International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

The IPA is a system of representing the phonetic sounds with symbols. It represents the letters in a word as a sound. It provides a learner with pronouncing words correctly. For example, apple:  /ˈæp.əl/ = /a/, /æ/. “The IPA is a system of symbols for showing how words are pronounced.” (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/showing).

Some special symbols to recognize the systems of pronunciation:

i. ‘ / ’: The start and end of the transcription. For example, apple: /ˈæp.əl/.

ii. ‘ ʹ ’ : The stressed syllable of a word. For example, prefer: /prɪˈfɜːr/.

iii. ‘   ̣ ’ : The start of a new syllable. For example, football: /ˈfʊt.bɔːl/ .

iv. ‘ t̬ ’: ‘ t ‘  is pronounced unlike ‘ d’ (only in American English). For example, little: /ˈlɪt̬.əl/.
Long Vowels in IPA(5)

i. ‘i:’:  see, tree. (/siː/, /triː/)

ii. ‘u:’: too, food. (/tuː/, /fuːd/)  

iii. ‘ɑ:’: father, mother. (/ˈfɑː.ðər/, /ˈmʌð.ər/ )

iv. ‘ɔ:’:  or, four. (/ɔːr/, /fɔːr/)

v. ‘ɜ:’: birthday, prefer. (/ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/, /prɪˈfɜːr/ )

vi. ‘ɜ: ʳ’: ‘ʳ’, it is not actually a ‘r’ it indicates that we pronounce the ‘ʳ’ sound if the next word starts with a vowel. For example, ‘I prefer (‘ʳ’, silence) apple’ and I prefer (‘ʳ’, pronounced) pineapple.

Note: This rule (vi) is only applicable in BrE.  (British English)
Khaled Saifulla
University of Freiburg,Germany
English Language and Linguistics
Email: khaleds6@yahoo.com