| 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 |