Pronunciation respelling for English

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Dictionaries and other language reference works usually provide a pronunciation guide for the words that they list. Most current British English dictionaries [1] use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for this purpose. The pronunciation which these dictionaries refer to is the so-called received pronunciation, which is based upon educated speech in southern England. But most American dictionaries, and some British ones, use a respelling system that is more intuitive than the IPA.

The IPA system is not a respelling system because it uses symbols such as ð and θ which are not used in English spelling.

Respelling systems were designed for native speakers of English, and they copy standard English spelling as closely as possible. This makes it unnecessary for the dictionary user to learn the IPA.

Contents

[edit] Traditional respelling systems

The following chart matches the IPA symbols used to represent the sounds of the English language with the phonetic symbols used in several dictionaries, a majority of which transcribe American English.

The works referenced above adhere (for the most part) to the one-symbol-per-sound principle. Other works not included here, such as Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language (unabridged, 2nd ed.), do not, and thus have several different symbols for the same sound (partly to allow for different phonemic mergers and splits).

The full titles of abbreviated column headings in the following table are viewable in interactive media (as opposed to hard copy). Hover over the abbreviations to see the full titles.

Consonants1
IPA K&K SOED A NOAD AHD RHD WBO MECD DPL DPN NBC MWCD MWO COD5 Cham AB Examples
tʃ tʃ tʃ č CH ch c​͡h ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch church
h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h hh hat
ʍ hw (h)w hw (h)w hw hw hw hw hw hw   (h)w – which
dʒ dʒ dʒ ǯ j j j j j j j j j j j j jh judge
x x x x KH KH K​͡H kh - - - - k [k] (χ) hh - loch (Scottish), Buch (German)
ɬ ɬ – ł - - - - - - - - - - - hl - llan (Welsh)
ŋ ŋ ŋ ŋ NG ng n​͡g ng ng ŋ ng ng ŋ [ng] ng ng ng thing
r2 r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r roar
ʃ ʃ ʃ š SH sh s​͡h sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh ship, dish, ration
θ θ θ θ TH th t​͡h th th th th th th th th th th thin, thigh, beneath
ð ð ð ð TH th th̸ th th th t̷h th: th [th] dh dh dh this, thy
j j j y y y y y y y y y y y y y y yes
ʒ ʒ ʒ ž ZH zh z​͡h zh zh zh zh zh zh zh zh zh zh vision, pleasure
Vowels
IPA K&K SOED A NOAD AHD RHD WBO MECD DPL DPN NBC MWCD MWO COD5 Cham AB Examples
æ æ a æ a ă a a a a a a a a ă a ae pat, lad, cat, ran
eɪ e eɪ e(y) ā ā ā ay ay ā ay ay ā A ā ā ey pay, day
ɛər ɛr ɛ: εr e(ə)r âr âr air air air ar ar ār ār eh r care, hair, there
ɑ ɑ ɑ a ä ä ä ah aa ä aw, o ah ä, ȧ ä, [a'] ah ä aa father, palm
ɑr ɑ: ɑr ar är är är ahr aar är ahr är är a​͡r är aa r arm
ɛ ɛ ɛ ε e ĕ e eh e e ɛ e e e ě e eh let, head
iː i i i(y) ē ē ē ee ee ē ē ee ē E ē ē iy bee, see
ɪ ɪ ɪ ι i ĭ i ih i i i i i i ǐ i ih pit, city
aɪ aɪ ʌɪ ay ī ī ī y ī ī y igh ī I ī ī ay pie, by, my
ɪər ɪr ɪə ιr i(ə)r îr ēr ihr eer ir ir ē​r īr ih r pier, near, here
ɒ ɑ ɑ a ä ŏ o o o ä o ah ä ä ǒ o aa pot, not, wasp
oʊ o əʊ o(w) ō ō ō oh ō ō ō oh ō O ō ō ow toe, no
ɔː ɔ ɔ: ɔ ô ô ô aw aw ô aw, o aw ȯ o aw ö ao caught, paw, war
ɔɪ ɔɪ ɔɪ ɔy oi oi oi oy oy oi oy oi ȯi oi oi oi oy noise, boy
ʊ ᴜ ʊə ᴜ o͝o o͝o o͝o u o͝o oo u oo u̇ u ǒǒ ŭ3 uh took, put
ʊər ᴜr ʊ(ə)r ᴜr o͝or o͝or o͝or ur oor u̇r ur oor oor uh r tour
uː u u: u(w) o͞o o͞o o͞o oo oo o͞o ū oo: ü ü ōō oo3 uw boot, soon, through
aʊ aᴜ aʊ aw ou ou ou ow ow ou ow ow au̇ au ow ow aw out, now
ʌ ʌ ʌ ʌ ə ŭ u uh u u ʋ UH ə & ǔ u ah cut, run, enough
ɝː ɝ ə: ər ər ûr ûr ur ur ʉr er ER ər &r e͡r ûr er urge, term, firm, word, heard, bird
ə ə ə ə ə ə ə uh ə ə e uh ə &, & a, e, i, o, u ə ah about, item, edible, gallop, circus
ɚ ɚ ə: ər ər ər ər uhr ər ər er er ər &r er ər er butter, winner
juː ju ju: yu yo͞o yo͞o yo͞o yoo yoo yo͞o yū yoo: yü yü ū ū y uw pupil
ø, œ œ œ ɔ̈ œ œ Œ – feu, oeuf (French), schön, zwölf (German)
y y y: ü Y ü Y – tu (French), über (German)
ɔ̃ õ ɔ̃ ɔ̨ N ôN ôN – bon (French)4
IPA K&K SOED A NOAD AHD RHD WBO MECD DPL DPN NBC MWCD MWO COD5 Cham AB Examples

[edit] Title abbreviations

[edit] Notes

  • ^1  The following symbols have their IPA values in all the systems listed: b, d, f, g, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, v, w, z.
  • ^2  The more precise IPA symbol [ɹ] is sometimes used for English /r/.
  • ^3  Older editions of The Chambers Dictionary used o͞o for ŭ and o͞o for oo.
  • ^4  Nasalized vowel, as in the French phrase un bon vin blanc (IPA: [œ̃ bɔ̃ vɛ̃ blɑ̃]).
  • ^5  Older editions of the Concise Oxford Dictionary used a mix of two systems: the "phonetic scheme" shown in the table above and a system "without respelling". The latter added diacritics to conventional spellings and accepted the following orthographic conventions:
COD variant IPA
ph /f/
kn (initial) /n]
wr (initial) /r/
g, dg /dʒ/ (before e, i, y)
/ɡ/ otherwise
c /s/ (before e, i, y)
/k/ otherwise
ai, ay /eɪ/
air /ɛər/
ae, ea, ee, ie /iː/
ė, ie (final), ey /ɪ/
ear, eer, ier /ɪər/
aw /ɔː/
oy /ɔɪ/
ou /aʊ/
i͡r, u͡r /ɝː/
eu, ew /juː/

[edit] International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a standardized method of phonetic transcription developed by a group of English and French language teachers in 1888. In the beginning, only specialized pronunciation dictionaries for linguists used it, for example, the English Pronouncing Dictionary edited by Daniel Jones (EPD, 1917). The IPA was used by English teachers as well, and started to appear in popular dictionaries for learners of English as a foreign language, such as the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (1948), and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1978).

IPA is very flexible, allowing for a wide variety of transcriptions between broad phonemic transcriptions which describe the significant units of meaning in language, and phonetic transcriptions which indicate every nuance sound in detail.

The IPA pronunciation scheme used in the first twelve editions of the EPD was relatively simple, using a quantitative system indicating vowel length using a colon, and requiring the reader to infer other vowel qualities. Many phoneticians preferred a qualitative system, which used different symbols to indicate vowel timbre and colour. A.C. Gimson introduced a quantitative-qualitative IPA notation system when he took over editorship of the EPD (13th edition, 1967), and by the 1990s, the Gimson system had become a de facto standard for phonetic notation of British Received Pronunciation (RP).


Comparison of short and long vowels in various IPA schemes for RP
word quant. qual. Gimson
rid rid rɪd rɪd
reed ri:d rid ri:d
cod kɔd kɒd kɒd
cord kɔ:d kɔd kɔ:d

The first native (not learner's) English dictionary using IPA may have been the Collins English Dictionary (1979), and others followed suit. The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (OED2, 1989) used IPA, transcribed letter-for-letter from entries in the first edition, which had been noted in a scheme by the original editor, James Murray.

While IPA has not been adopted by popular dictionaries in the United States, there is a demand for learner's dictionaries which provide both British and American English pronunciation. Some dictionaries, such as the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary and the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English provide a separate transcription for each.

British and American English dialects have a similar set of phonemes, but some are pronounced differently; in technical parlance, they consist of different phones. Although developed for RP, the Gimson system being phonemic, it is not far from much of General American pronunciation as well. A number of recent dictionaries, such as the Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary, add a few non-phonemic symbols /r i u əl ən/ to represent both RP and General American pronunciation in a single IPA transcription.


Adaptations of the Gimson system for American English
/ɒ/ Pronounced [ɑ:] in General American.
/e/ In American English falls between [e] and [æ] (sometimes transcribed /ɛ/)
/əu/ This traditional transcription is probably more accurately replaced by /ou/ in American English.
/r/ Regular r is always pronounced
/r/ Superscript r is only pronounced in rhotic dialects, such as General American, or when followed by a vowel (for example adding a suffix to change dear into dearest)
/i/ Medium i can be pronounced [ɪ] or [i:], depending on the dialect
/ɔ:/ Many Americans pronounce /ɔ:/ the same as /ɒ/ ([ɑ:])
/əl/ Syllabic l, sometimes transcribed /l/ or /əl/
/ən/ Syllabic n, sometimes transcribed /n/ or /ən/

Clive Upton updated the Gimson scheme, changing the symbols used for five vowels. He served as pronunciation consultant for the influential Concise Oxford English Dictionary, which adopted this scheme in its ninth edition (1995). Upton's reform is controversial: it reflects changing pronunciation, but critics say it represents a narrower regional accent, and abandons parallelism with American and Australian English.


Upton's reform
word Gimson Upton
bet bet bɛt
bat bæt bat
nurse nɜ:s nə:s
square skweə skwɛ:
price praɪs prʌɪs

The in-progress 3rd edition of the Oxford English Dictionary uses Upton's scheme for representing British pronunciations. For American pronunciations it uses an IPA-based scheme devised by Prof. William Kretzschmar of the University of Georgia.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Such as The Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation Mind your language, by Dot Wordsworth, in The Spectator, November 7, 2007.

[edit] External links

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