What phonetic notation is Google dictionary using?

Question

I think Google dictionary is not using IPA. But I don't know what phonetic notation it is using.

For example, the "y" in prefix "hypo" is pronounced differently with following phonetic notation in Google:

hy·poc·ri·sy, noun /hiˈpäkrisē/ 

hy·po·ten·sion, noun /ˌhīpəˈtenSHən/

I don't know how to understand it either. I know about IPA, so it will also be helpful if there is some online material for interpretation of the phonetic notation in terms of IPA.

Answer 1

The ī symbol used in Google's rendition of hypotension is a simplified form commonly used in dictionaries. The bar on top implies it's a "long" vowel, even if you don't know IPA.

The "full" IPA form could be ɑe aɪ ɔɪ əi aː ai, or ɑ depending on whether you're British, American, Australian, Canadian, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, or whatever. You can see why Google would rather not get bogged down with all that.

Dictionaries usually include a full list of these simplified forms with examples somewhere at the front or back of the book, and often they list some of the most common ones at the bottom of each page for easy reference.

Certainly my British Collins and Chambers both use the same symbol as Google here, but I'm afraid I don't know a formal name for the entire symbol set. In fact, I rather doubt there is one, since obviously the whole reason IPA was created was to standardise things. That's when it got complicated because if you want to accurately show pronunciation, suddenly you need a whole bunch of additional symbols for something as simple as the vowel sound in sigh (sigh).

Answer 2

It is quite unlikely that Google does maintain any dictionary of its own. They are in the business of online advertising and not English language. (Though, of course, the language itself would hold immense value for their principle offering.)

However, meaning and definitions on Google can be obtained by searching define: <word or phrase> command in their principle search engine. The results returned are bot (automatic) based aggregations from various well known dictionary websites and/or products and not essentially populated by Google.

You will need to refer to the practices adopted by the original owner of the dictionary content. This wiki entry notes:

• Collins COBUILD
• Oxford American College Dictionary
• Oxford Pocket Dictionary

as some of the sources used by Google for its dictionary.

The phonetics notation used will, therefore, depend on the word and from which provider it is sourced, Sadly, there is no way, as of now, to know that.

While Oxford is known to be IPA conformant, This wiki entry notes that COBUILD does deviate from it. You will need a little bit hard work and hard guessing, I guess, but you should get hold of it sooner than later.