Fonética

PHONETIC

SYMBOLS

Vowels

Consonants

IPA

Example

IPA

Example

IPA

Example

IPA

Example

ʌ

cup, luck

ɔ:

call, four

b

bad, lab

r

red, try

ɑ:

arm, father

ʊ

put, could

d

did, lady

s

sun, miss

æ

cat, black

u:

blue, food

f

find, if

ʃ

she, crash

e

met, bed

aɪ*

five, eye

g

give, flag

t

tea, getting

ə

away, cinema

aʊ*

now, out

h

how, hello

tʃ

check, church

ɜ:ʳ

turn, learn

eɪ*

say, eight

j

yes, yellow

θ

think, both

ɪ

hit, sitting

oʊ*

go, home

k

cat, back

ð

this, mother

i:

see, heat

ɔɪ*

boy, join

l

leg, little

v

voice, five

ɒ

hot, rock

eəʳ*

where, air

m

man, lemon

w

wet, window

ɔ:

call, four

ɪəʳ*

near, here

n

no, ten

z

zoo, lazy

ʊ

put, could

ʊəʳ*

pure, tourist

ŋ

sing, finger

ʒ

pleasure, vision

p

pet, map

dʒ

just, large

Voiceless and voiced sounds It’s very important to distinguish between voiceless and voiced sounds in English.

- Vowels are always voiced.

- Diphthongs* are always voiced.

- There are 9 voiceless consonants and 15 voiced consonants:

- 9 voiceless consonants: p, t, k, tʃ, s, ʃ, f, θ, h.

- 15 voiced consonants: b, d, g, dʒ, z, v, ð, m, n, ŋ, l, r, w, j.

When consonants are put in groups, they can change the voiced or voiceless quality of the contestant that follows.

A great example of this is the past simple form of regular verbs. As you know, regular verbs

add “-ed” to the end of the verb in the past simple.



play played wash washed



live lived want wanted

1. These past simple verbs all end in “-ed”. However, some of the verbs are pronounced with a voiceless “t” sound and some are pronounced with the voiced “d” sound. Why? Here are the rules:

If “-ed” is preceded by a voiceless consonant sound (p, k, sh, etc.) -ed sounds as a voiceless /t/. Remember that the “e” is silent.

If “-ed” is preceded by a voiced consonant sound (b, v, etc.) -ed sounds as a voiced /d/. Remember that the “e” is silent.

If “-ed” is preceded by a vowel sound, -ed sounds as voiced /d/ because vowels are always voiced. Remember that the “e” is silent.

Exception: if “-ed” is preceded by “t”/“d” is pronounced as a voiced /-id/. In this case, the “e” is pronounced.

2. This pattern can also be found with plural forms and the present simple.

If the consonant preceding the “s” is voiced, “s” will sound as voiced /z/. Chairs, machines, robs. If the consonant preceding the “s” is voiceless, “s” will sound as a voiceless /s/. Bats, stops, works. If the present simple or plural form ends in “-es”, then it will sound as /iz/. Watches, matches, presses.