International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for American English
| Vowels | ||
|---|---|---|
| ɑː | car, heart, bra | Open back unrounded vowel |
| æ | man, laugh, half | Near-open front unrounded vowel |
| ɛ | let, many, bury | Open-mid front unrounded vowel |
| ʌ | cut, love, blood | Open-mid back unrounded vowel |
| ɜː | bird, work, burn | Open-mid central unrounded vowel |
| ə | about, success, famous | Mid central vowel (schwa) |
| ɪ | hit, build, busy | Near-close near-front unrounded vowel |
| iː | meet, speak, people | Close front unrounded vowel |
| ɔː | door, more, talk | Open-mid back rounded vowel |
| ʊ | good, put, could | Near-close near-back rounded vowel |
| uː | food, who, fruit | Close back rounded vowel |
| Diphthongs | |
|---|---|
| aɪ | like, buy, height |
| aʊ | cow, house, cloud |
| eɪ | say, cake, break |
| oʊ | no, show, boat |
| ɔɪ | boy, coin, voice |
| Semivowels | ||
|---|---|---|
| j | yes, million, ambulance | Voiced palatal approximant |
| w | web, one, quick | Voiced labial–velar approximant |
| Alophones | ||
|---|---|---|
| ʔ | button, mountain, suddenly | Glottal stop |
| ɾ, t̮ | water, ready, pretty | Voiced alveolar flap |
| kʰ, pʰ, tʰ | cat, pet, ten | Aspirated voiceless stops |
| ɫ | feel, real, ball | Velarized alveolar approximant (dark L) |
| Suprasegmentals | ||
|---|---|---|
| ˈ◌ | əˈnɔɪ (annoy) | Primary stress |
| ˌ◌ | ˈækˌsɛs (access) | Secondary stress |
| ː | ʃuː (shoe) | Long vowel |
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