Teachee

Phonetic reference

IPA Symbol Reference: 67 Sounds Explained

One symbol, one sound. Each page below tells you where in the mouth the sound is made, how to physically produce it, which languages use it, and — most usefully — which sound learners substitute for it instead.

67symbols
47consonants
20vowels
24absent from English

The sounds English does not have

If you teach English speakers, this is the shortlist that will consume most of your pronunciation time. There is no word they can already say that contains these sounds.

t̪ voiceless dental plosive ʈ voiceless retroflex plosive q voiceless uvular plosive ʂ voiceless retroflex fricative ɕ voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative ɣ voiced velar fricative χ voiceless uvular fricative ħ voiceless pharyngeal fricative ʕ voiced pharyngeal fricative β voiced bilabial fricative t͡ʂ voiceless retroflex affricate t͡ɕ voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate r alveolar trill ʁ voiced uvular fricative ɥ labial-palatal approximant ʋ labiodental approximant y close front rounded vowel ø close-mid front rounded vowel œ open-mid front rounded vowel a open front unrounded vowel ʉ close central rounded vowel ɯ close back unrounded vowel o close-mid back rounded vowel ɤ close-mid back unrounded vowel

Consonants

Plosives (stops)

p voiceless bilabial plosive b voiced bilabial plosive t voiceless alveolar plosive t̪ voiceless dental plosive ʈ voiceless retroflex plosive d voiced alveolar plosive k voiceless velar plosive ɡ voiced velar plosive q voiceless uvular plosive ʔ glottal stop

Fricatives

f voiceless labiodental fricative v voiced labiodental fricative θ voiceless dental fricative ð voiced dental fricative s voiceless alveolar fricative z voiced alveolar fricative ʃ voiceless postalveolar fricative ʒ voiced postalveolar fricative ʂ voiceless retroflex fricative ɕ voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative ç voiceless palatal fricative x voiceless velar fricative ɣ voiced velar fricative χ voiceless uvular fricative ħ voiceless pharyngeal fricative ʕ voiced pharyngeal fricative h voiceless glottal fricative β voiced bilabial fricative

Affricates

t͡s voiceless alveolar affricate t͡ʃ voiceless postalveolar affricate d͡ʒ voiced postalveolar affricate t͡ʂ voiceless retroflex affricate t͡ɕ voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate

Nasals

m bilabial nasal n alveolar nasal ɲ palatal nasal ŋ velar nasal

Liquids and rhotics

l alveolar lateral approximant ʎ palatal lateral approximant r alveolar trill ɾ alveolar tap ɹ alveolar approximant ʁ voiced uvular fricative

Glides (semivowels)

j palatal approximant w labial-velar approximant ɥ labial-palatal approximant ʋ labiodental approximant

Vowels

Vowels are described by tongue height, tongue backness and lip rounding. Nearly every learner vowel error is a collapse of two neighbouring vowels into one.

i close front unrounded vowel ɪ near-close near-front unrounded vowel y close front rounded vowel e close-mid front unrounded vowel ɛ open-mid front unrounded vowel ø close-mid front rounded vowel œ open-mid front rounded vowel ə mid central vowel a open front unrounded vowel æ near-open front unrounded vowel u close back rounded vowel ʉ close central rounded vowel ɯ close back unrounded vowel ɨ close central unrounded vowel o close-mid back rounded vowel ɔ open-mid back rounded vowel ʌ open-mid back unrounded vowel ɑ open back unrounded vowel ɤ close-mid back unrounded vowel ʊ near-close near-back rounded vowel

Frequently asked questions

What is the IPA?

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a notation system in which one symbol always represents exactly one sound, regardless of language. It exists because ordinary spelling is unreliable: English writes the same sound six ways and the same letters six ways, so a written word does not tell you how to say it.

Do I need to learn the whole IPA?

No. Learn the symbols for the sounds in the language you are working on, plus the ones your students consistently substitute. For most teacher-learner pairs that is fifteen to twenty-five symbols, not two hundred.

What is the difference between square brackets and slashes?

Slashes mark a phonemic transcription — the sounds a language treats as meaningfully distinct. Square brackets mark a phonetic transcription — what was actually said, including detail that does not change meaning. For teaching pronunciation you almost always want slashes.

Why does English have so many IPA symbols compared to Spanish?

Because English has more phonemes, particularly vowels — around eleven to twenty depending on the accent, against Spanish’s five. More distinctions means more symbols.