The International Phonetic Alphabet: The Names of Symbols

In an earlier blog entry, I posted some charts outlining the International Phonetic Alphabet. Some of the symbols are different from the usual alphabet, and have special names. Here are some common ways of describing the symbols used for English vowels:

symbol	word	name
i	beat	i
ɪ	bit	lax i
e	bait	e
ɛ	bet	epsilon
æ	bat	ash
a		double-storey a
ə	about	schwa
ɜ		backwards epsilon
ä		a umlaut
ʉ		u barred
ɵ		o barred
ʌ	but	caret, upside down v
ɑ	bought	single-storey ɑ
u	boot	u
ʊ	book	lax u, upside down omega
o	boat	o
ɔ	bored	open o
ɒ		upside down single-storey ɑ
ɚ	after	schwa hook

Here are the phonetic descriptions of those same symbols:

symbol	word	vowels
i	beat	unrounded front close
ɪ	bit	unrounded front near-close
e	bait	unrounded front close-mid
ɛ	bet	unrounded front open-mid
æ	bat	unrounded front near-open
a		unrounded front open
ə	about	unrounded central mid
ɜ		unrounded central near-open
ä		unrounded central open
ʉ		rounded central close
ɵ		rounded central close-mid
ʌ	but	unrounded back open-mid
ɑ	bought	unrounded back open
u	boot	rounded back close
ʊ	book	rounded back near-close
o	boat	rounded back close-mid
ɔ	bored	rounded back open-mid
ɒ		rounded back open
ɚ	after	rhotic unrounded central mid

Here are the names of the symbols used for consonant sounds in English:

symbol	word	name
p	pen	p
b	ban	b
m	man	m
w	was	w
f	fan	f
v	van	v
θ	thin	theta
ð	that	eth
t	ten	t
d	do	d
n	not	n
s	see	s
z	zap	z
ɾ	water	r fishhook
l	laugh	l
ʃ	shop	long esh
ʒ	vision	long ezh
ɹ	run	upside down r
j	yet	j
k	can	k
g	get	g
ŋ	sing	engma
ʔ	often	gelded question mark
h	have	h

Here are the phonetic descriptions of those same symbols:

symbol	word	phonetic description
p	pen	voiceless bilabial plosive
b	ban	voiced bilabial plosive
m	man	bilabial nasal
w	was	labio-velar approximant
f	fan	voiceless labiodental fricative
v	van	voiced labiodental fricative
θ	thin	voiceless dental fricative
ð	that	voiced dental fricative
t	ten	voiceless alveolar plosive
d	do	voiced alveolar plosive
n	not	alveolar nasal
s	see	voiceless alveolar fricative
z	zap	voiced alveolar fricative
ɾ	water	alveolar flap
l	laugh	lateral alveolar approximant
ʃ	shop	voiceless postalveolar fricative
ʒ	vision	voiced postalveolar fricative
ɹ	run	postalveolar approximant
j	yet	palatal approximant
k	can	voiceless velar plosive
g	get	voiced velar plosive
ŋ	sing	velar nasal
ʔ	often	glottal plosive
h	have	voiceless glottal fricative