Phonetic Alphabet Symbols

Why This Matters

Phonetic symbols are the foundation of linguistic analysis—they give you a precise way to describe sounds that spelling simply can't capture. You're being tested on your ability to identify sounds by their articulatory features (where and how they're produced in the mouth), distinguish between voiced and voiceless pairs, and understand how vowels vary along dimensions of height, backness, and rounding. These aren't just abstract symbols; they're tools for analyzing accents, understanding language change, and explaining why certain sounds pattern together.

Don't just memorize what each symbol looks like—know what place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing each sound represents. When you encounter a transcription problem or a question about dialect variation, you need to connect the symbol to the physical production of the sound. Master the system, and you'll be able to analyze any sound in any language, not just English.

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Vowels by Height and Position

Vowels are classified by three features: how high the tongue sits (height), how far forward or back it is (backness), and whether the lips are rounded. Understanding this grid lets you predict vowel relationships and explain dialect differences.

[ɪ] — Near-Close Near-Front Unrounded Vowel

• High front position—tongue sits high and forward, as in "bit" and "kit"
• Lax vowel contrasting with tense [i], which is why "bit" and "beat" sound different
• Common in unstressed syllables where it alternates with schwa in rapid speech

[ʊ] — Near-Close Near-Back Rounded Vowel

• High back position with lip rounding—found in "put," "foot," and "good"
• Lax counterpart to [u], distinguishing "full" from "fool"
• Dialectal variation means some speakers merge this with other vowels in certain words

[ɛ] — Open-Mid Front Unrounded Vowel

• Mid-front tongue position—the vowel in "bed," "red," and "head"
• Lower than [ɪ], which is why "bit" and "bet" are distinct
• Key for minimal pairs testing vowel height distinctions on exams

[ʌ] — Open-Mid Back Unrounded Vowel

• Central-to-back position—found in stressed syllables like "cup," "luck," and "strut"
• Unrounded despite back position, unlike most back vowels
• Stressed counterpart to schwa—compare "above" (schwa) vs. "cup" ([ʌ])

[ə] — Schwa

• The most common vowel in English—neutral, unstressed, and central in the mouth
• Appears in reduced syllables like the second syllable of "sofa" or first syllable of "banana"
• Never occurs in stressed position, making it predictable once you identify stress patterns

[ɔ] — Open-Mid Back Rounded Vowel

• Low-mid back position with rounding—found in "thought," "law," and "caught"
• Merging with [ɑ] in many American dialects (the cot-caught merger)
• Key marker for dialect identification questions on exams

[ɑ] — Open Back Unrounded Vowel

• Lowest back vowel—found in "father," "spa," and American "hot"
• Unrounded in American English, rounded ([ɒ]) in British English
• Central to the cot-caught distinction—know which dialects maintain it

[ɒ] — Open Back Rounded Vowel

• British English marker—the vowel in RP "lot," "hot," and "cot"
• Rounded unlike American [ɑ], giving British and American accents a distinct quality
• Absent in most American dialects, making it useful for accent identification

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Fricatives by Place of Articulation

Fricatives are produced by forcing air through a narrow constriction, creating turbulent noise. They come in voiced/voiceless pairs at each place of articulation—a pattern you'll see tested repeatedly.

[θ] — Voiceless Dental Fricative

• Tongue between teeth, no voicing—the sound in "think," "bath," and "thumb"
• Rare cross-linguistically, which is why non-native speakers often substitute [t], [s], or [f]
• Spelled "th" but distinct from its voiced counterpart [ð]

[ð] — Voiced Dental Fricative

• Same tongue position as [θ], but with vocal cord vibration—found in "this," "that," and "breathe"
• Typically appears in function words (the, this, that, there) while [θ] appears in content words
• Minimal pair with [θ]: "thigh" vs. "thy" shows voicing alone changes meaning

[ʃ] — Voiceless Postalveolar Fricative

• Tongue near the postalveolar ridge, no voicing—the sound in "shoe," "ship," and "nation"
• Spelled multiple ways: sh, ti, ci, ss—phonetic symbols cut through spelling chaos
• More common than its voiced pair, appearing in native English words

[ʒ] — Voiced Postalveolar Fricative

• Same position as [ʃ], with voicing—found in "measure," "vision," and "beige"
• Rare in English, mostly appearing in borrowed words or specific morphological contexts
• Never begins native English words, unlike [ʃ] which freely occurs initially

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Sounds with Unique Articulations

Some sounds don't fit neatly into pairs or series—they represent distinctive articulatory mechanisms that set English apart from other languages or mark specific dialect features.

[ŋ] — Velar Nasal (Eng)

• Back of tongue against velum, air through nose—the final sound in "sing," "ring," and "thing"
• Never begins English words, though it can in other languages like Vietnamese
• Spelled "ng" or "n" before [k]/[g]—"think" has [ŋk], not [nk]

[ʔ] — Glottal Stop

• Complete closure at the glottis—found in "uh-oh" and dialectal pronunciations of "button"
• Replaces [t] in many dialects, especially before syllabic consonants (Cockney, Estuary English)
• Not represented in standard spelling, making it invisible without phonetic transcription

[æ] — Near-Open Front Unrounded Vowel (Ash)

• Low front tongue position—the vowel in "cat," "bat," and "trap"
• Tensing and raising in some dialects creates the "bad-lad split" in certain varieties
• Key diagnostic vowel for distinguishing American regional accents

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Quick Reference Table

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Self-Check Questions

1. Which two consonant pairs demonstrate the voiced/voiceless distinction at the same place of articulation? What articulatory feature is the only difference between them?

2. A speaker pronounces "cot" and "caught" identically. Which two vowel symbols are merging, and what geographic region is this merger most associated with?

3. Compare [ə] and [ʌ]: both are central/back unrounded vowels, so what determines which one appears in a given syllable?

4. Why might a non-native English speaker substitute [t] or [s] for [θ]? What does this tell you about the cross-linguistic rarity of dental fricatives?

5. If an FRQ asks you to explain how "sing" and "sin" differ phonetically, which symbol represents the sound that distinguishes them, and what is its place and manner of articulation?