View source for Social:Pronunciation respelling for English

{{Self reference|For the pronunciation respelling system used in Wikipedia, see Help:Pronunciation respelling key.}}
{{Short description|Phonetic keys in English dictionaries}}
{{IPA notice}}

A [[Social:Pronunciation respelling|pronunciation respelling]] for English is a notation used to convey the pronunciation of words in the [[Social:English language|English language]], which do not have a phonemic orthography (i.e. the spelling does not reliably indicate pronunciation).

There are two basic types of pronunciation respelling:
* "Phonemic" systems, as commonly found in American dictionaries, consistently use one symbol per English phoneme.  These systems are conceptually equivalent to the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA) commonly used in bilingual dictionaries and scholarly writings but tend to use symbols based on English rather than Romance-language spelling conventions (e.g. ''ē'' for IPA {{IPA|/i/}}) and avoid non-alphabetic symbols (e.g. ''<u>sh</u>'' for IPA {{IPA|/ʃ/}}).
* On the other hand, "non-phonemic"<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1997|p=182}}</ref> or "newspaper"<ref>{{harvnb|Landau|2001|p=121}}</ref> systems, commonly used in newspapers and other non-technical writings, avoid diacritics and literally "respell" words making use of well-known English words and spelling conventions, even though the resulting system may not have a one-to-one mapping between symbols and sounds.

As an example, one pronunciation of Arkansas, transcribed {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑːr|k|ən|s|ɔː}} in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]], could be respelled ''är'''′'''kən-sô′''{{refn|{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Arkansas}}}} or {{respell|AR|kən|saw}} in a phonemic system and ''ar-kuhn-saw'' in a non-phonemic system.

==Development and use==
Pronunciation respelling systems for English have been developed primarily for use in dictionaries. They are used there because it is not possible to predict with certainty the sound of a written English word from its spelling or the spelling of a spoken English word from its sound. So readers looking up an unfamiliar word in a dictionary may find, on seeing the pronunciation respelling, that the word is in fact already known to them orally. By the same token, those who hear an unfamiliar spoken word may see several possible matches in a dictionary and must rely on the pronunciation respellings to find the correct match.<ref>{{harvnb|Merriam-Webster Online|n.d.}}</ref>

Traditional respelling systems for English use only the 26 ordinary letters of the Latin alphabet with diacritics, and are meant to be easy for native readers to understand. English dictionaries have used various such respelling systems to convey phonemic representations of the spoken word since Samuel Johnson published his ''Dictionary of the English Language'' in 1755, the earliest being devised by James Buchanan us be featured in his 1757 dictionary ''Linguæ Britannicæ Vera Pronunciatio'',<ref>{{Cite web|title=dictionary {{!}} Definition, History, Types, & Facts {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/dictionary|access-date=2021-12-31|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref> although most words therein were not respelled but given diacritics;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Buchanan|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FryFopN5_UkC|title=Linguæ Britannicæ Vera Pronunciatio : Or, a New English Dictionary. Containing I. An Explanation of All English Words Used by the Best Writers;...II. The Language from which Each Word is Derived. III. The Part of Speech to which it Belongs. IV. A Supplement of Upwards of 4000 Proper Names.In which Every Words Has Not Only the Common Accent to Denote the Emphasis of the Voice, But, ... by James Buchanan|date=1757|publisher=A. Millar|language=en}}</ref> since the language described by Buchanan was that of Scotland, William Kenrick responded in 1773 with ''A New Dictionary of the English Language'', wherein the pronunciation of Southern England was covered and numbers rather than diacritics used to represent vowel sounds;<ref>{{Cite book|last=KENRICK (LL.D.)|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJtWAAAAcAAJ|title=A new Dictionary of the English Language. ... To which is prefixed a Rhetorical Grammar|date=1773|language=en}}</ref> Thomas Sheridan devised a simpler scheme, which he employed in his successful 1780 ''General Dictionary of the English Language'', a much larger work consisting of two volumes;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sheridan|first=Thomas|url=http://archive.org/details/generaldictionar01sher|title=A general dictionary of the English language. : One main object of which, is, to establish a plain and permanent standard pronunciation. : To which is prefixed a rhetorical grammar.|date=1780|publisher=London : Printed for J. Dodsley ... C. Dilly ... and J. Wilkie ...|others=University of California Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Sheridan|first=Thomas|url=http://archive.org/details/completedictiona00sher|title=A complete dictionary of the English language, : both with regard to sound and meaning. One main object of which is, to establish a plain and permanent standard of pronunciation. To which is prefixed a prosodial grammar.|date=1789|publisher=London: : Printed for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry.|others=National Library of Scotland}}</ref> in 1791 John Walker produced ''A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary'', which achieved a great reputation and ran into some forty editions.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Walker|first=John|url=http://archive.org/details/acriticalpronou00conggoog|title=A critical pronouncing dictionary and expositor of the English language ... To which are prefixed, principles of English pronunciation ... Likewise rules to be observed by the natives of Scotland, Ireland, and London, for avoiding their respective peculiarities; and directions to foreigners for acquiring a knowledge of the use of this dictionary. The whole interspersed with observations, philological, critical, and grammatical|date=1791|publisher=London, G.G.J. and J. Robinson|others=New York Public Library}}</ref><ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Walker, John |volume= 28 | page= 272}}</ref> Today, such systems remain in use in American dictionaries for native English speakers,<ref>{{harvnb|Landau|2001|p=118}}</ref> but they have been replaced by the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA) in linguistics references and many bilingual dictionaries published outside the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|Landau|2001|pp=119–21}}</ref>

The pronunciation which dictionaries refer to is some chosen "normal" one, thereby excluding other regional accents or dialect pronunciation. In England this standard is normally the [[Social:Received Pronunciation|Received Pronunciation]], based upon the educated speech of southern England. The standard for American English is known as [[Social:General American|General American]] (GA).

Sophisticated phonetic systems have been developed, such as James Murray's scheme for the original ''Oxford English Dictionary'', and the IPA, which replaced it in later editions and has been adopted by many British and international dictionaries. The IPA system is not a respelling system, because it uses symbols not in the English alphabet, such as ''ð'' and ''θ''. Most current British dictionaries<ref>Such as ''The Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation'' [http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/the-week/334926/mind-your-language.thtml Mind your language] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709044436/http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/the-week/334926/mind-your-language.thtml |date=2008-07-09 }}, by Dot Wordsworth, in The Spectator, November 7, 2007.</ref> use IPA for this purpose.

==Traditional respelling systems==
The following chart matches the IPA symbols used to represent the sounds of the English language with the phonetic symbols used in several dictionaries, a majority of which transcribe American English.

These works adhere (for the most part) to the one-symbol-per-sound principle. Other works not included here, such as ''Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language'' (unabridged, 2nd {{abbr|ed.|edition}}), do not adhere and thus have several different symbols for the same sound (partly to allow for different phonemic mergers and splits).

{{Self reference|The full titles of abbreviated column headings in the following table are viewable in interactive media (as opposed to [[Hard copy|hard copy]]), using the pointer. To see the full titles, hover over the abbreviations. On touchscreens, a long press and cancel may show them.}}

{{anchor|Comparative chart}}
{| class="wikitable" frame=void style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap;"
! colspan="26" | Consonants
|- style="font-size: 80%"
! {{abbr|IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet}}
! {{abbr|K&K|A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English}}
! {{abbr|APA|Americanist Phonetic Notation}}
! {{abbr|NOAD|New Oxford American Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|AHD|American Heritage Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|RHD|Random House Dictionary of the English Language}}
! {{abbr|WBO|World Book Online}}
! {{abbr|MECD|Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|DPL|Dictionary of Pronunciation (Lass)}}
! {{abbr|DPN|Dictionary of Pronunciation (Noory)}}
! {{abbr|TBD|Thorndike Barnhart Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|NBC|NBC Handbook of Pronunciation}}
! {{abbr|MWCD|Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary}}
!{{abbr|OED|Oxford English Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|COD|Concise Oxford English Dictionary}}{{efn|name=cod|Older editions of the ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' used a mix of two systems: the "phonetic scheme" shown in the table above and a system "without respelling". The latter added diacritics to conventional spellings.}}
! {{abbr|POD|Pocket Oxford Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|Cham|The Chambers Dictionary}}
!{{abbr|CPD|The Chambers Paperback Dictionary}}<!-- The editor who added this column does not own a 'Chambers Paperback Dictionary' and had to rely on a preview. Therefore, some diaphonemes not included in the dictionary's pronunciation key have been left blank. -->
! {{abbr|SD|Scholastic Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|AB|ARPABET}}
! {{abbr|Dictcom|Dictionary.com}}
! {{abbr|BBC|BBC text spelling}}
! {{abbr|Google|Google's pronunciation dictionary}}
! {{abbr|Mac|Macquarie Dictionary}}
! Wikipedia
! style="text-align:left;" | Examples
|-
| {{IPA|tʃ}} || {{IPA|tʃ}} || č || ᴄʜ || ch || c͜h || ch || ch || ch <small>ligature</small> || ch || ch || ch || ch 
|ch, tch|| ch || ch || ch 
|ch|| ch || ch || ch || ch, tch || ch || ch || ch, tch || style="text-align: left;" |'''ch'''ur'''ch'''
|-
| {{IPA|ɡ}}{{efn|In IPA, an "opentail G" (ɡ / [[File:Opentail g.svg|8px]]) was historically preferred to a "looptail G" (g / [[File:Looptail g.svg|8px]]), although now either variant is acceptable.|name=|group=}}|| g || g || g || g || g || g || g || g || g || g || g || g 
|g|| g || g || g 
|g|| g || g || g || g || g || g || g, gh || style="text-align: left;" | '''g'''ame
|-
| {{IPA|h}} || h || h || h || h || h || h || h || h || h || h || h || h 
|h|| h || h || h 
|h|| h || hh || h || h || h || h || h ||style="text-align: left;" | '''h'''at
|-
| {{IPA|hw}}{{efn|May be analysed differently, see voiceless labial–velar fricative|name=|group=}} || hw || hw || (h)w || hw || hw || hw || hw ||  ||  || hw || || hw 
|hw|| &nbsp; || hw || (h)w 
| || w || || hw || || || || wh ||style="text-align: left;" | '''wh'''ich
|-
| {{IPA|dʒ}} || {{IPA|dʒ}} || ǯ || j || j || j || j || j || j || j || j || j || j 
|j|| j || j || j 
|j|| j || jh || j || j || j || j || j ||style="text-align: left;" | '''j'''u'''dge'''
|-
| {{IPA|k}} || {{IPA|k}} || k || k || k || k || k || k || k || k || k || k || k || k, ck || k || k || k || k || k || k || k || k || k || k || k
| style="text-align: left;" | '''k'''i'''ck'''
|-
| {{IPA|x}} || x || x || ᴋʜ || ᴋʜ || ᴋ͜ʜ || kh || || || || ʜ || || ḵ 
|kh|| (χ) || k͟h || hh 
|xh|| || || ᴋʜ || kh || || || kh ||style="text-align: left;" | lo'''ch''' <small>(Scottish and Irish)</small><br>Bu'''ch''' <small>(German)</small>
|-
| {{IPA|ŋ}} || ŋ || ŋ ||ɴɢ || ng || n͡g || ng || ng || ŋ || ng || ng || ng || ŋ 
|ng|| ng || ng || ng 
|ng|| ng || ng || ng || ng <br>(ng-g, nk) || ng || ng || ng || style="text-align: left;" | thi'''ng'''
|-
| {{IPA|s}} || s || s || s || s || s || s || s || s || s || s || s || s 
|s, ss|| s || s || s 
|s|| s || s || s || s || s || s || s, ss ||style="text-align: left;" | '''s'''au'''ce'''
|-
| {{IPA|ʃ}} || {{IPA|ʃ}} || š || ꜱʜ || sh || s͜h || sh || sh || sh <small>ligature</small> || sh || sh || sh || sh 
|sh|| sh || sh || sh 
|sh|| sh || sh || sh || sh || sh || sh || sh || style="text-align: left;" | '''sh'''ip
|-
| {{IPA|θ}} || θ || θ ||ᴛʜ || th || t͜h || th || th || th <small>ligature</small> || th || th || th || th 
|th|| th || th || th 
|th|| th || th || th || th || rowspan=2| th || th || th || style="text-align: left;" | '''th'''in
|-
| {{IPA|ð}} || ð || ð || ᴛ͟ʜ || 𝑡ℎ || ᵺ || th || t͟h || 𝑡h <small>ligature</small> || ᵺ || T̶H || th꞉ || t͟h 
|dh|| dh || t͟h || dh 
|dh|| TH || dh || 𝑡ℎ || dh || dh || dh || style="text-align: left;" | '''th'''is
|-
| {{IPA|j}} || j || y || y || y || y || y || y || y || y || y || y || y 
|y|| y || y || y 
|y|| y || y || y || y || y || y || y ||style="text-align: left;" | '''y'''es
|-
| {{IPA|ʒ}} || {{IPA|ʒ}} || ž || ᴢʜ || zh || z͜h || zh || z͟h || zh <small>ligature</small> || zh || zh || zh || zh 
|zh|| zh || z͟h || zh 
|zh|| zh || zh || zh || zh || zh || zh || zh || style="text-align: left;" | vi'''s'''ion
|-
| colspan="26" | The following letters have the same values in all systems listed: b, d, f, l, m, n, p, r{{efn|The more precise IPA symbol {{IPAalink|ɹ}} is sometimes used for English {{IPA|/r/}}.}}, t, v, w, z.
|-
! colspan="26" | Vowels {{anchor|Vowels}}
|- style="font-size: 80%"
! {{abbr|IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet}}
! {{abbr|K&K|A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English}}
! {{abbr|APA|Americanist Phonetic Notation}}
! {{abbr|NOAD|New Oxford American Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|AHD|American Heritage Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|RHD|Random House Dictionary of the English Language}}
! {{abbr|WBO|World Book Online}}
! {{abbr|MECD|Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|DPL|Dictionary of Pronunciation (Lass)}}
! {{abbr|DPN|Dictionary of Pronunciation (Noory)}}
! {{abbr|TBD|Thorndike Barnhart Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|NBC|NBC Handbook of Pronunciation}}
! {{abbr|MWCD|Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary}}
!{{abbr|OED|Oxford English Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|COD|Concise Oxford English Dictionary}}{{efn|name=cod}}
! {{abbr|POD|Pocket Oxford Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|Cham|The Chambers Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|CPD|The Chambers Paperback Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|SD|Scholastic Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|AB|ARPABET}}
! {{abbr|Dictcom|Dictionary.com}}
! {{abbr|BBC|BBC text spelling}}
! {{abbr|Google|Google's pronunciation dictionary}}<br>AmE, BrE
! {{abbr|Mac|Macquarie Dictionary}}
! Wikipedia
! style="text-align:left;" | Examples
|-
| {{IPA|æ}} || æ || æ || a || ă || a || a || a || a || a || a || a || a 
|a|| ă || a || a 
|a|| a || ae || a || a (arr) || a || a || a (arr) || style="text-align: left;" | c'''a'''t
|-
| {{IPA|eɪ}} || e || e(y) || ā || ā || ā || ay || ay || ā || ay || ā || ay || ā 
|ay|| ā || ay || ā 
|eh|| ay, a_e || ey || ey || ay || ei || ay || ay || style="text-align: left;" | d'''ay'''
|-
| {{IPA|ɛər}} || {{IPA|ɛr}} || εr ||e(ə)r || âr || âr || air || air || – || – || âr || air || er 
|air|| ār || air || ār, er{{efn|name=erChamb|"er" is pronounced /ɛə(r)/ before consonants but /ɛr/ before vowels}} 
|air|| air || eh r || air || air || ehr, euh || air || air || style="text-align: left;" | h'''air'''
|-
| {{IPA|ɑː}} || {{IPA|ɑ}} || a || ä || ä || ä || ah || aa || ä || aw, o || ä || ah || ä, ȧ 
|ah|| ah || aa || ä 
| rowspan="2" |ah|| ah || aa || ah || aa || aa || rowspan=2| ah || ah || style="text-align: left;" | f'''a'''ther
|-
| {{IPA|ɑːr}} || {{IPA|ɑr}} || ar ||är || är || är || ahr || aar || är || – || är || ahr || är 
|ar|| a͡r || aar || är || ar || aa r || ahr || ar || aar, aa || ar || style="text-align: left;" | '''ar'''m
|-
| {{IPA|ɛ}} || {{IPA|ɛ}} || ε || e || ĕ || e || eh || e || e || ɛ || e || e || e 
|e|| ě || e || e 
|e|| e || eh || e || e (err) || e/eh || e || e (err) || style="text-align: left;" | l'''e'''t
|-
| {{IPA|iː}} || i || i(y) || ē || ē || ē || ee || ee || ē || ē || ē || ee || ē 
|ee|| ē || ee || ē 
|ee|| ee || iy || ee || ee || ee || ee || ee || style="text-align: left;" | s'''ee'''
|-
| {{IPA|ɪər}} || {{IPA|ɪr}} || ιr || i(ə)r || îr || ēr || ihr || eer || || || ir ||ier|| ir 
|eer|| ēr || eer || ēr 
| || ihr || iy r || eer || eer || eer, eeuh || ear || eer || style="text-align: left;" | h'''ere'''
|-
| {{IPA|ɪ}} || {{IPA|ɪ}} || {{IPA|ɪ}} || i || ĭ || i || ih || i || i || i || i || i || i 
|i|| ǐ || i || i 
|i|| i || ih || i || i (irr) || i || i || i (irr) || style="text-align: left;" | p'''i'''t
|-
| {{IPA|aɪ}} || {{IPA|aɪ}} || ay || ī || ī || ī || y || ī || ī || y || ī || igh || ī 
|igh|| ī || ī || ī 
|ai|| eye, i_e, ye || ay || ahy || igh, y || ai || uy || y, eye{{efn|Spelled ''eye'' as a syllable of its own; with a consonant, it is spelled ''y'':  iodine {{respell|EYE|ə-dyne}}; item {{respell|EYE|təm}}; pipe {{respell|PYPE}}.}} || style="text-align: left;" | b'''y'''
|-
| {{IPA|ɒ}} || {{IPA|ɑ}} || a || ä || ŏ || o || o || o || ä || o || o || ah || ä 
|o|| ǒ || o || o 
|o|| o || aa || o || o (orr) || aa, o || o || o (orr) || style="text-align: left;" | p'''o'''t
|-
| {{IPA|oʊ}} || o || o(w) || ō || ō || ō || oh || ō || ō || ō || ō || oh || ō 
|oh|| ō || ō || ō 
|oh|| oh, o_e || ow || oh || oh || ow || oh || oh || style="text-align: left;" | n'''o'''
|-
| {{IPA|ɔː}} || {{IPA|ɔ}}  || ɔ || ô || ô || ô || aw || aw || ô || aw, o || ô || aw || ȯ 
|aw|| aw || aw || ö 
| rowspan="3" |aw|| aw || ao || aw || aw || aa, aw || rowspan=3| aw || aw || style="text-align: left;" | c'''augh'''t
|-
| rowspan=2| {{IPA|ɔːr}} || {{IPA|ɔr}}  || {{IPA|ɔr}}  || rowspan=2 | ôr || rowspan=2 | ôr ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  ||  rowspan=2 | ôr || rowspan="2" |awr
| rowspan="2" | ȯr 
| rowspan="2" |or|| ||  ||ör
| rowspan="2" | or || rowspan="2" |ao r|| awr || rowspan=2| or || rowspan=2| or, aw || or || style="text-align: left;" | n'''or'''th
|-
| {{IPA|or}}  || {{IPA|o(w)r}}  ||  ||  || ||  || ||  || ||ōr, ör{{efn|name=ohrChamb|A pronunciation with the {{Sm|north}} vowel (ör) is always listed for words belonging to the {{Sm|force}} lexical set, but the distinct {{Sm|force}} vowel (ōr) is not always given as an alternative for words traditionally included in this group. For example, "ore," "worn," "ford," and "story" can be pronounced either way, but "hoar," "borne," "afford," and "glory" are sounded only with the {{Sm|north}} vowel; "born" and "borne" are thus invariably homophonous, unlike "or" and "ore," between which a distinction may be drawn. However, in older editions of the dictionary, the presence of the {{Sm|force}} vowel largely coincided with Wells's corresponding lexical set.<ref>{{Cite book|last=MacDonald|first=A. M.|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.11967|title=Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary|date=1960|publisher=Allied Publishers Private, Calcutta|language=en}}</ref>}}
| awr, ohr || ohr || style="text-align: left;" | f'''or'''ce
|-
| {{IPA|ɔɪ}} || {{IPA|ɔɪ}} || ɔy || oi || oi || oi || oy || oy || oi <small>ligature</small> || oy || oi || oi || ȯi 
|oy|| oi || oy || oi 
|oy|| oi || oy || oi || oy || oy || oy || oy || style="text-align: left;" | n'''oi'''se
|-
| {{IPA|ʊ}} || ᴜ || ᴜ || o͝o || o͝o || o͝o || u || o͝o|| oo <small>ligature</small> || u || u̇ || oo || u̇ 
|uu|| o͝o || o͝o || ŭ{{efn|name=oo|Older editions of ''The Chambers Dictionary'' used o͝o for ŭ and o͞o for oo.}} 
|uu|| u || uh || 𝑜𝑜 || uu || u || oo || uu || style="text-align: left;" | t'''oo'''k
|-
| {{IPA|ʊər}} || ᴜr || ᴜr || o͝or || o͝or || o͝or || ur || oor || || || u̇r ||oor|| u̇r 
|oor|| oor || || oor 
| || oor || uh r || 𝑜𝑜r || oor || oor, uor  || oouh || oor || style="text-align: left;" | t'''our'''
|-
| {{IPA|uː}} || u || u(w) || o͞o || o͞o || o͞o || oo || oo || o͞o <small>ligature</small> || ū || ü || oo꞉ || ü 
|oo|| o͞o || o͞o || oo{{efn|name=oo}} 
|oo|| oo || uw || oo || oo || oo || ooh || oo || style="text-align: left;" | s'''oo'''n
|-
| {{IPA|aʊ}} || aᴜ || aw || ou || ou || ou || ow || ow || ou <small>ligature</small> || ow || ou || ow || au̇ 
|ow|| ow || ow || ow 
|ow|| ou || aw || ou || ow || aw || ow || ow || style="text-align: left;" | '''ou'''t
|-
| {{IPA|ʌ}} || {{IPA|ʌ}} || ʌ || ə || ŭ || u || uh || u || u || ꭒ || u ||uh|| ə 
|u|| ǔ || u || u 
|u|| uh || ah || uh || u || uh || u || u || style="text-align: left;" | c'''u'''t
|-
| {{IPA|ɜːr}} || {{IPA|ɜr}} || ər || ər || ûr || ûr || ur || ur || ʉr || er || ėr || er || ər 
|ur|| e͡r || ər || ûr 
|ur|| ur || er || ur || ur || ur, uh  || er || ur || style="text-align: left;" | w'''or'''d
|-
| {{IPA|ə}} || ə || ə || ə || ə || ə || uh || ə || ə || e || ə || uh || ə 
|uh|| 𝑎, 𝑒, 𝑖, 𝑜, 𝑢 || ə || ə 
| rowspan="2" |uh|| uh || ah || 𝑢ℎ || uh || uh || rowspan=2| uh || ə || style="text-align: left;" | '''a'''bout
|-
| {{IPA|ər}} || {{IPA|ɚ}} || ər || ər || ər || ər || uhr || ər || ər || er || ər || er || ər 
|ur|| er || ər || ər || ur || er || er || uhr || r, uh || ər || style="text-align: left;" | butt'''er'''
|-
| {{IPA|juː}} || ju || yu || yo͞o || yo͞o || yo͞o || yoo || yoo || yo͞o <small>ligature</small> || yū || yü || yoo꞉ || yü 
|yoo|| ū || yo͞o || ū 
| || yoo || y uw || yoo || yoo || yoo || yooh || ew || style="text-align: left;" | v'''iew'''
|-
! colspan="26" | Stress
|- style="font-size: 80%"
! {{abbr|IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet}}
! {{abbr|K&K|A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English}}
! {{abbr|APA|Americanist Phonetic Notation}}
! {{abbr|NOAD|New Oxford American Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|AHD|American Heritage Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|RHD|Random House Dictionary of the English Language}}
! {{abbr|WBO|World Book Online}}
! {{abbr|MECD|Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|DPL|Dictionary of Pronunciation (Lass)}}
! {{abbr|DPN|Dictionary of Pronunciation (Noory)}}
! {{abbr|TBD|Thorndike Barnhart Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|NBC|NBC Handbook of Pronunciation}}
! {{abbr|MWCD|Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary}}{{efn|name=mwcd|Older editions of the MWCD and other Webster's dictionaries used the system later followed by the American Heritage Dictionary, with primary stress indicated by a'''′''' and secondary by a′ (sometimes rendered as a" and a').<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4aEMAAAAYAAJ&q=primary+secondary+tertiary+stress+webster%27s+dictionary&pg=PR13 |title=Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: A Dictionary of the English Language : Giving the Derivations, Pronunciations, Definitions and Synonyms of a Large Vocabulary of the Words Occurring in Literature, Art, Science, and the Common Speech |last=Webster |first=Noah |date=1898 |publisher=G. & C. Merriam}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/660/pg660.txt |title=Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary |last=Porter |first=Noah |date=1913 |publisher=C. & G. Merriam Co.}}</ref>}}
!{{abbr|OED|Oxford English Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|COD|Concise Oxford English Dictionary}}{{efn|name=cod}}
! {{abbr|POD|Pocket Oxford Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|Cham|The Chambers Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|CPD|The Chambers Paperback Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|SD|Scholastic Dictionary}}
! {{abbr|AB|ARPABET}}
! {{abbr|Dictcom|Dictionary.com}}
! {{abbr|BBC|BBC text spelling}}
! {{abbr|Google|Google's pronunciation dictionary}}
! {{abbr|Mac|Macquarie Dictionary}}
! Wikipedia
! style="text-align:left;" | Examples
|-
| {{IPA|ˈa}} || {{IPA|ˈa}} || á || ˈa || a'''′''' || a'''′''' || rowspan="2" | á || || a'''′''' || a′ || a'''′''' || A || {{IPA|'''ˈ'''a}} 
|A|| a'''·''' || rowspan=2| á || a' 
|''a''|| '''a''' || 1 || '''a''' || A || '''a''' || (')a || rowspan=2|'''A''' || style="text-align: left;" | primary stress
|-
| {{IPA|ˌa}} || rowspan=2| {{IPA|ˌa}} || à || ˌa || rowspan=2| a′ || rowspan=2| a′ || || rowspan=2| a′ || rowspan="2" | a|| rowspan="2" | a′<br> || ''a'' || rowspan=2|{{IPA|'''ˌ'''a}} 
| rowspan="2" |a|| rowspan="2" |(a'''·''') || rowspan=2| a 
| || a || 2 || a || rowspan=2| a || rowspan=2| a  || .a ||style="text-align: left;" | secondary stress
|-
| {{IPA|a}} || a || a || a || || a || a 
| || ''a'' || 0 || ''a''{{efn|For tertiary stress, not only are the letters italicized, but they are in a different font, also. Secondary/tertiary stress is only marked when judged to be unpredictable, but is not distinguished from primary stress when it is marked.}} || a || a ||style="text-align: left;" | tertiary stress
|}

===Title abbreviations===
* '''IPA''' – Compromise dialect-neutral English pronunciation using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), as used in Wikipedia.
* '''K&K''' – [[Social:General American|General American]] pronunciation using symbols largely corresponding to those of the IPA in ''A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English'' (also referred to as ''Kenyon and Knott'') (1944 [1953]), John S. Kenyon, Thomas A. Knott.  Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster.
* '''APA''' – Americanist phonetic notation, used primarily in linguistics literature in the U.S.
* '''NOAD''' – ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' (2001, 2005, 2010).  New York: Oxford University Press. (Diacritical transcription).
* '''AHD''' – ''American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (2000). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. Also used by the ''[[Columbia Encyclopedia]]''.
* '''RHD''' – ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language'' (1966).
* '''WBO''' – ''World Book Online'' (1998).
* '''MECD''' – ''Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary''.
* '''DPL''' – ''Dictionary of Pronunciation'', Abraham Lass and Betty Lass.
* '''DPN''' – ''Dictionary of Pronunciation'', Samuel Noory.
* '''TBD''' – ''Thorndike Barnhart Dictionary''.
* '''NBC''' – ''NBC Handbook of Pronunciation''.
* '''MWCD''' – ''Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary''.
* '''OED''' – ''Oxford English Dictionary''.
* '''COD''' – ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary'' (1964 [1974]), 5th edition, E. McIntosh, ed. Oxford: OUP. (This notation was used up to the 7th edition; newer editions use the IPA.)
* '''POD''' – ''The Pocket Oxford Dictionary'' (2006), 2nd edition, E. Jewell, Oxford: OUP.
* '''Cham''' – ''The Chambers Dictionary'' (2003).
* '''CPD''' – ''The Chambers Paperback Dictionary'' (2012).
* '''SD''' – ''Scholastic Dictionary''.
* '''AB''' – ARPABET, a commonly used computerized encoding of English pronunciation. It is used by the [[Software:CMU Pronouncing Dictionary|CMU Pronouncing Dictionary]].
* '''Dictcom''' – Dictionary.com uses a custom phonetic alphabet.[https://www.dictionary.com/e/key-to-phonetic-respelling/]
* '''BBC''' – BBC Phonetic Respelling.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/17_07_06_phonetics.pdf]
* '''Google''' – Google's pronunciation dictionary.
* '''Mac''' - ''Macquarie Dictionary's'' "say" respelling system.
* '''Wikipedia''' – Wikipedia Pronunciation Respelling Key, used in some Wikipedia articles to spell out the pronunciations of English words.

===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Pronunciation without respelling===

Some dictionaries indicate hyphenation and syllabic stress in the headword. A few have even used diacritics to show pronunciation "without respelling" in the headwords.

The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'', 1st through 4th edition, used a mix of two systems.<ref name="COD1911">{{cite book|editor1-last=Fowler|editor1-first=H. W.|editor2-last=Fowler|editor2-first=F. G.|title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English|edition=1st|date=1911|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford|url=https://archive.org/stream/conciseoxforddic00fowlrich#page/n13/mode/1up}}</ref>  Some editions of ''Webster's Unabridged Dictionary'' have offered a method for teachers to indicate pronunciation without respelling as a supplement to the respelling scheme used in the dictionary.  Pronunciation without respelling is also sometimes used in texts with many unusual words, such as Bibles,<ref name="HolmanNT1895">{{cite book|title=The self-pronouncing New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ|date=1895|publisher=A. J. Holman & Co.|location=Philadelphia|url=https://archive.org/stream/selfpronouncingn01#page/n8/mode/1up}}</ref><ref name="OxfordBible1897">{{cite book|title=The Oxford self-pronouncing Bible; the Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments|date=1897|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York & London|url=https://archive.org/stream/oxfordselfpronou00oxfo#page/n15/mode/2up}}</ref><ref name="OxfordNT1900">{{cite book|title=The Oxford self-pronouncing Testament; the New Testament...|date=1900|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York & London|url=https://archive.org/stream/oxfordselfpronou00oxforich#page/n5/mode/2up}}</ref> when it is desirable to show the received pronunciation. These will often be more exhaustive than dictionary respelling keys because all possible digraphs or readings need to have a unique spelling.

{| class="wikitable floatleft" style="margin-left: 4em"
|+ ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'''s system without respelling
|-
! ''COD'' variant || IPA
|-
| ph || {{IPA|/f/}}
|-
| kn (initial) || {{IPA|/n/}}
|-
| wr (initial) || {{IPA|/r/}}
|-
| g, dg || {{IPA|/dʒ/}} (before e, i, y) <br> {{IPA|/ɡ/}} otherwise <br> {{small|(hard and soft ''g'')}}
|-
| c || {{IPA|/s/}} (before e, i, y) <br>  {{IPA|/k/}} otherwise <br> {{small|(hard and soft ''c'')}}
|-
| ai, ay  || {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
|-
| air || {{IPA|/ɛər/}}
|-
| ae, ea, ee, ie || {{IPA|/iː/}}
|-
| ė, ie (final), ey                || {{IPA|/ɪ/}}
|-
| ear, eer, ier                    || {{IPA|/ɪər/}}
|-
| aw                               || {{IPA|/ɔː/}}
|-
| oy                               || {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}
|-
| ou                               || {{IPA|/aʊ/}}
|-
| i͡r, u͡r                         || {{IPA|/ɜr/}}
|-
| eu, ew                           || {{IPA|/juː/}}
|}

{|class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Henry Adeney Redpath's table of signs in the King James Bible<ref name="OxfordBible1897"/><ref name="OxfordNT1900"/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Holy Bible: Authorized King James Version|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZTrAAAAMAAJ|year=1959|publisher=Collins' Clear-Type Press}}</ref>
! Symbol !! Original gloss !! Approximate IPA equivalent*
|-
| -  	|| syllable boundary (always added; <br>original hyphens become –) || {{IPA|/./}}
|-
| -́ 	|| syllable boundary after stress* || {{IPA|/ˈ/}} ''or'' {{IPA|/ˌ/}} before syll.
|-
| ä 	|| ah, arm, father  || {{IPA|/ɑː/}}
|-
| ă 	|| abet, hat, dilemma || {{IPA|/æ, ə‡/}}
|-
| ā 	|| tame || {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
|-
| â 	|| fare || {{IPA|/ɛə†/}}
|-
| ạ 	|| call || {{IPA|/ɔː/}}
|-
| ĕ 	|| met, her, second || {{IPA|/ɛ, ɜ†, ə‡/}}
|-
| ē 	|| mete || {{IPA|/iː/}}
|-
| ë 	|| a ''in'' tame || {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
|-
| ī 	|| fine || {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
|-
| ĭ 	|| him, fir, plentiful || {{IPA|/ɪ, ɜ†, i‡, ə‡/}}
|-
| î 	|| machine || {{IPA|/iː/}}
|-
| ị 	|| peculiar || {{IPA|/j/}}
|-
| ō 	|| alone || {{IPA|/oʊ/}}
|-
| ŏ 	|| on, protect || {{IPA|/ɒ, ə‡/}}
|-
| ô 	|| nor || {{IPA|/ɔː/}}
|-
| o̱ 	|| son || {{IPA|/ʌ, ə‡/}}
|-
| ū 	|| tune || {{IPA|/juː/}}
|-
| û 	|| rude || {{IPA|/uː/}}
|-
| ŭ 	|| us || {{IPA|/ʌ, ə‡/}}
|-
| u̇ 	|| turner || {{IPA|/ɜ†/}}
|-
| ȳ 	|| lyre || {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
|-
| y̆ 	|| typical, fully || {{IPA|/ɪ, i‡/}}
|-
| a͞a	|| a ''of'' am || {{IPA|/æ/}}
|-
| a͡a 	|| a ''of'' fare || {{IPA|/ɛə/}}
|-
| ǣ, a͞e 	|| mediæval || {{IPA|/iː/}}
|-
| a͡i 	|| aisle || {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
|-
| a͟i	|| hail || {{IPA|/eɪ/}}
|-
| a͞o	|| o ''of'' alone || {{IPA|/oʊ/}}
|-
| a͡u 	|| maul || {{IPA|/ɔː/}}
|-
| e͡e 	|| heed || {{IPA|/iː/}}
|-
| e͡i 	|| i ''of'' fine || {{IPA|/aɪ/}}
|-
| e͡u 	|| neuter || {{IPA|/juː/}}
|-
| e͡w 	|| lewd || {{IPA|/juː/}}
|-
| o͡i 	|| oil || {{IPA|/ɔɪ/}}
|-
| c̣ 	|| celestial || {{IPA|/s/}}
|-
| c͟h	|| character || {{IPA|/k/}}
|-
| c͞i	|| delicious || {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
|-
| ġ 	|| giant || {{IPA|/dʒ/}}
|-
| ṡ 	|| his || {{IPA|/z/}}
|-
| s͞i	|| adhesion || {{IPA|/ʒ/}}
|-
| T͞h	|| Thomas || {{IPA|/t/}}
|-
| t͞i	|| attraction || {{IPA|/ʃ/}}
|-
| colspan=3 | 
{{small|<nowiki>*</nowiki> IPA symbols interpreted by Wikipedia. <br>
† This reading or symbol is only obtained or used before "r".<br>
‡ This reading is only obtained in unstressed syllables.}}
|}
{{-}}

==International Phonetic Alphabet==
The [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] is a standardized method of phonetic transcription developed by a group of English and French language teachers in 1888. In the beginning, only specialized pronunciation dictionaries for linguists used it, for example, the ''English Pronouncing Dictionary'' edited by Daniel Jones (''EPD'', 1917).  The IPA, used by English teachers as well, started to appear in popular dictionaries for learners of English as a foreign language such as the ''Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary'' (1948) and ''Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English'' (1978).

IPA is very flexible and allows for a wide variety of transcriptions between broad phonemic transcriptions which describe the significant units of meaning in language and phonetic transcriptions which may indicate every nuance of sound in detail.

The IPA transcription conventions used in the first twelve editions of the ''{{abbr|EPD|English Pronouncing Dictionary}}'' was relatively simple, using a ''quantitative'' system indicating vowel length using a colon, and requiring the reader to infer other vowel qualities.  Many phoneticians preferred a ''qualitative'' system, which used different symbols to indicate vowel timbre and colour.  A. C. Gimson introduced a ''quantitative-qualitative'' IPA notation system when he took over editorship of the ''EPD'' (13th edition, 1967); and by the 1990s, the Gimson system had become the de facto standard for phonetic notation of British [[Social:Received Pronunciation|Received Pronunciation]] (RP).

{| cellspacing="5" style="margin-left:1.5em;" class="wikitable"
|+ Short and long vowels in various IPA schemes for {{abbr|RP|Received Pronunciation}}
! style="text-align:left; width:25%;" | word
! style="text-align:left; width:25%;" | {{abbr|quant.|quantitative notation}}
! style="text-align:left; width:25%;" | {{abbr|qual.|qualitative notation}}
! style="text-align:left;" | Gimson
|-
| ''rid'' || {{IPA|rid}} || {{IPA|rɪd}} || {{IPA|rɪd}}
|-
| ''reed'' || {{IPA|riːd}} || {{IPA|rid}} || {{IPA|riːd}}
|-
| ''cod'' || {{IPA|kɔd}} || {{IPA|kɒd}} || {{IPA|kɒd}}
|-
| ''cord'' || {{IPA|kɔːd}} || {{IPA|kɔd}} || {{IPA|kɔːd}}
|}

The first native (not learner's) English dictionary using IPA may have been the ''Collins English Dictionary'' (1979), and others followed suit.  The ''Oxford English Dictionary'', 2nd edition (''OED''2, 1989) used IPA, transcribed letter-for-letter from entries in the first edition, which had been noted in a scheme by the original editor, James Murray.

While IPA has not been adopted by popular dictionaries in the United States,{{Citation needed|date=November 2016}} there is a demand for learner's dictionaries which provide both British and American English pronunciation.  Some dictionaries, such as the ''Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary'' and the ''Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English'' provide a separate transcription for each.

British and American English dialects have a similar set of [[Social:Phoneme|phoneme]]s, but some are pronounced differently; in technical parlance, they consist of different phones.  Although developed for RP, the Gimson system being phonemic, it is not far from much of [[Social:General American|General American]] pronunciation as well. A number of recent dictionaries, such as the ''Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary'', add a few non-phonemic symbols {{IPA|/ʳ i u ᵊl ᵊn/}} to represent both RP and General American pronunciation in a single IPA transcription.

{| cellspacing="5" style="vertical-align:top;" style="margin-left:1.5em;" class="wikitable"
|+ Adaptations of the Gimson system for American English
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| style="width:4em;" | {{IPA|/ɒ/}}
| Pronounced {{IPA|[ɑː]}} in General American.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| {{IPA|/e/}}
| In American English falls between {{IPA|[e]}} and {{IPA|[æ]}} (sometimes transcribed {{IPA|/ɛ/}})
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| {{IPA|/əu/}}
| This traditional transcription is probably more accurately replaced by /ou/ in  American English.
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| {{IPA|/r/}}
| Regular r is always pronounced
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| {{IPA|/ʳ/}}
| Superscript r is only pronounced in rhotic dialects, such as General American, or when followed by a vowel (for example adding a suffix to change ''dear'' into ''dearest'')
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| {{IPA|/i/}}
| ''Medium i'' can be pronounced {{IPA|[ɪ]}} or {{IPA|[iː]}}, depending on the dialect
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| {{IPA|/ɔː/}}
| Many Americans pronounce {{IPA|/ɔː/}} the same as {{IPA|/ɒ/}} ({{IPA|[ɑː]}})
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| {{IPA|/ᵊl/}}
| Syllabic l, sometimes transcribed {{IPA|/l/}} or {{IPA|/əl/}}
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| {{IPA|/ᵊn/}}
| Syllabic n, sometimes transcribed {{IPA|/n/}} or {{IPA|/ən/}}
|}

Clive Upton updated the Gimson scheme, changing the symbols used for five vowels.  He served as pronunciation consultant for the influential ''Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', which adopted this scheme in its ninth edition (1995).  Upton's reform is controversial: it reflects changing pronunciation, but critics say it represents a narrower regional accent, and abandons parallelism with American and Australian English.  In addition, the phonetician John C. Wells said that he could not understand why Upton had altered the presentation of ''price'' to {{IPA|prʌɪs}}.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-english.htm | title=IPA transcription systems for English}}</ref>

Upton outlined his reasons for the transcription in a chapter of ''A Handbook of Varieties of English''.  He said that the {{sc2|PRICE}}-vowel represented how the starting point could be anything from centralised front to centralised back.<ref>{{harvnb|Upton|2004|p=225}}</ref>  The change in the NURSE vowel was intended as a simplification as well as a reflection that {{IPA|nɜːs}} was not the only possible realisation in RP.<ref>{{harvnb|Upton|2004|p=224}}</ref>  The other alterations were intended to reflect changes that have occurred over time.

{| cellspacing="5" style="margin-left:1.5em;" class="wikitable"
|+ Upton's reform
! style="text-align:left; width:33%;" | word
! style="text-align:left; width:33%;" | Gimson
! style="text-align:left;" | Upton
|-
| ''bet'' || {{IPA|bet}} || {{IPA|bɛt}}
|-
| ''bat'' || {{IPA|bæt}} || {{IPA|bat}}
|-
| ''nurse'' || {{IPA|nɜːs}} || {{IPA|nəːs}}
|-
| ''square'' || {{IPA|skweə}} || {{IPA|skwɛː}}
|-
| ''price'' || {{IPA|praɪs}} || {{IPA|prʌɪs}}
|}
The in-progress 3rd edition of the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' uses Upton's scheme for representing British pronunciations.  For American pronunciations it uses an IPA-based scheme devised by William Kretzschmar of the [[Organization:University of Georgia|University of Georgia]].

===Comparison===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+Comparison of the IPA variants for English
!rowspan="2"|Lexical sets!!colspan="3"|RP!!colspan="2"|GA
|-
!scope="col" width="16%"|Jones<br />(1909,&nbsp;1917)<ref name=Jones1909>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Daniel|title=The Pronunciation of English|date=1909|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|page=XIV-XV|url=https://archive.org/stream/pronunciationofe00jone#page/n17/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Daniel|title=An English Pronouncing Dictionary|date=1917|publisher=J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd|page=XXV|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=drly_x_HzfIC&pg=PR25|isbn=9780415233392}}</ref>
!scope="col" width="16%"|Gimson<br />(1962,&nbsp;1967)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gimson|first1=A. C.|title=An introduction to the pronunciation of English|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontopr0000gims|url-access=registration|date=1962|edition=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Crystal|first1=David|title=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English language|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeencyclo00crys|url-access=registration|date=1995|page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeencyclo00crys/page/237 237]|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521401791}}</ref>
!scope="col" width="16%"|Upton<br />(1995)<ref>{{cite book|title=Concise Oxford English Dictionary|edition=10|date=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sYScAQAAQBAJ&pg=PR24|isbn=9780199601110}}</ref>
!scope="col" width="16%"|Kenyon&Knott<br />(1944)<ref name=Kenyon&Knott1944>{{cite book|last1=Kenyon|first1=John S.|last2=Knott|first2=Thomas A.|title=A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English|date=1944|publisher=G.& C. Merriam Co.|location=Springfield, MA}}</ref>
!scope="col" width="16%"|Roach&nbsp;et&nbsp;al.<br />(1997)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Daniel|editor1-last=Roach|editor1-first=Peter|editor2-last=Hartman|editor2-first=James|editor3-last=Setter|editor3-first=Jane|title=English Pronouncing Dictionary|date=1997|publisher=Cambridge University press}}</ref>
|-
| {{sc2|FLEECE}} || {{ipa|iː}} || {{ipa|iː}} || {{ipa|iː}} || {{ipa|i}} || {{ipa|iː}}
|-
| {{sc2|KIT}} || {{ipa|i}} || {{ipa|ɪ}} || {{ipa|ɪ}} || {{ipa|ɪ}} || {{ipa|ɪ}}
|-
| {{sc2|DRESS}} || {{ipa|e}} || {{ipa|e}} || {{ipa|ɛ}} || {{ipa|ɛ}} || {{ipa|e}}
|-
| {{sc2|TRAP}} || {{ipa|æ}} || {{ipa|æ}} || {{ipa|a}} || {{ipa|æ}} || {{ipa|æ}}
|-
| {{sc2|START}} || {{ipa|ɑː}} || {{ipa|ɑː}} || {{ipa|ɑː}} || {{ipa|ɑr~ɑː}}{{efn|group=lower-roman|name=K&K|Kenyon & Knott provided alternative variants for Eastern and Southern pronunciation: {{ipa|/ɑː ɒ ɔə ɜ ə ɪə ɛə ᴜə/}} for general {{ipa|/ɑr ɑ ɔr ɝ ɚ ɪr ɛr ᴜr/}}, respectively.<ref name=Kenyon&Knott1944/>}} || {{ipa|ɑːr}}
|-
| {{sc2|PALM}} || {{ipa|ɑː}} || {{ipa|ɑː}} || {{ipa|ɑː}} || {{ipa|ɑ}} || {{ipa|ɑː}}
|-
| {{sc2|LOT}} || {{ipa|ɔ}} || {{ipa|ɒ}} || {{ipa|ɒ}} || {{ipa|ɑ~ɒ}}{{efn|group=lower-roman|name=K&K}} || {{ipa|ɑː}}
|-
| {{sc2|THOUGHT}} || {{ipa|ɔː}} || {{ipa|ɔː}} || {{ipa|ɔː}} || {{ipa|ɔ}} || {{ipa|ɔː}}
|-
| {{sc2|NORTH}} || {{ipa|ɔː}} || {{ipa|ɔː}} || {{ipa|ɔː}} || {{ipa|ɔr~ɔə}}{{efn|group=lower-roman|name=K&K}} || {{ipa|ɔːr}}
|-
| {{sc2|FOOT}} || {{ipa|u}} || {{ipa|ʊ}} || {{ipa|ʊ}} || {{ipa|ᴜ}} || {{ipa|ʊ}}
|-
| {{sc2|GOOSE}} || {{ipa|uː}} || {{ipa|uː}} || {{ipa|uː}} || {{ipa|u}} || {{ipa|uː}}
|-
| {{sc2|STRUT}} || {{ipa|ʌ}} || {{ipa|ʌ}} || {{ipa|ʌ}} || {{ipa|ʌ}} || {{ipa|ʌ}}
|-
| {{sc2|NURSE}} || {{ipa|əː}} || {{ipa|ɜː}} || {{ipa|əː}} || {{ipa|ɝ~ɜ}}{{efn|group=lower-roman|name=K&K}} || {{ipa|ɝː}}
|-
| {{sc2|LETTER}} || {{ipa|ə}} || {{ipa|ə}} || {{ipa|ə}} || {{ipa|ɚ~ə}}{{efn|group=lower-roman|name=K&K}} || {{ipa|ɚ}}
|-
| {{sc2|COMMA}} || {{ipa|ə}} || {{ipa|ə}} || {{ipa|ə}} || {{ipa|ə}} || {{ipa|ə}}
|-
| {{sc2|FACE}} || {{ipa|ei}} || {{ipa|eɪ}} || {{ipa|eɪ}} || {{ipa|e}} || {{ipa|eɪ}}
|-
| {{sc2|GOAT}} || {{ipa|ou}} || {{ipa|əʊ}} || {{ipa|əʊ}} || {{ipa|o}} || {{ipa|oʊ}}
|-
| {{sc2|PRICE}} || {{ipa|ai}} || {{ipa|aɪ}} || {{ipa|ʌɪ}} || {{ipa|aɪ}} || {{ipa|aɪ}}
|-
| {{sc2|MOUTH}} || {{ipa|au~ɑu}}{{efn|group=lower-roman|In his earlier works, Jones used {{ipa|/ɑu/}} for this diphthong.<ref name=Jones1909/>}} || {{ipa|aʊ}} || {{ipa|aʊ}} || {{ipa|aᴜ}} || {{ipa|aʊ}}
|-
| {{sc2|CHOICE}} || {{ipa|ɔi}} || {{ipa|ɔɪ}} || {{ipa|ɔɪ}} || {{ipa|ɔɪ}} || {{ipa|ɔɪ}}
|-
| {{sc2|NEAR}} || {{ipa|iə}} || {{ipa|ɪə}} || {{ipa|ɪə}} || {{ipa|ɪr~ɪə}}{{efn|group=lower-roman|name=K&K}} || {{ipa|ɪr}}
|-
| {{sc2|SQUARE}} || {{ipa|ɛə}} || {{ipa|eə}} || {{ipa|ɛː}} || {{ipa|ɛr~ɛə}}{{efn|group=lower-roman|name=K&K}} || {{ipa|er}}
|-
| {{sc2|CURE}} || {{ipa|uə}} || {{ipa|ʊə}} || {{ipa|ʊə}} || {{ipa|ᴜr~ᴜə}}{{efn|group=lower-roman|name=K&K}} || {{ipa|ʊr}}
|-
!Notes
|colspan="5"|{{notelist|group=lower-roman}}
|}

==Dictionaries for English-language learners==

For many English language learners, particularly learners without easy Internet access, dictionary pronunciation respelling are the only source of pronunciation information for most new words.  Which respelling systems are best for such learners has been a matter of debate.

In countries where the local languages are written in non-Latin, phonemic orthographies, various other respelling systems have been used.  In India, for example, many English bilingual dictionaries provide pronunciation  respellings in the local orthography.   This is the case for several  Indian languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, and Tamil. To reduce the potential distortions of bilingual phonemic transcription, some dictionaries  add English letters to the local-script respellings to represent sounds not specified in the local script. For example, in English-Tamil dictionaries,  the sounds /b/ and /z/ need to be specified, as in this respelling of ''busy'': "b{{lang|ta|பி}}z{{lang|ta|ஸி}}".<ref>{{harvnb|Students' Deluxe Dictionary|n.d.}}</ref>

Because these respellings primarily use symbols already known to anyone with minimal literacy in the local language, they are more practical to use in such contexts than the IPA or the Latin respelling systems with diacritics.  Another advantage of local-script respellings for English learners is that they retain the "flavour" of local English speech, allowing learners to make connections between their spoken and written English experiences.  However, these systems also have limitations. One limitation is that they do not illuminate the  English writing system.  Like the IPA, they represent phonemes differently from the ways in which the phonemes are normally spelled. So these notations do not guide readers to infer the regularities of English spelling.   Also, the practicality of these systems for learning English locally may be offset by difficulties in communication with people used to different norms such as General American or Received Pronunciation.

==Children's dictionaries==

Most beginner dictionaries are picture dictionaries, or word books.  For preliterate native speakers of a language, the pictures in these dictionaries both define the entry words and are the "keys" to their pronunciation.  Respellings for English begin to appear in dictionaries for novice readers.  Generally, US-based dictionaries contain pronunciation information  for all headwords, while UK-based dictionaries provide pronunciation information only for unusual (e.g., ''ache'') or ambiguously spelled (e.g., ''bow'') words.<ref>{{harvnb|Oxford Junior Illustrated Dictionary}}</ref>{{Clarify|reason=|date=July 2020}}

As the normal age of [[Philosophy:Literacy|literacy]] acquisition varies among languages, so do the age-range designations of children's books.  Generally, age ranges for young children's books in English lag behind those of  languages with phonemic orthographies by about a year. This corresponds to the slow pace of literacy acquisition among English speakers as compared to speakers of languages with phonemic orthographies, such as Italian.<ref>{{harvnb|Seymour|2003}}</ref> Italian children are expected to learn to read within  the first year of elementary school,  whereas English-speaking children are expected to read by the end of third grade. Pronunciation respellings begin to appear in dictionaries for children in third grade and up.

There seems to be very little research on which respelling systems are most useful for children, apart from two small studies done in the 1980s and 1990s.  Both studies were limited to traditional respelling systems without diacritics (setting aside both the IPA and the ''Webster''-based systems used in American dictionaries). Both studies found that in such systems, word respellings may be cumbersome and ambiguous, as in this respelling of ''psychology'': "suy-kol-uh-jee".

The authors of the two studies proposed alternative systems, though there were no follow-up studies. Yule's "cut system" leaves out extra letters, adds specific spellings for sounds with variable spellings, and adds accents to show long vowels, as in this respelling of ''occasion'': o-cà-zhon.<ref>{{harvnb|Yule|1991}}</ref>   Fraser advocated a "non-phonemic" approach using a small set of common spelling patterns in which words would be respelled chunk by chunk, rather than phoneme by phoneme, as in this respelling of ''persiflage'' (IPA: {{IPA|/ˈpərsɪˌflɑʒ/}}): per-sif-large.<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|1996}}</ref>   According to both authors, the reduced vowel (schwa) does not need to be shown in a respelling so long as syllabification and syllable stress are shown.

The following overlapping issues concerning pronunciation respelling in children's dictionaries were directly raised by Yule and Fraser: the level of difficulty, the type of notation, the degree of divergence from regular spelling, and pronunciation norms. Yule also raised the question of the types of impact respelling systems could have on children's literacy acquisition.  These issues could be usefully addressed in studies that include American respelling systems as well as the IPA.

An issue that has arisen since the Yule and Fraser studies concerns the utility of pronunciation respellings given the availability of audio pronunciations in online dictionaries. Currently, the advantage of written respellings is that they may be read phoneme by phoneme, in parallel to the way novice readers are taught to "stretch out" words to hear all the sounds they contain, while the audio pronunciations are given only as whole words spoken in real time. When audio pronunciations are made flexible, it will become possible to study and compare the utility of different combinations of pronunciation features in the online children's dictionaries.

==Other uses==
Anglophone press agencies, such as the Voice of America, periodically release lists of respelled given names of internationally relevant people, in order to help news TV and radio announcers and spokespersons to pronounce them as closely as possible to their original languages.

==See also==
* English spelling reform
* [[International Phonetic Alphabet]]
* International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects
* SAMPA
* ARPABET
* English pronunciation of Greek letters
* Help:IPA/English
* Help:Pronunciation respelling key
* Help:IPA/Conventions for English

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{Cite journal
|last=Gaskins
|first=Irene|title=Procedures for Word Learning: Making Discoveries About Words
|journal=The Reading Teacher
|volume=50
|issue=4
|year=1997
|pages=312–327|display-authors=0}}
*{{Cite journal
|last=Emsley
|first=Bert
|title=Progress in Pronouncing Dictionaries
|journal=American Speech
|volume=15
|issue=1
|date=February 1940
|pages=55–59
|doi=10.2307/452729
|jstor=452729
}}
*{{Cite journal
|last=Fraser
|first=Helen
|title=Guy-dance with Pro-nun-see-ay-shon
|journal=English Today
|volume=12
|issue=3
|year=1996
|pages=29–37
|doi=10.1017/S0266078400009135|s2cid=143626641
}}
*{{cite journal |doi=10.1093/ijl/10.3.181 |last=Fraser |first=Helen |title=Dictionary Pronunciation Guides for English |journal=International Journal of Lexicography |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=181–208 |year=1997 }}
*{{cite book |title=Students' Deluxe Dictionary |location=Coimbatore |publisher=Deluxe Publishers |year=n.d. |edition=New}}
*{{cite book |last=Landau |first=Sidney I. |title=Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2001 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-521-78040-7 }}
*{{cite book |title=Oxford Junior Illustrated Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 }}
*{{Cite journal
|last=Seymour
|first=P.H.K.|title=Foundation Literacy Acquisition in European Orthographies
|journal=British Journal of Psychology
|volume=94
|issue=2
|year=2003
|pages=143–147
|doi=10.1348/000712603321661859|pmid=12803812|s2cid=9716179|display-authors=0|doi-access=free
}}
* Wells, John (2001). "[http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/ipa-english-uni.htm IPA transcription systems for English]", at ''University College London Department of Phonetics and Linguistics'' site.  Retrieved 2006-08-16.
*{{cite journal |url=http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/spellresearch.htm |last=Yule |first=Valerie |title=Pilot Experiments in Cutting Surplus Letters |year=1991 |access-date=2011-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018152731/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/spellresearch.htm |archive-date=2011-10-18 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite journal |url=http://www.yek.me.uk/ipadicts.html |title=IPA vowel symbols for British English in dictionaries |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=143–152 |date=December 2003 |doi=10.1017/S0025100303001257|first=Jack |last=Windsor Lewis |s2cid=144393808 |access-date=2007-11-29}}
*{{cite book |last=Upton |first=Clive |chapter=Received Pronunciation |editor-last=Schneider |editor-first=Edgar W |title=A Handbook of Varieties of English |location=Berlin |pages=217–230 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=2004 |volume=1. Phonology |isbn=978-3-11-017532-5 }}
* Antimoon.com. "[http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-trans.htm Introduction to phonetic transcription]", at ''Antimoon.com''.  Retrieved 2006-08-16.
* Oxford English Dictionary. "[http://www.oed.com/about/oed3-preface/pronunciation.html Pronunciation]", from the Preface to the Third Edition.  Retrieved 2006-09-10.
* Oxford English Dictionary. "[http://public.oed.com/history-of-the-oed/oed-editions/second-edition/pronunciation/ Key for Second Edition Entries]", from the OED website.  Retrieved 2014-11-21.
* Oxford English Dictionary. "[http://public.oed.com/how-to-use-the-oed/key-to-pronunciation/ Key to New Edition Entries]", from the OED website.  Retrieved 2014-11-21.
* Merriam-Webster Online, n.d. "[http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/pronguide_intro.htm Pronunciation Overview]", Retrieved 2011-07-23.

==External links==
* Merriam-Webster Online, [http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/pronguide_intro.htm Pronunciation Overview], [http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/pronguide.htm Pronunciation Guide], [http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/MWOL%20Pronunciation%20Guide.pdf Guide to Pronunciation]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110927085858/http://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media2/guides.php Pronunciation Guides in Children's Dictionaries]
* [http://www.oed.com/public/keytopronunciation Key to the Pronunciation], Oxford English Dictionary
* [http://unicode.org/notes/tn29/UTN29-DictionarySymbols.pdf The use of Phonetic and other Symbols in Dictionaries: A brief survey]
*[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/pk.htm Pronunciation key], the Free Dictionary
* [http://www.photransedit.com PhoTransEdit – English Phonetic Transcription Editor] : PhoTransEdit is a free tool created to make typing phonetic transcriptions easier. It includes automatic phonemic transcription (in RP and General American) of English texts and an IPA phonetic keyboard to edit them. The transcription can be pasted into other editors (e.g. Microsoft Word) or exported to use it in HTML pages.
* [http://lingorado.com/ipa/ IPA Phonetic Transcription of English text]: Online converter of English text into its phonetic transcription using International Phonetic Alphabet (British and American dialects).

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pronunciation Respelling For English}}
[[Category:Phonetic guides]]

{{Sourceattribution|Pronunciation respelling for English}}