International Phonetic Alphabet for English

Symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet as used for English.

Vowels

This section discusses the symbols used for the vowel phonemes in three major English accents.

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Received Pronunciation

Full vowels

Full vowels are those that appear in stressed syllables.

Related Topics:
Stressed - Syllable

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Reduced vowels

Reduced vowels occur in unstressed syllables.

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• {{IPA|/?/}}: roses
• {{IPA|/?/}}: Rosa's, runner
• {{IPA|/l?/}}: bottle
• {{IPA|/n?/}}: button

General American

Full vowels

Note: the vowels {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}} are diphthongal for many American speakers, so the transcriptions {{IPA|/e?/}} and {{IPA|/o?/}} are also often used.

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Reduced vowels

• {{IPA|/?/}}: roses (for many Americans Weak vowel merger)
• {{IPA|/?/}}: Rosa's
• {{IPA|/?/}}: runner
• {{IPA|/l?/}}: bottle
• {{IPA|/n?/}}: button

General Australian

Full vowels

Reduced vowels

• {{IPA|/?/}}: roses, Rosa's, runner
• {{IPA|/l?/}}: bottle
• {{IPA|/n?/}}: button