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Questions tagged [ipa]

International Phonetic Alphabet(IPA)

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92 votes
8 answers
120k views

Is there any online tool to read (pronounce) IPA and APA written words?

I am looking for a tool to read a word written as phonetic transcription (IPA or APA). I need it to provide users with a tool to verify if they've chosen the correct IPA transcription (users will need ...
LA_'s user avatar
  • 1,021
29 votes
5 answers
27k views

What phonetic notation is Google dictionary using?

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 ...
Tim's user avatar
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20 votes
3 answers
6k views

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 ...
user avatar
16 votes
8 answers
15k views

Is a schwa ever stressed?

Is there a word in RP (Received Pronunciation) where the stressed vowel sound is a schwa?
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15 votes
5 answers
5k views

American refusal of the IPA: why?

Are there any historical or political reasons for the rather consistent refusal of the International Phonetic Alphabet on the part of American academics? Did Mark Twain's home-made-English-spelling-...
user58319's user avatar
  • 4,142
14 votes
1 answer
1k views

Difference between /əʳ/ and /ɚ/

Consider the word 'future.' Cambridge Dictionary shows the transcriptions /ˈfjuːtʃəʳ/ and /ˈfjuːtʃɚ/. Are they different?
Schwale's user avatar
  • 463
12 votes
3 answers
2k views

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/.
Movies Sea's user avatar
10 votes
4 answers
508 views

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 ...
Graham H.'s user avatar
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10 votes
3 answers
4k views

Difference between /ʌ/ and /ə/ in English IPA

If someone who is a linguistics expert could explain this to me in a way I can understand, I'd really appreciate it. I get that /ʌ/ is used on stressed vowels and /ə/ on reduced vowels, but they sound ...
TheOrionArm's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
29k views

Difference between IPA ɚ, ɹ, and ɝ

Wanting to be more Californian and trying to correct my accent, I'm looking at the sound for mother, in the North America column. What is the difference between IPA symbols for ɚ, ɹ, and ɝ. (ɝ is not ...
huggie's user avatar
  • 221
10 votes
4 answers
1k views

Is the /eə/ sound related to the /ə/ sound in British English?

Lately I'm into improving my English (UK) pronunciation. I'm using the IPA chart for such purpose. I was wondering if there's any relationship between the ə sound and the several diphthongs that ...
user8469759's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
3k views

What is the IPA for "trade"?

Some of my students have a disagreement about transcribing the pronunciation of "trade" in American English. Some say it's (a) [t͡ʃeɪd] while others (and they point to dictionaries that support them) ...
MYin's user avatar
  • 113
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

In phonetic writing, what does italics mean?

The word government is supposed to be pronounced guhv-ern-muh nt See here http://www.dictionary.com/browse/government?s=t
Gelb's user avatar
  • 327
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

Syllable — Phonetic Online List/Dictionary with word examples

Is there a homepage or online tool that gives you a list of, let's say, the 2000 most common syllables sorted by their international phonetic alphabet spelling? (e.g. /sɜː(r)/ = the first syllable ...
laminin's user avatar
  • 265
7 votes
2 answers
4k views

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 ...
mrcurious's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

Pronunciation of -ar in Madagascar

In the movie by the same name, the characters pronounce Madagascar, /mædəɡæskɑɹ/. However, dictionaries only list the pronunciation /mædəɡæskəɹ/. Just as peculiarly, many pronounce templar as /tɛmplɑɹ/...
White Hat Hacker's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

'Sag' and 'slant': Is the vowel /æ/ the same in both words?

/sæg/ /slænt/ Transcriptions from Cambridge American English Dictionary Both the words' IPA transcriptions have an /æ/ symbol. Do those two /æ/s sound the same? Are they both short or long? Is /æ/ ...
user152435's user avatar
6 votes
4 answers
3k views

How to pronounce a superscript ə?

And why there's a superscript ə? just found this on the dictionary.cambridge.org ...
user152435's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
13k views

“ē” and “iː”: I want a tutorial

My English textbook use “iː”, and I find some online dictionaries use “ē”. Where can I find information about this phonics system?
lovespring's user avatar
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5 votes
6 answers
7k views

How to pronounce ‘TH’ when it comes right after [s] sound?

It feels like impossible to pronounce something like [sð] (e.g. ‘it's there’). I have heard a lot of natives pronouncing this conjunction, and every time it sounds a bit different for me, so I can't ...
Dmitry Nikitenko's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
3k views

What phoneme symbols does Google show in its search results?

I'm familiar with the IPA characters, but google shows other symbols in its search results. What I want to find is an equivalence table or something to get the IPA characters of any particular word ...
rraallvv's user avatar
  • 445
5 votes
1 answer
265 views

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 ...
kriskarett's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
331 views

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 ...
Graham H.'s user avatar
  • 890
5 votes
1 answer
4k views

Why is "thank you" pronounced as /θaŋ kjuː/ ("thang-Q")?

I would like to know how native speakers say “thank you”. Do they pronounce it /θaŋk juː/ or /θaŋ kjuː/? I am Asian and I was taught in school to say /θaŋ kjuː/ but teachers didn't explain the ...
chun yu siu's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
661 views

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 ...
DanielC's user avatar
  • 189
4 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is there any word with two consecutive monophthongs whose symbols could be combined to a diphthong? [closed]

For example, ɔ and ɪ in one word one after another. Note that I talking about a situation where the symbols could be combined as written l, not the sounds. IPA does not have explicit different written ...
user2617804's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
915 views

Confused About Standard IPA

I'm looking for standard IPA but every book, even dictionaries implement it differently. for example [ɑ] and [ɑ:] or this symbol [ɛ] vs [e]. Some books omit the [i] sound which is the last sound of ...
Sir Meysam Ferguson's user avatar
4 votes
5 answers
7k views

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 ...
John Doe's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
257 views

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 ...
Matteo Ferla's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
2k views

Are əʊ and oʊ the same?

Are əʊ and oʊ the same? For example are the following pairs pronounced the same: /ɡrəʊ/ vs /ɡroʊ/ (grow) /nəʊ/ vs /noʊ/ (no ) Is there any difference in pronunciation?
Amandaaa's user avatar
  • 135
4 votes
1 answer
877 views

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 ...
user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
3k views

How to calculate number of syllables in a word using only the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) spelling?

I want to write an algorithm to calculate the number of syllables in a word. This process is an automated one that will be run on an entire dictionary so manually counting the number of breaths, chin ...
Phlox Midas's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
2k views

How do I write certain IPA sounds using Gregg Shorthand? [closed]

Migrated: https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/2752/help-me-convert-the-english-phonetic-alphabet-to-gregg-shorthand#comment7397_2752 I've found a several descriptive images of the various ...
Wolfpack'08's user avatar
  • 1,059
4 votes
1 answer
635 views

Dictionary program/website that has IPA+recording for as many words as possible

I usually use Wiktionary as my English dictionary. The main things that I'm interested in are (1) IPA transcriptions and (2) voice recordings of each word. The problem is that Wiktionary doesn't have ...
Ram Rachum's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

schwa sound in IPA?

I have a small problem in schwa sound: When I used Oxford online dictionary and searched "fossil", Its pronunciation is /ˈfɒsl/, but the Cambridge Dictionaries Online gave me: /ˈfɒs. ə l/ As you can ...
Sour Tofu's user avatar
  • 153
3 votes
4 answers
1k views

Can the schwa sound predict spelling?

More specifically, I was wondering whether the schwa sound can predict which vowel to use in spelling? For instance, does the schwa sound predict "a" spelling more than "e" spelling? I noticed that ...
Boondoggle's user avatar
  • 1,184
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

Different /ə/ pronunciation at the end of a word; for example, in "phenomena"

Sorry for my English but I'm a self-taught beginner. That's why I had been looking at the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) with high hopes until I saw phenomenon’s plural form. In the singular, ...
J. Kowalski's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

Pronunciation of ‘few’ as [ˈfjyu̯]

I was surprised to see that Wiktionary states few be pronounced as /ˈfjuː/ or /ˈfju/. I have always pronounced it as [ˈfjyu̯]. Furthermore, I've copied the pronunciation from what I've heard and when ...
Joffysloffy's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
685 views

IPA pronunciation of 'Bazinga'

You might be familiar with the tv-series the Big Bang Theory. Sheldon, one of the main characters, often says "bazinga". How would I write this in IPA? This is what I have, does that make sense? /...
JCBK's user avatar
  • 141
3 votes
2 answers
3k views

Are o͞o and ü interchangeable?

In Google's dictionary, the word "human" is displayed with the o͞o pronunciation symbol, whereas most other dictionaries I checked use the [standard IPA?] ü. Are these really interchangeable or is ...
cbmtrx's user avatar
  • 141
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

What's the lowered "single quote" lookalike marking in phonetic symbols

I understand that the normal "single quote" marking indicates stress, but what about the lowered one?
Andy's user avatar
  • 131
3 votes
1 answer
692 views

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].
Alan Evangelista's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Should I pronounce the singular "Irishman" and the plural "Irishmen" identically?

Can someone tell me how to pronounce the following: Irishman/Irishmen I have read carefully, according to the online Oxford Living Dictionaries, the pronunciation of words like Irishman/Irishmen: ...
user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
358 views

the pronunciation of 'occult'

From google dictionary: /əˈkəlt/ From my textbook: ['ɔkʌlt, ɔ'kʌlt, ə-] The difference of those two is HUGE, Could you give me an explanation ?
lovespring's user avatar
  • 3,721
3 votes
1 answer
446 views

Theoretical Phonemes [closed]

I have been looking at IPA recently and I was wondering if there are any sounds that can theoretically be created by humans but do not exist or have not existed in any known languages. Or maybe a ...
WordWorthy's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
171 views

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 ...
CJ Dennis's user avatar
  • 5,190
3 votes
2 answers
6k views

Nasalization in IPA

I am learning IPA to learn the English pronunciation. When "n" is inserted after a vowel and it is not followed by another vowel, how to know if /n/ is pronounced or it is only a mark to nasalize the ...
Squall's user avatar
  • 195
3 votes
2 answers
617 views

A syllable-initial consonant is semi-vowelized before a semivowel?

In English, a syllable-initial consonant is semi-vowelized before a semivowel? For example, what's the IPA pronunciation of the word music? /mjuzɪk/ or /mʲuzɪk/
Haruto Nagasaki's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
5k views

Are there different types of Pronunciation Guides?

In dictionaries you'll often see a pronunciation guide next to words like (bakery would be beɪkəri). Are there different standards of these pronunciation guides? Also, where can I learn how to ...
Dan's user avatar
  • 1,061
3 votes
0 answers
171 views

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 ...
tempdev nova's user avatar