Phonetic Symbols

 

https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/ling115/phonetics.html

 

You certainly don't need to memorize all these symbols, but you can use this page as a reference if you're not sure what a particular symbol means when you encounter it. Remember that you need a Unicode-compatible browser to see these symbols correctly. If you're not sure how to produce special symbols in your word processor, you can cut and paste from this page.

See the bottom of the page for diacritic marks on vowels.

 

Symbol

Phonetic value

Example

a

low central (or front) unrounded vowel

French la

ä

central vowel ranging between [ɛ] and [ə]

Ethiopic

ɑ

low back unrounded vowel; often written [a]

Spa

ɒ

low back rounded vowel

British hot

æ

low front unrounded vowel

cat, laugh, plaid

b

voiced bilabial stop

Bib

ḇ

spirantized [b]; historically [β], modern [v]

Hebrew

β

voiced bilabial fricative

Spanish haber

c

voiceless alveolar affricate; IPA [ʦ] or [ts]

Italian zucchero, German zu, Yiddish tsimmes

č

voiceless palatoalveolar affricate; IPA [ʧ] or [tʃ]

church, watch

ɔ

lax mid back rounded vowel

Dog (for many speakers)

ɕ

voiceless alveolopalatal fricative

Mandarin xi

ç

voiceless palatal fricative

German ich

d

voiced alveolar stop

Dad

ḏ

palatalized [dʸ]; can be pronounced [ǰ]

Egyptian
 

or spirantized [d], same as [ð]

Ancient Hebrew

ḍ

voiced retroflex stop; IPA [ɖ]

Indic
 

or emphatic, i.e. pharyngealized [d]

Semitic

ð

voiced dental fricative

this, either

e

tense mid front unrounded vowel

bait, made

ə

lax mid central vowel (unstressed in English); "schwa"

about, sofá

ɚ

rhotacized schwa, essentially [ər]

butter, actor

ɛ

lax mid front unrounded vowel

bet, head

ɝ

stressed [ɚ] in English; often transcribed the same way

bird, learn

f

voiceless labiodental fricative

fife, laugh

g

voiced velar stop

Gag

ḡ

spirantized [g]; same as [ɣ]

Ancient Hebrew

h

voiceless glottal fricative

Hit

ʰ

aspiration of preceding sound

top vs. stop

ḥ

voiceless pharyngeal fricative; IPA [ħ]

Arabic hummus

ḫ

voiceless uvular fricative; same as [χ]

Egyptian, Semitic

ẖ

voiceless fricative; probably palatal [ç]

Egyptian

i

tense high front unrounded vowel

see, diva

ɪ

lax high front unrounded vowel

Hit

ỉ

special transcriptional symbol; also [j]

Egyptian

ɨ

high central unrounded vowel

Roses

j

voiced palatal glide; same as [y] in other systems

standard IPA; Mycenaean Greek
 

Or alternate transliteration for [ỉ]

Egyptian

ʲ

palatalization of preceding sound; also [ʸ]

Roughly canyon vs. cannon

ǰ

voiced palatoalveolar affricate; IPA [ʤ] or [dʒ]

Judge

k

voiceless velar stop

kick, cake

ḳ

voiceless uvular stop; same as [q]

Egyptian

ḵ

spirantized [k]; same as [x]

Ancient Hebrew

l

voiced alveolar lateral liquid

Lip

ḷ

voiced retroflex lateral liquid; IPA [ɭ]

Indic

ɬ

voiceless alveolar lateral fricative

Semitic; Welsh "ll"

ɫ

velarized voiced alveolar lateral liquid

Hull

m

voiced bilabial nasal

Mom

n

voiced alveolar nasal

None

ŋ

voiced velar nasal; don't confuse with sequence [ŋg]

Singer

ṇ

voiced retroflex nasal; IPA [ɳ]

Indic

ɲ

voiced palatal nasal

Spanish ñ, Italian gn

ɴ

voiced uvular nasal

Japanese word-final "n"

o

tense mid back rounded vowel

go, hope, boat

ŏ

mid central unrounded vowel, similar to [ə]

Korean "eo"

ɸ

voiceless bilabial fricative

(like blowing out a match)

θ

voiceless dental fricative

thing, myth

p

voiceless bilabial stop

Pep

p̅

spirantized [p]; historically [ɸ], modern [f]

Hebrew

þ

runic letter equivalent to [θ]

Icelandic
 

or runic letter that can be read as either [θ] or [ð]

Old English, some Scandinavian

q

voiceless uvular stop

Arabic Qatar

r

voiced alveolar trill (often used for other types of "r")

Spanish perro

ɹ

voiced (post)alveolar liquid, the English "r"; often just written [r]

run, sorry

ɾ

voiced alveolar tap; sometimes written [ᴅ]

Am Engl city; Spanish pero

ʀ

voiced uvular trill

some French dialects, etc.

ʁ

voiced uvular fricative

French, German, Modern Hebrew "r"

ṛ

voiced retroflex flap; IPA [ɽ]

Indic

s

voiceless alveolar fricative

sit, hiss, rice, cent

š

voiceless postalveolar fricative; IPA [ʃ]

ship, push, delicious

ś

voiceless alveolopalatal fricative; IPA [ɕ]

Indic
 

or voiceless alveolar fricative; historically distinct from [z]

Egyptian (often just "s")
 

or voiceless fricative; historically distinct from [s]

Hebrew, other Semitic

ṣ

voiceless retroflex fricative; IPA [ʂ]

Indic, Mandarin ("sh")
 

or emphatic, i.e. pharyngealized [sˁ]

Semitic

ʃ

voiceless postalveolar fricative; same as [š]

ship, push, delicious

t

voiceless alveolar stop

Stop

ṭ

voiceless retroflex stop; IPA [ʈ]

Indic
 

or emphatic, i.e. pharyngealized [tˁ]

Semitic

ṯ

palatalized [tʸ]; can be pronounced [č]

Egyptian
 

or spirantized [t], same as [θ]

Ancient Hebrew

ʨ

voiceless alveolopalatal affricate

Mandarinji (cf. Aspirated qi)

tʂ

voiceless retroflex affricate

Mandarin zhi (cf. aspirated chi)

u

tense high back rounded vowel

ooze, prune

ʊ

lax high back rounded vowel

put, book

ŭ

high central unrounded vowel, similar to [ɨ]

Korean "eu"

ü

tense high front rounded vowel

French, German, Mandarin

v

voiced labiodental fricative

Verve

ʌ

mid central unrounded vowel; stressed in English

cut, love

ɣ

voiced velar fricative

Spanish haga

w

voiced labial-velar glide

Witch

ʍ

voiceless labial-velar fricative

which for some speakers

x

voiceless velar fricative

chutzpah, German ach

χ

voiceless uvular fricative

Semitic, Egyptian

y

voiced palatal glide (in many transcription systems); IPA [j]

Yes
 

high front rounded vowel (in IPA)

French u, German ü

ʸ

palatalization of preceding sound; IPA [ʲ]

Roughly canyon vs. cannon

ʎ

voiced palatal lateral

Italian gli, Castilian ll

z

voiced alveolar fricative

fizz, his, rose

ẓ

voiced retroflex fricative; IPA [ʐ]

Indic, Mandarin ("r")
 

or emphatic, i.e. pharyngealized [zˁ] or [ðˁ]

Semitic

ž

voiced palatoalveolar fricative; IPA [ʒ]

rouge, vision

ʒ

voiced palatoalveolar fricative; same as [ž]

rouge, vision

’

glottalization of preceding sound (ejective)

Mayan, Ethiopic

‘

aspiration of preceding sound; same as [ʰ]

Chinese (not Pinyin)

ʔ

glottal stop; also written ’ or ʾ

medial sound in uh-oh

ʕ

voiced pharyngeal fricative; also written ‘ or ʿ

Arabic ‘ayn

 

The following examples illustrate diacritic marks that can be added to other symbols, in particular vowels. The same accent or other mark may in some cases appear with more than the vowel symbols shown, or with a subset for cases where more than one function is encountered.

 

Examples

Phonetic value

Languages

ā ē ī ō ū ǖ

high level tone (= Mandarin "tone 1")

Chinese
 

or long vowel

Japanese, Greek, etc.

á é í ó ú ǘ

rising tone (= Mandarin "tone 2")

Chinese
 

or primary stress

Modern Greek, Spanish, etc.
 

or "acute accent"

Classical Greek
 

or equivalent to subscript 2 for distinguishing homophones

Sumerian

ǎ ě ǐ ǒ ǔ ǚ

falling-rising tone (= Mandarin "tone 3")

Chinese

à è ì ò ù ǜ

falling tone (= Mandarin "tone 4")

Chinese
 

or secondary stress

many transcriptions
 

or "grave accent"

Classical Greek
 

or word-final stress

Italian
 

or equivalent to subscript 3 for distinguishing homophones

Sumerian

â ê î ô û

long vowel that results from two short vowels

Akkadian, other Semitic
 

or any long vowel

Cree, etc.
 

or "circumflex accent"

Classical Greek