Phonetics: Consonants, Vowels, Diphthongs, IPA Chart definition and examples




/
/
For many learners of English, one of the hardest things to grasp about the language is its pronunciation. Not only are there many accents to get accustomed to – American, British, Australian, among others – but there are many fundamental sounds within the language that can be difficult to produce.
To make things even worse, English’s spelling system is horrendous and seldom a reliable indication – even for native speakers – of how to pronounce most word.
Because of this, it’s useful to try to depict the pronunciation of the English language through a set of symbols besides the Latin alphabet – namely, the International Phonetic Alphabet. Known as the IPA for short, this phonetic system might be familiar to you, and in my experience, it’s a useful tool for learning any language.
The great thing about the IPA is that its symbols are meant to be universal. This means that if you learn the set of symbols used for English sounds, you can apply them to most other languages you might want to learn, from French to Arabic to Japanese.
It is not a perfect system, since its details can only be so fine, and nuances like tone and stress are often overlooked in IPA transcription, which can be a bit of a problem with tonal languages like Mandarin and Vietnamese.
However, for our purposes with English, these phonetic symbols can definitely come in handy if you’re looking to improve your pronunciation.


CONSONANTS
The first set of symbols presented here represents consonant sounds. Most are fundamental to English pronunciation regardless of accent. Since you might be unfamiliar with some of the terms used to describe the sounds, here are some definitions you might find useful:
Voiced: a voiced sound is a sound where the vocal cords vibrate, thus producing some sort of pitch. This is the kind of sound most people associate with regular talking or singing.
Voiceless / unvoiced: a voiceless or unvoiced sound is one where the vocal cords do not vibrate, thus making the sound very whispery and without a pitch. It can tend to make a letter sound harsher when pronounced.
Stop: a consonant sound where the airflow is stopped completely by the mouth and then sharply released. Think of sounds like “p,” “k,” and “t.” All languages contain stops.
Fricative: a consonant sound where the airflow becomes noisy and turbulent because it only has a very small space to travel through in the mouth. Think of sounds like “f,” “s,” and “sh.” Most languages have fricatives, but not all.
Nasal: a consonant sound where the airflow passes exclusively through the nose instead of the mouth. Think of sounds like “m,” “n,” or “ng.” Almost all languages have nasals.
Affricate: a consonant sound that begins like a stop but then releases like a fricative, thus making it a sort of combination sound. Think of sounds like “ch” and “j.” Affricates are common, especially in English.
Alveolar ridge: a ridge found on the roof of the mouth between the upper teeth and the hard palate, which is used in conjunction with the tip of the tongue to make many sounds
Soft palate: the soft tissue in the back of the roof of your mouth, which is used In conjunction with the back of the tongue to make many sounds
Glottis: the part of the larynx (air passage) that contains the vocal cords and the opening between them
/P/
Voiceless stop made with both lips Found in words like: pen, spin, tip, happy Letters that usually represent it: “p”
/B/
Voiced stop made with both lips Found in words like: but, web, baby Letters that usually represent it: “b”
As you may have noticed, the only difference between producing /p/ and /b/ is the voicing, while all other factors remain the same.
It’s common, including in English, to have pairs of words that are essentially the same, except one is voiced and the other is unvoiced. If you’re having trouble pronouncing certain sounds, try to identify a corresponding sound with a different voicing as a reference.
/T/
Voiceless stop made with the tip of the tongue on the alveolar ridge Found in words like: two, sting Letters that usually represent it: “t”
/D/
Voiced stop made with the tip of the tongue on the alveolar ridge Found in words like: do, daddy, odd Letters that usually represent it: “d”
/K/
Voiceless stop made with the back of the tongue on the soft palate Found in words like: cat, kill, skin, queen, unique, thick, chaos Letters that usually represent it: “k,” “c,” “q,” “que,” “ck,” sometimes “ch”
/G/
Voiced stop made with the back of the tongue on the soft palate Found