English phonology

English has many ways to pronounce words. Pronunciation changes over history and between the many dialects (local ways of speaking). Even so, the basic phonology (sound system) is similar in many places. Dialects often differ in syllables (units of sound with one vowel sound), in where they place stress (the strong part of the word). Some consonant sounds, such as stop consonants (sounds like p, t, k made by stopping air), affricates (sounds like ch, j made by stop + release), and fricatives (sounds like f, v, s made by friction) can also be different across dialects.

There is research on **prestige** speech (more formal) and **standard** speech (more common). In practice, these often mean Received Pronunciation (England), General American (United States), and General Australian (Australia).

Many dialects grow on their own, so they slowly become different from one another.

## Phonetic notation and representation of sounds

The IPA writes sounds with special symbols. Each symbol is one sound.

- = "ch" as in **ch**ip
- = "j" as in **j**am
- = "sh" as in **sh**eep
- = "zh" as in mea**s**ure
- = "kh" in German _Bach_ or Scottish _loch_.
- = "z" in **z**oo
- = short "a" in **c**a**t**
- (RP) = short "o" in British **h**o**t**
- = "ow" in n**ow**
- (RP) = "oo-uh" in British **t**our

## Sound system overview

English has many vowel sounds and about two dozen consonant sounds. The exact set changes by dialect. For example, the vowel in the  set is  in Received Pronunciation (RP) but  in General American (GA).

## Consonants

Most dialects use the 24 consonant sounds below. The sound  is less common in English.

|Sound|Example|Sound|Example|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
||**p**en||**b**ed|
||**t**en||**d**og|
||**c**at||**g**o|
||**ch**ip||**j**am|
||**f**an||**v**an|
||**th**in||**th**is|
||**s**it||**z**ip|
||**sh**e||mea**s**ure|
||**h**at||_lo**ch**_ (Scottish/German)|
||**m**an||**n**o|
||si**ng**||**l**eg|
|(r)|**r**ed|(y)|**y**es|
||**w**et|||

### Consonant examples

|Sound|Key word|Sound|Key word|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
||**ch**ip||**j**am|
||**sh**ip||mea**s**ure|
||**th**in||**th**is|
||si**ng**||_lo**ch**_|

### Wells lexical sets (RP and GA)

John C. Wells made a list of vowel sets that show the pronunciation in Received Pronunciation (RP) and General American (GA). A vowel can be a **monophthong** (one clear sound, like /i/ in _bit_), a **diphthong** (a glide between two sounds, like /aɪ/ in _my_), or a **triphthong** (a glide between three sounds, like /aʊə/ in _hour_). English uses all three types, and different accents may show them in different ways. In the table, a **set** means a group of words that share the same main vowel sound across many words, for example the  set includes words like _bit, ship, milk_. The RP and GA columns give simple word examples. The IPA column shows the sound symbol, and the last column shows how to say it in plain words.

|Set|RP (example)|GA (example)|IPA|Pronunciation|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||_bit_|_bit_||short _i_ as in _bit_|
||_bed_|_bed_||short _e_ (somewhere between _e_ in _bed_ and _eh_)|
||_cat_|_cat_||flat _a_ as in _cat_|
||_cut_|_cut_||mid _uh_ as in _cut_|
||_hot_|_h**o**t_ (often )||RP rounded _o_ in _hot_ vs. GA _ah_ in _father_|
||_put_|_put_||short _oo_ as in _put_|
||_see_|_see_||long _ee_ as in _see_|
||_two_|_two_||long _oo_ as in _two_|
||_day_|_day_||_ay_ as in _day_|
||_go_|_go_||_oh_ as in _go_ (RP starts more central)|
||_my_|_my_||_eye_|
||_boy_|_boy_||_oy_ as in _boy_|
||_now_|_now_||_ow_ as in _now_|
||_bird_|_bird_||RP long _ir_ as in _bird_ / GA _er_|
||final _a_ in _sofa_|same||weak _uh_ (schwa) as in _sofa_|

### Vowel phonemes in three accents

The next three tables show the vowel phonemes (basic sound units) in Received Pronunciation, General American, and General Australian. In the RP and Australian tables, **short** means the vowel is said more quickly, and **long** means it is held a little longer. In the GA table, **lax** means the tongue and lips are more relaxed, and **tense** means they are tighter and the sound is usually a bit longer. These tables show how vowel sounds differ across accents by using different example words.

<div style="display:inline-block; vertical-align:top; margin-right:1em;">

- Received Pronunciation
|Short|Long|
| --- | --- |
|i (_bit_)|ii (_beet_)|
|e (_bet_)||
|a (_cat_)|aa (_cart_)|
|o (_cot_)|oo (_caught_)|
|u (_pull_)|uu (_pool_)|
|ə (_collect_)|əə (_curl_)|
</div>

<div style="display:inline-block; vertical-align:top; margin-right:1em;">

- General American
|Lax|Tense|
| --- | --- |
|i (_bit_)|ii (_beet_)|
|e (_bet_)|ei (_bait_)|
|a (_cat_)|aa (_father_)|
|ʌ (_cup_)|ɑ (_lot_)|
|o (_thought_)|ou (_boat_)|
|u (_put_)|uu (_boot_)|
</div>

<div style="display:inline-block; vertical-align:top;">

- General Australian
|Short|Long|
| --- | --- |
|i (_bit_)|ii (_beet_)|
|e (_bet_)|ee (_bear_)|
|a (_cat_)|aa (_cart_)|
|o (_cot_)|oo (_caught_)|
|u (_pull_)|uu (_pool_)|
|ə (_comma_)|əə (_bird_)|
</div>

## Stress, rhythm, and intonation

- **Stress**: One part of a word is strong. In a sentence, new or important ideas are stressed.
- **Rhythm**: A pattern of strong and weak beats.
- **Intonation**: The rise and fall of voice. Yes/no questions rise at the end. Wh- questions and statements fall at the end.

### Passive voice

The passive voice is used when the focus is on the object of the action (the thing acted on), not the agent (the doer). Form: **be + past participle**.
- A lot of trash **is left** in summer.
- The road **was closed**.
- The problem **is not going to be solved** soon.

### Essential adjective (relative) clauses

Adjective clauses (also called relative clauses) give information about a noun. They begin with pronouns such as who, that, which.
- The bird **that sings** is a wren.
- The man **who wrote the book** is here.
- The family **whose house burned** moved.

### Gerund phrases

A gerund is a verb + -ing used as a noun. A **gerund phrase** is a group starting with a gerund.
- **Reading books** helps learning.
- He enjoys **swimming in the pool**.

### Modals of past possibility

Modals are helping verbs like _may, might, could_. For the past, use **may have / might have / could have + past participle**.
- They **might have left**.
- He **could have been wrong**.
- She **may not have known**.

### Linking with final

- Before a vowel, the sound  can become a quick : _wha**t about*** → _wha-dabout_.
- Before a consonant, hold the tongue for  but do not release: _righ**t now*** → _right‿now_.
- Before _you/your_,  becomes soft like  (ch): _wha**t you*** → _wha-chu_.

### Final -s endings

- After **voiced consonants** (for example b, d, g, v, z), say  (z): _dog**s***, _bee**s***.
- After **voiceless consonants** (for example p, t, k, f, s), say  (s): _cat**s***, _book**s***.
- After words ending in s, sh, ch, x, z, or ge, add  (iz): _wish**es***, _box**es***.

### Linking with you/your after , ,

- →  (ch): _wha**t you*** → _wha-chu_.
- →  (j): _di**d you*** → _didju_.
- →  (zh): _how**’s your*** → _how-zhur_.

## Related pages

- General American
- Received Pronunciation

## Other websites

- University of Glasgow Dynamic Dialects Accent Map