanie says

      November 16, 2016 at 5:55 pm

      Thank you so much for your beautiful words, Alzira! I am so grateful and I am so happy to hear that my lessons are useful to you!

      Reply
  24. Benedict Min says

    March 26, 2017 at 8:03 pm

    I am learning something new every day.
    Thanks to Melanie

    Reply
  25. djeti kouadio ghislain says

    November 14, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    i love your teachings because it’s beneficial and free. thank you so much may God bless you!

    Reply
  26. ayoub says

    February 7, 2018 at 10:17 am

    thank you for the informations
    it was super

    Reply

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