This pronunciation respelling key (prə-nun-see-ay-shən ree-spel-ing kee) is used in some Wikipedia articles to spell out the pronunciations of English words. It does not use special symbols or diacritics apart from the schwa, "ə", which is used (for example) for the a in about.
It should be noted that the standard set of symbols used to show the pronunciation of English words in Wikipedia is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The IPA has significant advantages over the respelling system described here, as it can be used to accurately represent pronunciations from any language in the world, and (being an international standard) is often more familiar to non-native speakers of English. On the other hand, the IPA (being designed to represent sounds from any language in the world) is not as intuitive for those chiefly familiar with English orthography, for whom this respelling system is likely to be easier for English words and names. Articles often provide pronunciations in both systems (see documentation at "Template:Respell" for an example).
Syllables and stress
Syllables are separated by hyphens ("-"). The stress on a syllable is indicated by writing the syllable in small capital letters.[1]
| Respelling symbols | IPA symbols | Notes |
|---|
"Pronunciation":
prə-nun-see-ay-shən | /prɵˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃən/ | "Primary" and "secondary" stress are not distinguished, as the difference is automatic. |
Vowels
| Respelling symbol(s) | Example | IPA symbol | Notes |
|---|
| a | trap | /æ/ | Australian /æ/ or /æː/[2] | Scottish /a/ |
| ah | palm | /ɑː/ | |
| air | square | /ɛər/ | |
| ar | start | /ɑr/ | Scottish /ar/ |
| arr | marry | /ær/ |
| aw | thought | /ɔː/ | American /ɔ/, /ɒ/, or /ɑ/[3] |
| ay | face | /eɪ/ | |
| ə | about | /ə/ or /ɨ/ | Unstressed neutral vowel.
(Sometimes i may be used for /ɨ/.) |
| ər | letter | /ər/ or /ɚ/ | Unstressed neutral rhotic vowel |
| e | dress | /ɛ/ | |
| ee | fleece | /iː/ or /i/ | also the second vowel of city[4] |
| eer | near | /ɪər/ | |
| err | merry | /ɛr/ | |
| ew | ewe, dew | /juː/ | American /u/ or /ju/[5] |
| ewr | cure | /jʊər/ | |
| eye | item | /aɪ/ | Spelled -y after a consonant.
The same vowel as the price example below |
| i | kit | /ɪ/ | |
| irr | mirror | /ɪr/ | |
| o | lot | /ɒ/ | -o- by itself may be /ɵ/ |
| oh | goat | /oʊ/ | |
| oo | food | /uː/ | Scottish /ʉ/ |
| oor | poor | /ʊər/ | |
| or or ohr | force or wore | /ɔər/ | Australian /oː(ɹ)/ | |
| or or awr | north or war | /ɔr/ | Scottish /ɔr/ |
| orr | orange | /ɒr/ | |
| ow | mouth | /aʊ/ | |
| owr | hour | /aʊər/ | |
| oy | choice | /ɔɪ/ | |
| u | strut | /ʌ/ | |
| ur | nurse | /ɜr/ or /ɝː/ | American /ɜɹ, ɝ/ | Scottish /ʌr, ɛr, ɪr/[6] |
| urr | hurry | /ʌr/ |
| uu | foot | /ʊ/ | Scottish /ʉ/ |
| y | price, dye | /aɪ/ | with a consonant, otherwise spelled eye.
American /aɪ/ or /ʌɪ/[7] |
| yr | fire | /aɪər/ | |
Consonants
| Respelling symbol | Example | IPA symbol(s) | Notes |
|---|
| b | but, web | /b/ | |
| ch | church, nature | /tʃ/ | |
| d | do, odd | /d/ | |
| dh | this, father, breathe | /ð/ | This sound is similar to th /θ/, but voiced. |
| f | fool, enough, leaf | /f/ | |
| g or gh | go, beg, ghee | /ɡ/ | Not as in gem or gin, which is j /dʒ/. For legibility, ghee is used instead of gee in a few articles. |
| h | ham, ahead | /h/ | |
| j | gin, joy, edge | /dʒ/ | |
| k | cat, kiss, skin, quick | /k/ | |
| kh | loch | /x/ | Pronounced like k by many speakers |
| l | left, bell | /l/ | |
| m | man, ham | /m/ | |
| n | no, tin | /n/ | |
| ng | ring, singer, sink | /ŋ/ | Not the sound in finger, which is ng-g /ŋɡ/. |
| ng-g | finger | /ŋɡ/ | |
| p | pen, spin, tip | /p/ | |
| r | run, very | /r/ | |
| s or ss | see, city, pass | /s/ | Not as in rose, which is z /z/. Use ss in positions where single s is normally /z/ in English, such as the end of a word after a vowel or a voiced consonant: for example, transliterate "ice" as eyess, not eyes and "tense" as tenss, not tens. |
| sh | she, sure, emotion, leash | /ʃ/ | |
| t | two, sting, bet | /t/ | |
| th | thing, teeth | /θ/ | |
| v | voice, have | /v/ | |
| w | we, quick | /w/ | |
| wh | what | /hw/ | In many dialects, people substitute w for this sound. |
| y | yes | /j/ | |
| z | zoo, rose, lens | /z/ | |
| zh | pleasure, vision, beige | /ʒ/ | Speakers generally substitute j /dʒ/ for this sound at the beginning of a word, except in proper names such as Zsa Zsa. |
Optional sounds
When a certain sound is pronounced by some speakers but not by others, the sound is put inside parentheses (round brackets). It is correct to say the word either with or without the sound. For example, the respelled pronunciation of the word fuchsia is "FEW-sh(i)ə". It can either be pronounced "FEW-shi-ə" or "FEW-shə".
See also
- English pronunciation of Greek letters
- Pronunciation respelling for English
- Traditional English pronunciation of Latin
- Help:IPA for English
- Help:IPA
- {{Respell}}—a template that can be used to indicate respelled pronunciations
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia/Pronunciation task force
Notes
- ^ Wikipedia editors can create small capital letters like this: "
{{sc|syllable in lowercase (small) letters}}". - ^ See "Bad–lad split" for details of this distinction.
- ^ This assumes the absence of the cot–caught merger. In accents with this merger, aw represents the same sound as o.
- ^ This assumes "happy-tensing". In accents without happy-tensing, unstressed ee is pronounced like i.
- ^ Dependent on accent, the /j/ is pronounced after some consonants, coalesceses with other consonants or is dropped entirely.
- ^ See Fern–fir–fur merger for details of this distinction.
- ^ Value depends on voicing of following consonant; phonemic for very few words. Distinction can be made by adjoining consonant: Myki MY-kee, Mikey MYK-ee.
