The neutrality of this article is disputed.

This is a reference for the consistent documentation of American English pronunciations. Perhaps, if enough people contribute, a word may show pronunciations not just for British and/or American, but for Southern British, Estuary, Austrailian Outback, New York, Los Angeles, Texas, and many others including things like “foreign accent” which would be handy for actors I suppose.

So, just because I write “American”, you don't know if I'm being specific to Texas, or west coast, or what. This page documents exactly what I mean, and I’ll note it as “WEAE” with a pointer to this page. Naturally, many other pronunciations can be listed along side it, as well.

Table of contents

1 Quick Reference 1.1 Vowels 1.2 Consonents 1.3 Odds and Ends 2 Purpose 3 Concepts 3.1 General 3.2 Vowels 3.2.1 Roaming ʌ and ə 3.2.2 ʌ vs. ɔ 3.2.3 Diphthongs 4 Examples 4.1 “I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud” 4.1.1 Footnotes

Quick Reference

These guide words will help you understand what each symbol means.

Vowels

IPA	examples	AHD (http://dictionary.reference.com/help/ahd4/pronkey.html)	Comments
i	bead, seed, pea, lead, queen	"long E" ē
e	pray, gray/grey, stay, grade, fade, jay, paid	"long A" ā	Some dialects always diphthong-ize this sound to some extent, written as /eɪ/. WEAE uses the canonocal /e/ for this sound, though some pronounce it as /eɪ/, /ɛi/, or somewhere between these extremes.
ɪ	bid	"short I" ĭ
ɛ	bed	"short E" ĕ
æ	bad	"short A" ă
ʊ	good	o͡o
u	booed	o̅o̅
ə		"schwa" ə	indistinct sound, see explaination below.
ɚ	bird	ər, ûr	This sound has certain qualities of a vowel, and noting it as a distinct symbol helps to understand the difference between Southern British (r-dropping) pronunciation and American. It also helps guide sylable breaking, in that /ɚ/ is not broken accross sylables. AHD also notes distinct symbols for the sound in "care" /kɛɹ/ and "pier" /pɪɹ/ but WEAE treats the R sound as any other consonant here.
ʌ	bud	"short U" ŭ
ɑ	pod	ä
ɔ	law, caught	ô
o	bode	"long O" ō	Some dialects always diphthong-ize this sound to some extent, written as /əʊ/. WEAE uses the canonocal /o/ for this sound, though some pronounce it as /ʌu/, /oʌ/, /oʊ/, etc.
aɪ	like	"long I" ī	May be pronounced more like /ɑi/. Some dialects un-diphthongize this to /ɑ/ (e.g. Southern Drawl).
ɔɪ	boy	oi	Pronounced more like /oɪ/, but WEAE uses the canonocal symbol /ɔɪ/ for this sound.
aʊ	loud	ou

Here is a trapezoid showing the IPA vowel space, and the placement of symbols within it. The Most of the voewls and combinations happen to make legal words when placed between l and k sounds.

Correction: in the diagram, low/locate is shown as a region-specific diphthong. In WEAE, this sound uses the canonocal symbol /o/. lake should use the canonocal symbol /e/. Lure is shown as a dipthtong in the illustration, but WEAE doesn't treat /ʊə/ as a distinct symbol with a canonocal meaning. It's just /ʊ/ followed by a connector to smoothly articule the /ɹ/. The drawing uses /r/ instead of /ɹ/. Will repost image later...

Consonents

IPA	examples	AHD (http://dictionary.reference.com/help/ahd4/pronkey.html)	Comments
b	bib	b
d	did	d
f	fun, phone	f
g	gate, angle	g	The "hard" G sound
ʤ	John, fudge	j	The "soft" G sound or J sound. In English, /ʤ/ is considered a distinct consonant, though it can also be written as the separate symbols /d/ and /ʒ/.
h	hot	h	In addition to being a normal consonant sound, /hw/ is the same as /wʰ/, the aspiration of the other consonant, as in the difference between "witch" /wɪtʃ/ and "which" /hwɪtʃ/.
ʒ	pleasure, vision	zh
j	yet, soy	y	This does not resemble its role in English spelling.
k	crack	k
l	lip, pail, milk	l
l̩			L with a mark below - The L as a distinct sylable in itself
m	mice, calm	m
n	plan, nice	n
n̩		similar to 'n	N with a dot below - The N as a distinct sylable in itself
ŋ	ring	ng
p	pop	p
ɹ	rest, roar, rear	r	This is the proper IPA symbol for the English R sound. /r/ is the trilled R as in Spanish.
ɾ	thirty		Don't confuse the fishook character /ɾ/ with the /r/. The latter is not used in English. This is a "tap", the indistinct sound that's somewhat like a 'd' or a 't'. This is rare in "well enunciated" speech, since to enunciate the /d/ or /t/ will be clear.
s	sip, fleese, sauce	s
ʃ	should, catch	sh
t	tap, hat	t
ð	this, leather	th
θ	theta, thing, teeth	th
v	very, love	v
w	way, woman	w	When the sound is used in the role of a consonant. As a vowel it's /u/
z	zip, please	z

Odds and Ends

Purpose

The IPA notation allows for either great precision or great latitude in documenting the sounds of a word. If too precice, it encodes the regional accent and uses lots of symbols and modifiers making it hard to read. If used loosly, there must be some statement as to how the “fuzzy” groupings are combined and which symbols are used for the architypes of those roughly-defined sounds. This document serves that purpose.

This is the way I use IPA notation in the words I write pronunciations for. They will link to this document, so the reader will know how I use IPA, exactly.

Concepts

General

This is what the IPA calls a “broad” transcription. Specifically, it doesn’t show nuances of subtle differences in sounds when they are not significant in speech.

By Well-Enunciated I mean that sounds are not dropped or altered. For example, in many contexts the is generally spoken as /ʌ/, barely more than a bare consonant. With full enunciation, it is /ðʌ/ or /ðiː/. ... more and better examples ...

Besides pronouncing vowels differently, regional accents differ in which vowel sounds they merge or which syllables they drop. This description will show the pronunciation without these omissions, as if the word were being pronounced very carefully. It is an ideal, and may only be heard in all its glory when pronouncing words carefully in isolation—in flowing speech sounds will become smeared together, and parts may be left out.

For example, why is carefully enunciated as /hwaɪ/ (the /hw/ is the same as /wʰ/), but in flowing speech it may be pronounced without the aspiration (the sudden exhailation), as /waɪ/. Respecting all these nuances is the very definition of “well enunciated”.

If you had to tell someone one of the two words, cot or caught, without any context around it, could your listener tell which you said? If spoken carefully with the intent of enunciating the word, so it can be distinguished out of context, you would voice a difference between /ɑ/ and /ɔ/, even if in normal speech they sounded exactly alike.

... when more subtlety is needed ...

Vowels

The vowels are based on the Illustration of American English in the Handbook of the IPA. The author of the section, Peter Ladefoged, notes that his documentation was of California English, and other regions are less extreme and have more vowels.

Roaming ʌ and ə

In the Illustration, Ladefoged doesn’t include /ə/ in his vowel space drawing because “its quality varies considerably.” So much for /ə/ being the mid-central vowel, the very center of the space! In this WEAE notation, the symbol ə is used only for a nondescript vowel, just enough there to allow the smooth transition between the sounds to either side. The exact sound is implied by the route of the smooth transition. These are often words that people have trouble spelling because they are not sure what the vowel is! It’s just a filler.

Ladefoged’s chart also shows the ʌ symbol in the middle of the chart, where the cardinal ɐ appears on the generic IPA vowel chart. The cardinal ʌ is to the right (back of the mouth) and farther up (mouth more closed).

After discussing this with others who use IPA, it appears that the common practice is to keep the same symbol even though the sound has changed over time or location, because it still fills the same role in the language. In general, with the broad transcription the symbols should not change but your interpretation of each symbol does, based on your accent.

ʌ vs. ɔ

In this WEAE notation, ʌ is used when filling the role of the vowel in cup, supper, etc. and will vary by geographic region. The symbol ɔ is used when an open-mid, back vowel sound is specifically called for. For example, lug and log sound different if well-enunciated, no matter which coast you are on.

Diphthongs

A similar situation exists with the diphthongs. The symbol is universally written as /ɔɪ/ even though it may sound like /oi/, both ends being more extreme. How you say boy will vary by region, but it should be nearly the same as the diphthong in coil or Lloid. In flowing speech, the two ends of the diphthong will move toward a nice connection with the sounds to either side.

The sounds of the diphthong can vary considerably, with the only real provision being that the glide is in the right general direction and that the six common diphthongs sound different from each other.

Examples

Some extended examples may help the reader.

“I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud”

Transcription and annotations copyright 2003 by John M. Długosz, may use freely with attribution

Written at Town-end, Grasmere. The Daffodils grew and still grow on the margin of Ullswater and probably may be seen to this day as beautiful in the month of March, nodding their golden heads beside the dancing and foaming waves.

I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high over* vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.	aɪ wɑn.dɚd loːn.liː æz eː klaʊd ðæt floːts ɑn haɪ oː.vɚ veːlz æn hɪlz hwɛn ɔːl æt wʌns aɪ sɔ eː kraʊd eː hoːst, ʌv goːldn̩ ˈdæf.oːˌdɪlz biː.saɪd ðə leːk, biː.niːθ ðə tɹiːz ˈflʌ.tɚ.ɪŋ ænd ˈdæn.sɪŋ ɪn ðə bɹiːz
Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance#, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.	kʌnˈtɪn.juː.ʌs æz ðə stɑɹz ðæt ʃaɪn ænd twɪnkl̩ ɑn ðe ˈmɪlk.iː weː ðeː strɛtʃd ɪn ˈnɛv.ɚ ˈɛnd.ɪŋ laɪn əˈlɔŋ ðə maɹ.ʤɪn ʌv ʌ◈ beː tɛn θaʊ.zɪnd sɔ aɪ æt eː glæns tɔː.sɪŋ ðɛɹ hɛdz ɪn spɹaɪt.liː dæns
The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought:	ðə weːvz biːˈsaɪd ðɛm dænsd, bʌt ðeː aʊt dɪd ðə spʌɹk.lɪŋ weːvz ɪn gliː eː poː.ɛt kʊd nɑt bʌt biː geː ɪn sʊtʃ eː ˈʤɑk.ənd kʌm.pə.niː aɪ geːzd, ænd geːzd, bʌt lɪtl̩ θɔːt hwʌt wɛlθ ðʌ◐ ʃoː tuː miː hæd bɹɔːt
For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills&, And dances with the daffodils.	foːɹ ɔːft, hwɛn ɑn maɪ kaʊtʃ aɪ laɪ ɪn veː.knt oːɹ ɪn ˈpɛn.sɪv muːd ðeː flæʃ ʌˈpɑn ðæt ɪn.wɚd aɪ hwɪtʃ ɪz ðʌ blɪs ʌv sɑl.ɪ.tuːd ænd ðen maɪ hɑrt wɪθ ˈplɛʒ.ɚ fɪlz ænd ˈdæn.sɪz wɪθ ðiː ˈdæf.oːˌdɪlz

Footnotes

* Actually written “o’er” in the original.

# Understand this with the normal English word order, “I saw 10000 at a glance.”

◈ “a” is formally [eː] but is often heard as [ə] or [ʌ] in casual speech. In the poem, the [ʌ] sounds best here, though normally the proper form is shown since we are teaching proper diction here.

◐ “the” is either [ðʌ] or [ðiː] depending on what follows.

& Normal English word order: “And then my heart fills with pleasure.”