417-131 Practical Phonetics International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) In English there is no simple relationship between spelling and sounds. As a result, people have invented different systems to represent English sounds. These systems use one letter or symbol for each sound. An alphabetic system with one symbol representing one sound is a phonetic alphabet. The phonetic alphabet includes most of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, along with some new symbols. We write these phonetic letters and symbols between bracket marks. For example, the symbols [k], [l] and [ae] represent sounds, not letters. One phonetic symbol represents only one sound. The following charts list the phonetic symbols for all the consonant and vowel sounds of American English. Most of these sounds occur in initial (beginning), medial (middle), and final (end) positions. There are examples for each sound. Memorize one key word. It will help you remember the sound for each phonetic symbol. Your dictionary: ............................................ Symbols Find an example IPA Description used in of words for each your sound in your dictionary dictionary. [p] voiceless unaspirated bilabial stop [pʰ] voiceless aspirated bilabial stop [b] voiced bilabial stop [t] voiceless unaspirated apico-alveolar stop [tʰ] voiceless aspirated apico-alveolar stop [d] voiced apico-alveolar stop [k] voiceless unaspirated dorso-velar stop [kʰ] voiceless aspirated dorso-velar stop [g] voiced dorso-velar stop [f] voiceless labio-dental fricative [v] voiced labio-dental fricative [θ] voiceless apico-dental fricative [ð] voiced apico-dental fricative 417-131 Practical Phonetics [s] voiceless apico-alveolar fricative [z] voiced apico- alveolar fricative [ʃ] voiceless palato-alveolar ( or post-alveolar) fricative [ʒ] voiced palato-alveolar ( or post-alveolar) fricative [h] voiceless glottal fricative [tʃ] voiceless palato-alveolar ( or post-alveolar) africate [dʒ] voiced palato-alveolar ( or post-alveolar) africate [m] voiced bilabial nasal [n] voiced apico-alveolar nasal [ŋ] voiced dorso-velar nasal [l] voiced apico-alveolar lateral [w] voiced fronto-palatal approximant [r] voiced apico-alveolar approximant [j] voiced fronto-palatal approximant .