The BG Language Creation Guide

IPA Reference

Here in another form are the consonant and vowel segments of English along with a few example words.
Symbol Name Example Word Place/Manner/voicing Note
[p] p pie voiceless bilabial stop  
[b] b buy voiced bilabial stop  
[m] m my voiced bilabial nasal  
[f] f fat voiceless labio-dental fricative  
[v] v vat voiced labio-dental fricative  
[θ] theta thigh, thick, breath voiceless interdental fricative Spelled in English orthography with "th"
[ð] edh thy, them, breathe voiced interdental fricative Spelled in English orthography with "th"
[t] t tip voiceless alveolar stop  
[d] d dip voiced alveolar stop  
[s] s sip voiceless alveolar fricative  
[z] z zip voiced alveolar fricative  
[n] n nip voiced alveolar nasal Don't confuse this with [ŋ] (below).
[l] l lip voiced alveolar (lateral) liquid Some of you may notice your [l] segment is made without the tongue touching the alveolar ridge at least sometimes. We discussed these velarized or 'dark' [l] realizations in class.
[ʃ] esh ship, fresher, flash voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative Note this differs from [s] above. Note there is no 'h' sound in the example words here. the [ʃ] sound has nothing to do with an [h] sound.
[ʒ] ezh genre, measure, beige voiced alveolo-palatal fricative This is not a frequent sound in English and is often confused with [ʃ] or [z]. We discussed with in class as the 'hover craft' sound.
[tʃ] t-esh choke, church voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate Written as 'ch' in orthography. Often confused with [ʃ] when transcribing. This is written as two symbols because it is two sounds pushed together: the stop [t] and the fricative [ʃ]
[dʒ] d-ezh joy, judge voiced alveolo-palatal affricate Don't transcribe this as a "j".
[r] r rip, dear voiced palatal or retroflex liquid Do not confuse this with [ɚ] or the very similar [r̩], a sound that is more a vowel than a consonant. Contrast [fri] 'free' and [fr̩i] 'furry'.
[j] j yellow, gray voiced palatal glide This is generally written in orthography as 'y'. Do not use [j] to represent the affricate in 'jelly' or 'judge'
[w] w wick, cow voiced labio-velar glide This is labio because the lips are rounded and velar because the back of the tongue raises toward the velum.
[k] k coat voiceless velar stop  
[g] g goat voiced velar stop  
[ŋ] eng ping, rang voiced velar nasal This is written generally in orthography as 'ng' but there is no [g] sound actually made. Don't confuse this with [n] (above).
[h] h hip voiceless glottal fricative  
[ʔ] glottal stop huh-uh, uh-oh    
[i] i beat high, front, tense vowel  
[I] cap i bit high, front, lax vowel  
[ej] e or ej bate mid, front, tense vowel Without the [j], this ounds like the Canadian 'eh'?
[ɛ] epsilon bet mid front, lax vowel  
[æ] ash bat low, front, lax vowel Do not confuse this with [a]
[u] u boot high, back, tense vowel This is [u] as in [ful] 'fool', not [ju] as in [fju] 'few'.
[ʊ] upsilon put high, back, lax vowel  
[ow] o or ow boat mid, back, tense vowel This is not the diphthong vowel in the word 'cow' or 'house'. without the [w] glide, this is the 'o' sound characteristic of Jamaica or some parts of the northern US.
[ɔ] open o caught mid, back, lax vowel Not all of you have a difference between this vowel and [a] (below). Pronounce the two names 'Dawn' and 'Don'. If they sound different, this is the one in 'Dawn'.
[a] a cot low, back vowel  
[ʌ] caret cut, above, luck mid lax central vowel Use in stressed syllables
[ə] schwa the, a mid lax central vowel Use in unstressed syllables
[aj] aj buy, pride diphthong This is frequently written in orthography as 'i', then a consonant, then a silent 'e''
[aw] aw cow, loud diphthong This is frequently written in orthography as 'ow'
[ɔj] open-o-j soy, join diphthong This is frequently written in orthography as 'oy' or 'oi'.
[ɚ] schwar bird her church