IPA phoneme \ɪ\

In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol **/ɪ/** corresponds to the vowel sound in words like "kit" and "English". It is one of the two vowel sounds we use in English for unstressed syllables, the other one being **/ə/**.

In some dictionaries the vowel of KIT is written /i/. There is no confusion as long as the user knows the symbol for /iː/ (the vowel of FLEECE).

## Stressed /ɪ/

* with "**i**": begin, big, bit, bring, chips, did, different, f**i**nish, fish, fit, give, hip, hit, interest, issue, kill, kiss, link, lip, l**i**quid, little, quick, since, sing, sit, thick, thin, thing, think, this, will, win, with
* with "**y**": crystal, physics, syllable, sympathy, system, typical

## Spelling

Stressed /ɪ/ is always followed by one or more consonants. In derived words a single consonant is usually doubled (begin, beginning; win, winner).

 /aɪ/ | final, item, tinydynamite, hygiene, xylophone

#### Spelling anomalies

* with "**e**": England, English, pretty
* with "**u**": business, busy
* with "**ui**": build, built
* with "**o**": women

## /ɪ/ followed by /r/

Both in Received Pronunciation and in General American when /ɪ/ is followed by /r/ in the same syllable, a diphthong is pronounced: IPA phoneme /ɪə/. *Near* is [nɪər].

In Received Pronunciation but not in General American there is a difference between /ɪər/ and /ɪr/ when these sequences are followed by a vowel: *nearer* is [ˈnɪərər]*BrE* and *mirror* is [ˈmɪrər].*BrE* In General American there is no difference: some people pronounce [ˈnɪərər] and [ˈmɪərər] and others [ˈnɪrər] and [ˈmɪrər]. Since the difference between [ɪər]*AmE* and [ɪr]*AmE* is predictable, phoneticians say that in American English there is no phoneme /ɪə/, only phoneme /ɪ/.

## These words don't rhyme

* limb - climb; rescind - remind; pretty - petty;

## Unstressed /ɪ/

* with "**i**": benefit, fin**i**sh, important, include, liqu**i**d, music, office, practice, president, public, service, vis**i**t, without

-ing forms: eating, going, having, living, saying, singing
* with "**e**": become, begin, believe, demand, emotion, report, result
* with "**y**": homonym, synthetic
* with "**a**": spinach

with "'**-age**": average, mortgage, package, percentage, village
* with "**ia**": carriage, marriage
* with "**ui**": biscuit, circuit
* with **"u"**: conjugal, minute, lettuce
* Unwritten /ɪ/ (see also Pronunciation of the morpheme “-s”)

church’s, Dennis’s, fish’s, Leeds’s
For unstressed final /ɪ/ (happy, coffee, money, recipe, taxi, zombie) see Pronunciation exercises: /ɪ/ vs /iː/ § Unstressed syllable

Unstressed non-final /ɪ/ often is pronunced /ə/. See Pronunciation exercises: /ɪ/ vs /ə/.

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

The Spanish sound represented by the spelling "**i**" is similar to **/iː/** but shorter, and also similar to **/ɪ/** but longer (and of a different quality). Most Spanish speakers have difficulty distinguishing between the vowel sound in "sin" and that of "seen".

## References

1. ↑ Giegerich, Heinz J. (1992) *English Phonology: An Introduction*, p. 69. Cambridge University Press At Google Books
2. ↑ Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary, conjugal

## See also

* Decoding the letter I
* Decoding exercises: "irV", "yrV", "irrV" and "yrrV"
* Decoding and spelling exercises: /ɪ/ vs /aɪ/
* Decoding and spelling exercises: /e/ vs /ɪ/
* Pronunciation exercises: /ɪ/ vs /iː/
* Pronunciation exercises: /ɪə/ vs /ɪ/

## External links

* British Library, Vowel sounds of Received Pronunciation