ENGLISH PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY

Instituto Superior del Traductorado

Dirección General de Cultura y Educación de la Provincia de Buenos Aires – DIEGEP 5649

WHAT IS IPA?

IPA stands for International Phonetic Association. The IPA is the major, as well as the oldest,
representative organisation for phoneticians. It was established in 1886 in Paris. The aim of the IPA is
to promote the scientific study of phonetics and the various practical applications of that science. In
furtherance of this aim, the IPA provides the academic community world-wide with a notational
standard for the phonetic representation of all languages - the International Phonetic Alphabet (also
IPA).

The IPA Alphabet was first published in 1888 and its latest version was released in 2015. The alphabet
was designed to pair each sound that a human speaking a particular language can produce with a
unique symbol. Each symbol represents the place (where in the mouth or throat) and the manner
(how the parts of the mouth move and how the breath is used) of producing the sound.

1. The Usefulness of IPA in Learning English Pronunciation

The English spelling system can be very misleading as a reference for pronunciation. For example, the
letter ‘a’ in ‘about’, ‘cat’, ‘fall’, ‘father’, ‘watch’ is pronounced differently. IPA can reflect this
difference clearly: /ə/ - /æ/ - /ɔ:/ - /ɑ:/ - /ɒ/, respectively.

According to some theories, learning can be more efficient if both the eye and the ear are used.
Hearing a sound and seeing its representation in IPA make memorization easier.

IPA is widely used in English dictionaries to transcribe the preferred pronunciation of English words. It
is by learning IPA that we can know how to pronounce the phonetic transcriptions in an English
dictionary accurately.

2. Long Vowels, Short Vowels

The symbol / : / represents longer duration in pronunciation and is found in long vowels such as /i:/,
/ɑ:/, /ɔ:/, /u:/, /ə:/. By contrast, /ɪ/, /e/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/, /ə/ are called short vowels.

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ENGLISH PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY
Instituto Superior del Traductorado
Dirección General de Cultura y Educación de la Provincia de Buenos Aires – DIEGEP 5649

Symbol Example

Short vowels

æ as in cat

e bed

ə ago

ɪ sit

i (modern allophonic variation) cosy

ɒ hot

ʌ run

ʊ put

Long vowels

ɑ: arm

ə: her

i: see

ɔ: saw

u: too

3. The Sounds Represented by Weak Vowels /ɪ/ and /ʊ/

The sounds represented by /i:/ and /ɪ/ must always be made different, as in heat compared with hit.
The symbol /i/, used in some English dictionaries, a recent allophonic variation that represents a vowel
that can be sounded as either /i:/ or /ɪ/, or as a sound which is a compromise between them. In a
word such as ‘happy’, younger speakers use a quality more like /i:/, but short in duration.

In the same way, the two vowels represented by /u:/ and /ʊ/ must be kept distinct but /u/ represents
an allophonic variation, a weak vowel that varies between them. If /u/ is followed directly by a
consonant sound, it can also be pronounced as /ə/. So ‘stimulate’ can be … /ju/… or …/jə/.

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ENGLISH PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY
Instituto Superior del Traductorado
Dirección General de Cultura y Educación de la Provincia de Buenos Aires – DIEGEP 5649

Monophthongs

Pure vowels

Short Long
Monophthongs
Front Central Back Front Central Back
Close ɪ ʊ i: u:
Mid e ə ə: ɔ:
Open æ ʌ →. ɒ ɑ:

• V1 /i:/ peat • V7 /ɔ:/ port

• V2 /ɪ/ pit • V8 /ʊ/ put
• V3 /e/ pet (aka /Ɛ/) • V9 /u:/ poot
• V4 /æ/ pat (aka /a/) • V10 /ʌ/ putt
• V5 /ɑ:/ part • V11 /ə:/ pert (aka /ɜ:/)
• V6 /ɒ/ pot • V12 /ə/ apart

The pure vowels described:

VOWEL 1. Lips spread. Tongue tense (front raised) with sides touching upper molars. i: meat

VOWEL 2. Lips neutrally open. Tongue lax with less tension than /i:/. ɪ sit

VOWEL 3. Lips neutrally open and slightly wider apart than /ɪ/. e/Ɛ bed

VOWEL 4. Lips spread and slightly wider apart than /e/. æ/a sad

VOWEL 5. Lips neutrally open and jaws far apart. Centre to back of tongue fully open. ɑ: car

VOWEL 6. Open lip-rounding, wide open jaws, back of tongue low. ɒ sock

VOWEL 7. Medium lip rounding. Tongue drawn back. No contact with upper molars. ɔ: door

VOWEL 8. Lips loose, but closely rounded. Tongue not as tense as in /u:/. ʊ good

VOWEL 9. Lips protruded. Back of tongue high. Tense compared with /ʊ/. u: too

VOWEL 10. Lips neutrally open. Open jaws. Centralised-back quality. ʌ luck
VOWEL 11. Lips neutrally spread. Centralised. Tongue slightly higher than /ə/ (no firm
contact with upper molars). ə: / ɜ: girl

VOWEL 12. Lips in neutral position. Centralised. Tongue slightly higher than in /ʌ/. ə ago

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ENGLISH PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY
Instituto Superior del Traductorado
Dirección General de Cultura y Educación de la Provincia de Buenos Aires – DIEGEP 5649

4. The Close Vowels

The English vocoids /i:/ (vowel 1), /ɪ/ (vowel 2), /ʊ/ (vowel 8), and /u:/ (vowel 9) are called ‘close
vowels’.

The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the
roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Close vowels
are often referred to as ‘high vowels’ because the tongue is positioned high in the mouth during their
articulation.

The English close vowels include a front vowel sound (/i:/), a near-front vowel sound (/ɪ/), a near-back
vowel sound (/ʊ/), and a back vowel sound (/u:/).

Close i: ɪ ʊ u:

Here are examples of the close vowels in English words:

• /i:/ = me /mi:/, need /ni:d/, these /ði:z/, be /bi:/.
• /ɪ/ = with /wɪð/, this /ðɪs/, if /ɪf/, think /θɪŋk/.
• /ʊ/ = put /pʊt/, would /wʊd/, look /lʊk/, woman /ˈwʊmən/.
• /u:/ = to /tu:/, you /ju:/, new /nju:/, who /hu:/.

Watch the close vowels clicking here: CLOSE VOWELS.

5. The Mid Vowels

The English vocoids /e/ (vowel 3), /ɔ:/ (vowel 7), /ɜ:/ (vowel 11), and /ə/ (vowel 12) are called ‘mid
vowels’.

The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open
vowel and a close vowel.

Mid e ə ɜ: ɔ:

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ENGLISH PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY
Instituto Superior del Traductorado
Dirección General de Cultura y Educación de la Provincia de Buenos Aires – DIEGEP 5649

The English mid vowels include a front vowel sound (/e/), two central vowel sounds (/ə/ and /ɜ:/), and
a back vowel sound (/ɔ:/).

Here are examples of the mid vowels in English words:

• /e/ = get /ɡet/, when /wen/, well /wel/, very /ˈveri/.
• /ə/ = the /ðə/, about /əˈbaʊt/, could /kəd/, us /əs/.
• /ɜ:/ = her /hɜ:/, work /wɜ:k/, learn /lɜ:n/, word /wɜ:d/.
• /ɔ:/ = or /ɔ:/, also /ˈɔ:lsəʊ/, more /mɔ:/, call /kɔ:l/.

Watch the mid vowels clicking here: MID VOWELS.

6. The Open Vowels

The English vocoids /æ/ (vowel 4), /ɑ:/ (vowel 5), /ɒ/ (vowel 6), and /ʌ/ (vowel 10) are called ‘open
vowels’.

The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as possible from
the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called ‘low vowels’ in reference to the low
position of the tongue.

The English open vowels include a front vowel sound (/æ/), a central-back vowel sound (/ʌ/), and two
fully back vowel sounds (/ɑ:/ and /ɒ/).

Open æ ʌ ɑ: ɒ

Here are examples of the open vowels in English words:

• /æ/ = have /hæv/, that /ðæt/, as /æz/, can /kæn/.
• /ʌ/ = but /bʌt/, up /ʌp/, one /wʌn/, much /mʌtʃ/.
• /ɑ:/ = start /stɑ:t/, ask /ɑ:sk/, large /lɑ:dʒ/, after /ˈɑ:ftə/.
• /ɒ/ = of /ɒv/, on /ɒn/, from /frɒm/, not /nɒt/.

Watch the open vowels clicking here: OPEN VOWELS.