Linguistics 101 Phonetics/Phonology Quick Reference

MUSE¹ words for IPA Symbols Common MUSE IPA Pitfalls

• /p t k/ ‑ pope tote coke (/powp towt kowk/) • Don’t capitalize words in IPA
• /b d g/ ‑ bib did gig (/bɪb dɪd gɪg/) • Double consonants are lies (e.g. ‘happy’ /ˈhæpi/)
• /ʔ h/ ‑ uh‑oh heed (/ˈʌʔow hid/) • The letter <c> is always one of /k s ʃ t͡ʃ/
• /m n ŋ/ ‑ meme nun ring (/mim nʌn ɹɪŋ/) • /r/ is the Spanish trilled <r>, /ɹ/ is the English <r>
• [ɾ ɾ̃ ] ‑ later ladder winner ([ˈlejɾəɹ ˈlæɾəɹ ˈwɪɾ̃ əɹ]) • /y/ is a rounded front vowel in the IPA, the English
• /f θ s ʃ/ ‑ fit thin sis ship (/fɪt θɪn sɪs ʃɪp/) <y> sound in ‘yes’ is /j/
• /v ð z ʒ/ ‑ vibe that zoo measure (/vajb ðæt zu • <th> is either /θ/ or /ð/ (‘this thistle’ /ðɪs ˈθɪsl/)
ˈmɛʒəɹ/) • /x/ is a voiceless velar fricative, the English <x> is
• /t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/ ‑ church judge (/t͡ʃəɹt͡ʃ d͡ʒʌd͡ʒ/) usually /ks/ as in ‘axis’ /ˈæksɪs/
• /ɹ l w j/ ‑ rear lull wow yeet (/ɹiɹ lʌl wɑw jit/) • Silent letters (lamb, name, knee) are lies
• /i/ beet leap seen free (/bit lip sin fɹi/) • Online IPA ‘translator’ tools and ChatGPT are a)
• /ɪ/ bit lip sin rip (/bɪt lɪp sɪn ɹɪp/) often wrong and b) likely not your dialect
• /ej/ bait lay sane rate (/bejt lej sejn ɹejt/)³ • If you’re using a symbol not on this page for Main‑
stream US English, you’re probably wrong
• /ɛ/ bet let sent air (/bɛt lɛt sɛnt ɛɹ/)
• Remember, your writing system is lying to
• /æ/ bat lap sam rap (/bæt læp sæm ɹæp/)
you!
• /ə/ sofa garage atop (/ˈsowfə gəˈɹɑʒ əˈtɑp/)⁴
• /ʌ/ but luck son rub (/bʌt lʌk sʌn ɹʌb/)⁴
Phonological Rule Formatting
• /əɹ/ bird learn firm rocker (/bəɹd ləɹn fəɹm
ˈɹɑkəɹ/)⁵ /x/ → [y] / __z
• /ɑ/ bob lob bomb rock (/bɑb lɑb bɑm ɹɑk/)²
“Phoneme x is realized as allophone y in the
• /ɔ/ corn horse boy (/kɔɹn hɔɹs bɔj/)² environment (before z)”
• /ow/ bone low foam row (/bown low fowm ɹow/)³
Commonly Used Symbols
• /ʊ/ book look foot rook (/bʊk lʊk fʊt ɹʊk/)
• __ stands in for the sound which is changing
• /u/ boot loop soon rune (/but lup sun ɹun/)
• /aj/ buy lie sign ripe (/baj laj sajn ɹajp/)³ – __i means ‘before an /i/ vowel’
• /aw/ bout loud sound route (/bawt lawd sawnd – t__ means ‘after a /t/’
ɹawt/)³ – b__[stop] means ‘between /b/ and any stop’
• /ɔj/ boy lloyd coin roy (/bɔj lɔjd kɔjn ɹɔj/)³ • # means ‘a word boundary’
• /ˈ/ marks primary stress (/ɹəˈkɔɹd/ ‘reCORD’ (verb) – __# means ’at the end of a word’
vs. /ˈɹɛkəɹd/ ‘REcord’ (noun))
– #__ means ’at the beginning of a word’
¹: ‘MUSE’ is ‘Mainstream US English’, reflecting a stan‑
• V means ‘any vowel’
dardized variety of English in the US
²: /ɑ/ and /ɔ/ as monophthongs are merged for many, • C means ‘any consonant’
but some distinguish cot (/kɑt/) and caught (/kɔt/) • N means ‘any nasal’
³: These can be written /eɪ oʊ aɪ aʊ ɔɪ/ as well. • Ø means ‘nothing’ or ‘zero’
⁴: /ʌ/ and /ə/ differ in stress, not sound. Details here.
⁵: /əɹ/ can also be written /ɝ/ (stressed) or /ɚ/ (un‑ – ‘Ø → [x]’ inserts, ‘/x/ → Ø’ deletes
stressed) • Phonemes go in / / slashes
This sheet by Will Styler at UC San Diego, 2024
• Allophones (and features) go in [ ] brackets
 THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (revised to 2015)
CONSONANTS (PULMONIC) © 2015 IPA

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal

Plosive

Nasal

Trill

Tap or Flap

Fricative
Lateral
fricative
Approximant
Lateral
approximant
Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced, to the left are voiceless. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.

CONSONANTS (NON-PULMONIC) VOWELS

Clicks Voiced implosives Ejectives Front Central Back

Close
Bilabial Bilabial Examples:

Dental Dental/alveolar Bilabial

Close-mid
(Post)alveolar Palatal Dental/alveolar

Palatoalveolar Velar Velar

Open-mid
Alveolar lateral Uvular Alveolar fricative

OTHER SYMBOLS
Open
Voiceless labial-velar fricative Alveolo-palatal fricatives Where symbols appear in pairs, the one
to the right represents a rounded vowel.
Voiced labial-velar approximant Voiced alveolar lateral flap

Voiced labial-palatal approximant Simultaneous and SUPRASEGMENTALS

Voiceless epiglottal fricative Primary stress

Affricates and double articulations
Voiced epiglottal fricative can be represented by two symbols Secondary stress
joined by a tie bar if necessary.
Epiglottal plosive Long
Half-long
DIACRITICS Some diacritics may be placed above a symbol with a descender, e.g.
Extra-short
Voiceless Breathy voiced Dental
Minor (foot) group
Voiced Creaky voiced Apical
Major (intonation) group
Aspirated Linguolabial Laminal
Syllable break
More rounded Labialized Nasalized
Linking (absence of a break)
Less rounded Palatalized Nasal release
TONES AND WORD ACCENTS
Advanced Velarized Lateral release LEVEL CONTOUR
Extra
Retracted Pharyngealized No audible release or high or Rising

Centralized Velarized or pharyngealized High Falling

High
Mid rising
Mid-centralized Raised ( = voiced alveolar fricative)
Low
Low rising
Syllabic Lowered ( = voiced bilabial approximant) Extra Rising-
low falling
Non-syllabic Advanced Tongue Root
Downstep Global rise
Rhoticity Retracted Tongue Root Upstep Global fall

Typefaces: Doulos SIL (metatext); Doulos SIL, IPA Kiel, IPA LS Uni (symbols)