Questions tagged [ipa]
International Phonetic Alphabet(IPA)
117 questions
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American English 'mouse': /maʊs/ or /mæʊs/?
In general American English, is the word 'mouse' pronounced /maʊs/ or /mæʊs/ with an 'æ'? I think it's the latter. Most online dictionaries, even Wiktionary give the former notation. Which is the ...
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Anyone else with this place of articulation of their rhotic sound? [duplicate]
As my question implies, I have an unusual manner of articulation for my rhotic sound, and I wonder if anyone else shares it: my rhotic sound is formed by bringing my bottom lip up so that my top teeth ...
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What's the difference between ɔ & ɒ? [duplicate]
What is the difference between ɔ and ɒ? Would bɔl and bɒl both be "ball"? (I'm talking about in standard American English.)
I saw this similar question but it hasn't had any answers for ...
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Merriam Webster vs Oxford Languages Dictionary phonetic transcriptions of 'man'
I've noticed that in MW words "now" and "man" have the same middle sound (ˈnau̇ vs ˈman), but in Oxford dictionary these two words have two different sounds (naʊ vs mæn). So which ...
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Pronunciation difference between "night rate" and "nitrate"
On English allophones on Wikipedia, there is an example of the pronunciation differences between "night rate" and "nitrate",
Night rate: unreleased [ˈnʌɪt̚.ɹʷeɪt̚] (without a word ...
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How does one show in IPA that the first sound in "get" and "got" is different?
So one has that "get" /ɡɛt/ and "got" /ɡɒt/ are a minimal pair, for it's only the vocalic phoneme which distinguishes them. However, the first sound is not pronounced/articulated ...
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In IPA transcription, what is the difference between “ɪ”, "i", “i:”?
What is the difference between “ɪ”, "i", “i:”?
Are these two same “ɪ”, "i" and won't be wrong if interchanged while transcripting?
For example: Is it correct to write either /ʃɪp/ ...
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Pronunciation of Emma and Emma's
According to Wiktionary, Emma is pronounced as /ˈɛmə/ but I tend to hear it sounding more like /ˈɛmɑː/. However, when it comes to pronouncing Emma's, I hear it like /ˈɛməz/ and I hear a clear schwa ...
FinAnalyst
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Why does Oxford American English dictionary use "y" symbol instead of "j"
Oxford American English dictionary uses "y" symbol instead of "j" in their pronunciation guide. Most other dictionaries use j. So are there any differences between the 2 symbols or ...
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Do any speakers have contrastive vowel qualities for the NURSE and lettER sets?
John Wells’ lexical sets are usually useful classifications for determining differences in the realizations of vowels across English accents. Two of the sets are the NURSE set, referring to a stressed ...
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L-epenthesis in “both” and other words
I’m a younger speaker from Chicago with some version of a General American accent. I’ve noticed that a small number of words seem to have a nonstandard pronunciation with an inserted lateral sound, ...
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Rounding of the START and PALM vowels
I’m a younger speaker from Chicago with a relatively standard General American accent. I have noticed that the vowels in the words “start” and “palm” sound like they have some lip rounding in my ...
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Possibility of a near-cure or peer-pure vowel merger in American English
I am a young speaker from Chicago with, I think, a relatively nonspecific General American accent. I’ve noticed something interesting with the vowels in the NEAR and CURE sets. These vowels can be ...
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Do British and American English speakers pronounce /ɪ/ differently?
I'm not a native speaker of English, but I'm pretty fluent in Received Pronunciation.
I've recently noticed that the way Americans make the sound /ɪ/ is different from the way I, and RP speakers in ...
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Is /ʌ/ really a stressed schwa, appearing only in stressed syllables?
If /ʌ/ occurs only in stressed syllables, why does punctilious /pʌŋkˈtɪliəs/ have it in an unstressed syllable? Same with upbraid /ʌpˈbreɪd/.
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When is it OK to pronounced a voiced th like a /d/ instead of a /ð/?
As I learned in Do native speakers really always pronounce the voiced th as a /ð/? native speakers sometimes pronounce the voiced th as a /d/ instead of a /ð/ like in the words "the", &...
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Do native speakers really always pronounce the voiced th as a /ð/? [closed]
In Can we pronounce the 'th' sound as a d? one answer explained that native speakers often don't pronounce the voiced th excactly like how it ideally should sound.
What I have noticed over ...
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Phonetic symbol - superscript h in Which [duplicate]
Q1) What is the meaning of the small h (superscript h) in the phonetic symbols of which shown in Collins?
ʰwɪ̠tʃ
the small h means 'complete silence' (= just ignore h)
the small h means 'pronounce ...
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General American: very as / ˈvɛɹi / or / ˈveɹi /, more as / ˈmɔɹ / or / ˈmoɹ /, and chair as / t͡ʃɛəɹ / or / t͡ʃeəɹ / [duplicate]
I read this comment on Youtube.
is it possible that the sound / ɹ / tends to close the vowels that
precede it? For example, at least to me, [very] / ˈvɛɹi / sounds more
like / ˈveɹi /, [more] / ˈmɔɹ /...
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I pronounce initial R's with my upper teeth on the very bottom of my inside lower lip. Not rhotic. What's the IPA for this?
The Wikipedia page "Pronunciation of English /r/" doesn't mention an option for pronouncing R where the upper teeth are really, really at the bottom of the inside lower lip, practically ...
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pronunciation of the 'ous' in dangerous
When I look up the word dangerous, the IPA spellings almost always show up as /ˈdānj(ə)rəs/
Maybe it's regional (Southern Ontario), but I don't encounter that pronunciation lot. And I probably use it ...
user438665
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The pronunciation of "sciurine" (pertaining to squirrels)
I am intrigued by the pronunciation for the adjective "sciurine", meaning of or pertaining to the the family of Sciuridae (squirrels and similar rodents).
In Wiktionary, the pronunciation in ...
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Is the underlying form of "n" /n/ or /ŋ/ in words ending in -nk?
There are lots of words ending in -nk in Modern English. In (almost) all those words, the -nk is pronounced [-ŋk]. My understanding is that the "n" in spelling represented [n] originally but ...
user387044
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What is the technical description of the pronunciation of the "t" in "countdown"?
I've looked up the pronunciation of "countdown" in a few different dictionaries and they all give it as some variation of
/ˈkaʊntˌdaʊn/.
However, the "t" is clearly not pronounced ...
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Primary and secondary stress in IPA transcriptions on Cambridge Dictionary when two words are involved
I am trying to understand IPA transcriptions in https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/ when two words are involved. In particular, their rationale for changing some stresses, compared to the stresses in ...
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What does a bracketed sound mean in the IPA transcription of a word?
I noticed that some words have a bracketed sound in their transcriptions in some dictionaries, for example, see the following from Lexico:
locate - /lə(ʊ)ˈkeɪt/
open - /ˈəʊp(ə)n/ (I assume here the ...
user387044
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Is the short-e pronounced as [e] or [ɛ] in standard English? [duplicate]
In many English dictionaries, I saw the phonetic symbol of short-e is /e/ such as in bed (/bed/). However, I'm taught that the pronunciation of that is /ɛ/. Which one is right in standard English? ...
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Opposition between the LOT vowel and the STRUT vowel
I've noticed that some UK accents have the LOT vowel in words like nothing, none or one, whereas others have the STRUT vowel. The Lexico and Cambridge online dictionaries only give the STRUT ...
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Are English diphthongs nasalized before nasals?
I learned that vowels are often nasalized before nasals (Nasalization). It means that the velum is lowered when the vowel is produced in the mouth and most of the air comes out through nose. For ...
user387044
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What's the difference between /t̬/ and /ɾ/ in American English?
I have learned that the t between vowels in American English is usually an alveolar flap, represented by /ɾ/, which is the voiced counterpart of the usual /t/.
Cambridge Online Dictionary gives /ˈbet̬....
user387044
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What is the difference between [ɐ] and [ʌ]?
In a similar question which asks the difference between /ə/ and /ʌ/, I learned that /ʌ/ occurs in stressed syllables. Now there is another similar vowel sound: /ɐ/ which also occurs in stressed ...
user387044
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What is the difference between /ʌɪ/ and /aɪ/ in English?
Is there any difference between the two diphthongs in English IPA transcriptions?
If I search a word in the Cambridge dictionary, it gives /aɪ/ for both UK English and US English.
For example, the ...
user387044
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"Floh-ree-dah" rather than "Flor-duh"
I am writing an effigy poem homaging Ponce De Leon, "discoverer" of La Florida in 1513 and though it is being written in English (Early modern English), I am very adamant on having "...
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How to pronounce IPA "/rɑːp/"? (Old English)
I'm making a video which includes some information about the ancient Saxon and Norman political organization of the English county of Sussex. One thing I am stuck on is the Old English pronunciation ...
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Does /ɛ/ have more than one sound?
As a non-native speaker, I hear /ɛ/ as two different sounds depending on the word.
The first sound seems to occur in words such as bet and get and is closer to an /æ/ sound, while the second one ...
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How would you transcribe and/or describe this vowel?
I'm analyzing the /æ/ vowel sound (also known as 'short A') found in words like cat, dad, or man. I am particularly interested in how that sound is realized in different dialects of American English ...
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What is the difference between /a/ and /æ/?
I don't quite understand the difference between /a/ and /æ/.
Google gives the transcription for 'add' as /ad/, while Wiktionary returns /æd/.
Are these sounds actually distinct or is this just two ...
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What is the difference between /ʊ/ and /ʌ/ in British English?
/ʌ/ cut, hut, bun, nothing, love, enough, flood, does
/ʊ/ put, soot, foot, good, look, cook
To me the ʌ is a more short, low front (unrounded?) vowel, but the vowel /ʊ/ which sounds like "uh" is a ...
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Why don't you [tʃʊ]
What phonological processes take place in the pronunciation of Why don't you as as just [tʃʊ]?
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Why is [ɚ] used instead of [əɹ] in IPA phonetic transcriptions of English words?
Is there any pronunciation difference between both? Shouldn't IPA use one symbol per phonem/allophone? Curiously, this happens with the schwa, but not with "true" vowels, eg the A in car [kɑɹ].
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I am looking for a reverse API tool
I'm looking for a tool for write the sound of the word (phonetic) and have all the words that have that sound.
It's very usefull when people don't use the good sounds or to know what a native speaker ...
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Is the word "I'm" pronounced like /əm/, instead of /aɪm/, when it is unstressed? [closed]
Is the word "I'm" pronounced like /ʌm/ or /əm/, instead of /aɪm/, when it is unstressed?
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Transcription and pronunciation of the 'un-' prefix in General American English
What's the correct transcription and pronunciation of the 'un-' prefix in General American English?
Cambridge Online dictionary provides the following transcription: /ʌn/
It's the same in words with ...
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How do you pronounce the word Shaman?
I found 2 American pronunciation samples on Forvo, and they said /ˈʃæmən/ (audio), I wonder if British people say /ˈʃeɪmən/ (audio), or not? Could you please tell me something about that?
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IPA confusion for 'Aegis'
Merriam-Webster says: \ˈē-jəs \ or \ˈā-jəs\
Cambridge says: /ˈiː.dʒɪs/ for US
Oxfor says: /ˈiːdʒɪs/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aegis
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/...
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Reason behind Oxford Dictionaries's IPA transcription?
For some reason or another, I was looking at the Oxford Dictionaries definition for ailurophile (cat-lover).
Then I noticed that, underneath its Pronunciation header, it gives the IPA transcript as
...
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Connected speech resources
I am very interested in British pronunciation, so I am looking for resources about connected speech and IPA in general.
The ideal would be a book with the transcription of dialogues or just ...
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Difference between /əʳ/ and /ɚ/
Consider the word 'future.' Cambridge Dictionary shows the transcriptions /ˈfjuːtʃəʳ/ and /ˈfjuːtʃɚ/. Are they different?
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The inconsistent long i sound in English [duplicate]
As a phonics teacher, I have long had a problem with finding the right explanation to my students about an inconsistent sound. Hope someone has the explanation to it here.
The long i sound in ...
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What's the difference between the AA (ɑ) and AO (ɔ) sound?
I'm working with the CMU pronunciation dictionary and I can't comfortably say I can understand what difference in sound they're trying to indicate by splitting AA and AO into different phonemes.
...
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