Guide to phonemic symbols

Different scholars use slightly different symbols when transcribing the sounds of English. The reasons and implications of this variation are not detailed here, but some general guidance for interpreting the transcriptions used in the Pron Planner is given in the table below.

Consonants
Example word	Common UK transcription1	Common US transcription2	Symbol used in Pron Planner
pen, open, hope	p	p	p
bid, able, job	b	b	b
team, amount, meat	t	t	t
do, edit, feed	d	d	d
kiss, buckle, back	k	k	k
go, again, big	g	g	g
food, safer, leaf	f	f	f
visit, every, save	v	v	v
see, recent, us	s	s	s
zoo, these, ease	z	z	z
show, nation, wash	ʃ	ʃ	ʃ
beige, measure, Asia	ʒ	ʒ	ʒ
home, behind	h	h	h
choose, kitchen, watch	tʃ	tʃ	tʃ
jump, bridge	dʒ	dʒ	dʒ
man, plum	m	m	m
need, any, down	n	n	n
ring, singer, bank	ŋ	ŋ	ŋ
road, (card, far)3	r	r	r
load, allow, pool	l	l	l
watch, away	w	w	w
yes, onion	j	y	j

 

Vowels
Example word	Common UK transcription1	Common US transcription(s)2	Symbol used in Pron Planner
kit, is, fish, will	ɪ	ɪ	ɪ
dress, ten, red	e	e ɛ	e
trap, pan, hand	æ	æ	æ
strut, cup, us, love	ʌ	ʌ	ʌ
lot	ɒ	(sound does not occur in US English)	ɒ
foot, put, woman	ʊ	ʊ	ʊ
fleece, tea, feet, key	iː	iː iy iy	iː
palm	ɑː	ɑː ɑ	ɑː
thought, saw, talk	ɔː	ɔː ɔ	ɔː
goose, blue, school, new	uː	uː uw uw	uː
nurse	ɜː	ɝː ɜʳ	ɜː(r)
face, cake, mail, pay	eɪ	eɪ ey ey	eɪ
price, pie, night	aɪ	aɪ ay ay	aɪ
choice, boy, join	ɔɪ	ɔɪ ɔy ɔy	ɔɪ
goat, road, know	əʊ	oʊ ow ow	əʊ
mouth, our, now	aʊ	aʊ aw aw	aʊ
ear	ɪə	ɪr	ɪə
hair	eə	er ɛr	eə
about, open, alone	ə	ə	ə
(mother4)	ə	ɚ	ə(r)

 

Notes

1. These symbols reflect those used in Jones, D. (Roach, P., Setter, J. & Esling, J. (eds.)). (2011). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th edn.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2. These symbols reflect those used in:
   1. Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M. & Goodwin, J. M. (2010). Teaching pronunciation: A course book and reference guide (2nd edn.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
   2. Gilbert, J. B. (2012). Clear speech: Pronunciation and listening comprehension in North American English (4th edn.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
   3. in Jones, D. (Roach, P., Setter, J. & Esling, J. (eds.)). (2011). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th edn.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3. In rhotic accents only; in other words, accents in which the letter ‘r’ is always pronounced when it occurs in spelling.
4. In non-rhotic accents only.