This is a pronunciation respelling key (prə-NUN-see-AY-shən ree-SPEL-ing kee) used in some Wikipedia articles to spell out the pronunciations of English words. It does not use special symbols or diacritics apart from the schwa, "ə", which is used for the e in bitten, and bold typeface in oo, which is the vowel in food.
However, the standard set of symbols used to show the pronunciation of English words in Wikipedia is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Because the IPA can also be used for languages other than English, it can be used more broadly than this system. On the other hand IPA requires specialized knowledge to understand, while this system does not for fluent English speakers.[citation needed] Articles often provide pronunciations in both systems (see documentation at "Template:Respell" for an example).
Contents
Syllables and stress
Syllables are separated by hyphens ("-"). The stress on a syllable is indicated by writing the syllable in small capital letters.[1]
| Respelling symbols | IPA symbols | Notes |
| "Pronunciation": prə-nun-see-ay-shən | /prəˌnʌnsiːˈeɪʃən/ | "Primary" and "secondary" stress are not distinguished, as the difference is automatic. |
Vowels
| Respelling symbol(s) | Example | IPA symbol | Notes | |
| a | trap | /æ/ | Australian /æ/ or /æː/[2] | Scottish /a/ |
| ah or aa | palm | /ɑː/ | ||
| air | square | /ɛər/ | ||
| ar | start | /ɑr/ | Scottish /ar/ | |
| arr | marry | /ær/ | ||
| aw | thought | /ɔː/ | American /ɔ/ or /ɑ/[3] | |
| ay | face | /eɪ/ | ||
| ə | comma | /ə/ or /ɨ/ | Unstressed neutral vowel. (Sometimes i may be used for /ɨ/.) |
|
| ər (stressed) | her | /ɜr/ or /ɝː/ | Scottish /ʌr, ɛr, ɪr/ (ur, er, ir)[4] |
|
| ər | letter | /ər/ or /ɚ/ | Unstressed neutral rhotic vowel | |
| e | dress | /ɛ/ | ||
| ee | fleece | /iː/ or /i/ | also the second vowel of city[5] | |
| eer | near | /ɪər/ | ||
|
er (generally replaced by ər at ends of words) | fern | /ɜr/ or /ɝː/ | Scottish /ɛr/[4] | |
| err | merry | /ɛr/ | ||
| ew | ewe, dew | /juː/ | American /u/ or /ju/[6] | |
| eye | item | /aɪ/ | Spelled -ye after a consonant. The same vowel as the price example below |
|
|
i or ih (Use ih at end of syllable, esp. if i yields a real word, e.g. "hi", "ski".) | kit | /ɪ/ | sometimes as either vowel of business BIZ-niss | |
|
ir (generally replaced by ər at ends of words) | fir | /ɜr/ or /ɝː/ | Scottish /ɪr/[4] | |
| irr | mirror | /ɪr/ | ||
| o | lot | /ɒ/ | -o- by itself may be /ɵ/ | |
| oh or oe | goat | /oʊ/ | ||
| oo | foot | /ʊ/ | Scottish /ʉ/ | |
| oo | food | /uː/ | ||
| oor | cure or Europe | /ʊər/ | ||
| ohr | force or wore | /ɔər/ | Australian /oː(ɹ)/ | |
| or or awr | north or war | /ɔr/ | Scottish /ɔr/ | |
| orr | orange | /ɒr/ | ||
| ow | mouth | /aʊ/ | ||
| oy | choice | /ɔɪ/ | ||
| u | strut | /ʌ/ | ||
|
ur (generally replaced by ər at ends of words) | nurse | /ɜr/ or /ɝː/ | American /ɹ/ | Scottish /ʌr/[4] |
| urr | hurry | /ʌr/ | ||
| -ye | price | /aɪ/ | after a consonant, otherwise spelled eye. American /aɪ/ or /ɐɪ/[7] |
|
Consonants
| Respelling symbol | Example | IPA symbol(s) | Notes |
| b | but, web | /b/ | |
| ch | church, nature | /tʃ/ | |
| d | do, odd | /d/ | |
| dh | this, breathe, father | /ð/ | This sound is similar to th (/θ/), but voiced. |
| f | fool, enough, leaf | /f/ | |
| g | go, beg | /ɡ/ | Not as in gem or gin, which is j (/dʒ/). |
| h | ham, ahead | /h/ | |
| j | gin, joy, edge | /dʒ/ | |
| k | cat, kiss, queen, skin, thick | /k/ | |
| kh | loch | /x/ | Generally pronounced like k by many speakers |
| l | left, bell | /l/ | |
| m | man, ham | /m/ | |
| n | no, tin | /n/ | |
| ng | ring, singer, sink | /ŋ/ | Not the sound in finger, which is ng-g (/ŋɡ/). |
| ng-g | finger | /ŋɡ/ | |
| p | pen, spin, tip | /p/ | |
| r | run, very | /r/ | |
| s or ss | see, city, pass | /s/ | Not as in rose, which is z (/z/). Use ss in positions where single s is normally /z/ in English, such as the end of a word after a vowel or a voiced consonant: for example, transliterate "ice" as eyess, not eyes and "tense" as tenss, not tens. |
| sh | she, sure, emotion, leash | /ʃ/ | |
| t | two, sting, bet | /t/ | |
| th | thing, teeth | /θ/ | To make this sound, the tip of the tongue is placed between the front teeth and air is blown gently over it. |
| v | voice, have | /v/ | |
| w | we | /w/ | |
| wh | what | /hw/ | In many dialects, people substitute w for this sound. |
| y | yes | /j/ | |
| z | zoo, rose | /z/ | |
| zh | pleasure, vision, beige | /ʒ/ | Many English speakers have trouble saying this at the beginning of a word, and may substitute j (/dʒ/), except in the proper names, such as Zsa Zsa. |
Optional sounds
When a certain sound is pronounced by some speakers but not by others, the sound is put inside parentheses (round brackets). It is correct to say the word either with or without the sound. For example, the respelled pronunciation of the word truism is "TROO-iz-(ə)m". It can either be pronounced "TROO-iz-əm" or "TROO-iz-m".
See also
- English pronunciation of Greek letters
- Pronunciation respelling for English
- Traditional English pronunciation of Latin
- Help:IPA for English
- Help:IPA
- {{Respell}}—a template that can be used to indicate respelled pronunciations
Notes
- ^ Wikipedia editors can create small capital letters like this: "{{sc|syllable in lowercase (small) letters}}".
- ^ See "Bad-lad split" for details of this distinction.
- ^ This assumes the absence of the cot-caught merger. In accents with this merger, aw represents the same sound as o.
- ^ a b c d See Fern-fir-fur merger for details of this distinction.
- ^ This assumes "happy-tensing". In accents without happy-tensing, unstressed ee is pronounced like i.
- ^ Dependent on accent, the /j/ is pronounced after some consonants, coalesceses with other consonants or is dropped entirely.
- ^ Value depends on voicing of following consonant; phonemic for very few words.