The pronunciations which occur in some of the various vocabulary definitions are based on a simplified American-English phonic or “sound” system that most readers will find easier to use than the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) or those, often confusing, systems used in many dictionaries.
Primary Stress
The definitions present the primary, accented, or stressed syllables in capitalized form, as in: diverge (di VURJ). Whenever there is a word of one syllable; the whole word is written in the primary stress mode, as with fate (FAYT).
Secondary Stress
Syllables with a secondary accent or stress are indicated with a ("), as in superannuate (soo" pur AN yoo ayt"). The secondary stress marks are always placed after or behind the syllable that is being accented.
The formal German name for quotation marks is Anführungszeichen (unten oder oben, “under or over”), because they open the quotation marks at the bottom of the line and close the quotation marks at the top of the line, but the interesting aspect of the German nomenclature is that the informal term is Gänsefüsschen, or “little geese feet”. The thing that I want you to remember is that we put Gänsefüsschen after each syllable that indicates a secondary stress or accent.
A schwa, ə (ə) or similar to ∂, shown in some dictionaries, is written as uh. The schwa is used to signify the unstressed, central vowel sound of most unstressed syllables in American-English and by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
The ə on its diurnəl rounds
Is minəs all but minər sounds;
Yet may, phonetəcəsts əgree,
Unite a wide vəriəty
Of audəble phənoməna.
—Willard R. Espy, Say It My Way
Key words: ə is presented as: uh in words; as shown in the following:
a, as in: ago, (uh GOH), sofa (SOH fuh)
e, as in: agent, (AY juhnt)
i, as in: sanity, (SAN uh ti)
o, as in: of, (UHV)
u, as in: focus, (FOH kuhs)
ai, as in: captain, (KAP tuhn)
When the ' [apostrophe] is used before an l, m, or n; it indicates that one of these consonants is pronounced without any significant vowel sound between it and the previous consonant.
Key words: able (AY b'l), happen (HAP'n)
a, the short a is written as a or A
Key words: at (AT), catcher (KAT chur), crackle, (KRAK'l)
a, the long a is written as ay or AY
Key words: able (AYb'l), aid (AYD), fate (FAYT)
ah, AH
Key words: father (FAH thur), palm (PAHM or PAHLM)
air, AIR
Key words: care (KAIR), mare (MAIR), fare (FAIR), prayer (pr AIR)
ar, AR
Key words: cart (KART), sparkle (SPAR k'l)
aw, AW
Key words: fall (FAWL), author (AWthur)
b, B
Key words: bed (BED), fable (FAY b'l), dub (DUHB)
c (k or s) See (k and s)
ch, CH
Key words: chin (CHIN), catcher (KAT chur), archer (AR chur)
d, D
Key words: dip (DIP), bead (BEED), had (HAD)
e, the short e is written as e or E
Key words: egg (EG), ten (TEN), said (SED), let (LET)
e, the long e, is written as ee or EE
Key words: bee or be (BEE), meat (MEET), deceive (di SEEV),
thief (THEEF), even (EE vuhn)
er, ur sound is written as ur or UR
Key words: over (OH vur), under (UHN dur)
f, F
Key words: phone (FOHN), hyphen (HIGH fuhn)
g, the hard g sound is written as g or G
Key words for the hard g : get (GET), haggle (HAG'l), ghost (GOHST)
g, the soft g sound becomes j or J
Key words for the soft g : agile (AJ uhl), page (PAYJ)
h, H
Key words: hotel (hoh TEL), ahead (uh HED), who (HOO)
i, the short i is written as i or I
Key words: is (IZ), myth (MITH), if (IF),
BIT (BIT)
i, the long i, is written as igh or IGH
Key words: ice (IGHS), bite (BIGHT), my (MIGH),
right (RIGHT), align (uh LIGN )
j, J
Key words: jump (JUHMP), agile (AJ uhl), page (PAYJ)
k for k, hard c, and q which are written as k or K
Key words: kill (KILL), bake (BAYK), can (KAN), quick (KWIK), technique (tek NEEK)
l, L
Key words: let (LET), yellow (yel OH), ball (BAWL)
m, M
Key words: met (MET), comb (KOHM), thumb (THUHM)
n, N
Key words: not (NAHT), ton (TUHN), know (NOH)
ng, ing are written as ng or NG
Key words: song (SAWNG), anger (ANG gur), singer (SING gur)
o, the short o is written as ah or AH
Key words: odd (AHD), cot (KAHT), rob (RAHB)
o, the long o is written as oh or OH
Key words: go (GOH), rode (ROHD), slow (SLOH)
oi, OI
Key words: oil (OIL), toy (TOI), oyster (OI stur)
oo, OO
Key words: zoo (ZOO), brutal (BROO t'l), lose (LOOZ), loose (LOOS)
oo with an uh sound is written as
uh or UH
Key words: look (LUHK), pull (PUHL),
sugar (SUH gur)
or, OR
Key words: order (OR dur), bore (BOR), borne (BORN)
ou, OU
Key words: out (OUT), crowd (KROUD),
town (TOUN), round (ROUND)
p, P
Key words: put (PUHT), apple (AHP uhl), tap (TAHP)
qu is written as kw or KW
Key words: quick (KWIK), queen (KWEEN)
r, R
Key words: red (RED), write (RIGHT), wring (RING)
s, S
Key words: sell (SEL), cell (SEL), castle (KAS'l)
sh, SH
Key words: cushion (KUH shuhn), tension (TEN shuhn)
t, T
Key words: cattle (KAT'l), top (TAHP), hat (HAT)
th, soft or silent is written as th or
TH
Key words: think (THINGK), nothing (NUTHng)
th when sounded is written as th or
TH
Key words: then (THEN), father (FAH thur)
u, the short u is written as uh or UH
Key words: up (UHP), cut (KUHT), color [British, colour] (KUH lur)
u, the long u is written as yoo or YOO
Key words: use (YOOZ), cute (KYOOT), few (FYOO)
v, V
Key words: vat (VAT), hovel (HUH vuhl)
wh, the soft wh sound is written as hw or HW
Key words: what (HWUT), white (HWIGHT),
when (HWEN)
x, sounded and written as ks, KS
Key words: mix (MIKS), fix (FIKS), exit (EKS it), box (BAH ks)
x, sounded and written as z, Z
Key words: xenophilia (zen" uh FIL ee uh)
x, sounded and written as gz, GZ
Key words: exist (ig ZIST), examine (ig ZAM uhn), exact (ig ZAKT)
x, sounded and written as sh, SH
Key words: anxious (ANGK shuhs) or (ANG shuhs)
x, sounded and written as gzh, GZH
Key words: luxurious (luhg ZHUR ee uhs)
y, Y
Key words: yet (YET), onion (UN yuhn)
yuh, YUH
Key words: union (YOON yuhn), onion (UHN yuhn)
z, Z
Key words: zebra (ZEE bruh), busy (BIZ ee)
zh, ZH
Key words: azure (AZH ur), leisure (LEE zhur)
The following items were explained at the beginning of this chart and are repeated to emphasize their significance.
A shwah, ə or similar to ∂, shown in some dictionaries, is written as uh. The schwa is used to signify the unstressed, central vowel sound of most unstressed syllables in American-English and by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
a, as in:
ago, (
uh GOH), sof
a (SOH f
uh)
e, as in: ag
ent, (AY j
uhnt)
i, as in: san
ity, (SAN
uh ti)
o, as in:
of, (
UHV)
u, as in: foc
us, (FOH k
uhs)
ai, as in: capt
ain, (KAP t
uhn)
When the ' [apostrophe] is used before an l, m, or n; it indicates that one of these consonants is pronounced without any significant vowel sound between it and the previous consonant.
Key words: able (AY b'l), happen (HAP'n)
