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The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is the standard system used by linguists worldwide to represent the sounds of spoken language. Developed by the International Phonetic Association (founded in Paris in 1886), the IPA provides a one-to-one correspondence between symbols and sounds: each symbol represents exactly one distinct speech sound, and each sound is represented by exactly one symbol. For AQA A-Level English Language, a thorough understanding of the IPA and its application to English is essential for phonological analysis.
English spelling is notoriously inconsistent. The same letter or combination of letters can represent different sounds in different words, and the same sound can be spelled in many different ways:
| Spelling Issue | Examples |
|---|---|
| One letter, multiple sounds | The letter "c" represents /k/ in "cat" but /s/ in "city" |
| One sound, multiple spellings | The sound /iː/ is spelled "ee" in "feet," "ea" in "beat," "ie" in "piece," "ey" in "key," and "e" in "me" |
| Silent letters | The "k" in "knee," the "b" in "lamb," the "w" in "write" |
| Same spelling, different sounds | "ough" is pronounced differently in "though," "through," "thought," "tough," "cough," and "bough" |
This inconsistency means that ordinary English spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation. The IPA solves this problem by providing a phonetically transparent writing system — what you see is exactly what you say.
Key Definition: International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) — a standardised system of phonetic notation in which each symbol represents one and only one speech sound, enabling precise and unambiguous transcription of any language.
Before learning the IPA symbols, it is essential to understand the distinction between phonemes and allophones.
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another. Phonemes are abstract, mental categories — they are the sounds that speakers of a language perceive as being "different." In English, /p/ and /b/ are separate phonemes because replacing one with the other changes the meaning of a word: "pat" /pæt/ vs "bat" /bæt/.
An allophone is a specific physical realisation of a phoneme. Allophones are the actual sounds produced in speech, and a single phoneme may have several allophones depending on the phonetic environment. For example:
Key Definition: Phoneme — an abstract, contrastive unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning. Phonemes are written between forward slashes: /p/, /b/, /æ/. Allophone — a concrete, physical realisation of a phoneme in a particular phonetic environment. Allophones are written in square brackets: [pʰ], [p], [ɫ].
The crucial point is that allophones of the same phoneme never create a difference in meaning in the language. English speakers do not perceive the aspirated [pʰ] and unaspirated [p] as different sounds — they are simply different versions of "the same sound" /p/.
The IPA can be used at two levels of detail:
| Type | Notation | Detail Level | Example ("pin") | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broad (phonemic) | Forward slashes / / | Records only the distinctive phonemes | /pɪn/ | Showing which phonemes are used; sufficient for most A-Level analysis |
| Narrow (phonetic) | Square brackets [ ] | Records fine phonetic detail including allophones | [pʰɪn] | Showing exactly how sounds are produced; useful for detailed accent analysis |
For AQA A-Level, broad transcription is the standard expectation. However, when discussing specific accent features (such as aspiration, glottalisation, or dark /l/), you may need to use narrow transcription to capture the relevant detail.
Key Definition: Broad transcription — phonemic transcription using / / that records only the contrastive sound units (phonemes) of a language. Narrow transcription — phonetic transcription using [ ] that captures fine-grained articulatory detail, including allophonic variation.
English has 24 consonant phonemes (the exact number varies slightly depending on the analysis). These are presented in the consonant chart below, organised by place of articulation (columns) and manner of articulation (rows), with voiceless sounds on the left and voiced sounds on the right of each cell:
| Manner | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Fricative | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ ʒ | h | |||
| Affricate | tʃ dʒ | |||||||
| Approximant | w | r | j | (w) | ||||
| Lateral | l |
| Symbol | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| /p/ | pat | voiceless bilabial plosive |
| /b/ | bat | voiced bilabial plosive |
| /t/ | tap | voiceless alveolar plosive |
| /d/ | dog | voiced alveolar plosive |
| /k/ | cat | voiceless velar plosive |
| /g/ | get | voiced velar plosive |
| /f/ | fat | voiceless labiodental fricative |
| /v/ | vat | voiced labiodental fricative |
| /θ/ | think | voiceless dental fricative |
| /ð/ | this | voiced dental fricative |
| /s/ | sit | voiceless alveolar fricative |
| /z/ | zoo | voiced alveolar fricative |
| /ʃ/ | ship | voiceless postalveolar fricative |
| /ʒ/ | pleasure | voiced postalveolar fricative |
| /h/ | hat | voiceless glottal fricative |
| /tʃ/ | chip | voiceless postalveolar affricate |
| /dʒ/ | jug | voiced postalveolar affricate |
| /m/ | mat | voiced bilabial nasal |
| /n/ | net | voiced alveolar nasal |
| /ŋ/ | sing | voiced velar nasal |
| /l/ | lot | voiced alveolar lateral approximant |
| /r/ | red | voiced postalveolar approximant |
| /j/ | yes | voiced palatal approximant |
| /w/ | wet | voiced labial-velar approximant |
English vowels are more complex than consonants because they vary significantly between accents. In Received Pronunciation (RP), there are approximately 20 vowel phonemes — 12 monophthongs and 8 diphthongs.
| Symbol | Key Word | Type |
|---|---|---|
| /iː/ | fleece | close front unrounded (long) |
| /ɪ/ | kit | near-close near-front unrounded (short) |
| /e/ | dress | open-mid front unrounded (short) |
| /æ/ | trap | near-open front unrounded (short) |
| /ɑː/ | bath, father | open back unrounded (long) |
| /ɒ/ | lot | open back rounded (short) |
| /ɔː/ | thought | open-mid back rounded (long) |
| /ʊ/ | foot | near-close near-back rounded (short) |
| /uː/ | goose | close back rounded (long) |
| /ʌ/ | strut | open-mid back unrounded (short) |
| /ɜː/ | nurse | open-mid central unrounded (long) |
| /ə/ | about, comma | mid central unrounded (short, unstressed only) |
| Symbol | Key Word | Movement |
|---|---|---|
| /eɪ/ | face | mid front → close front |
| /aɪ/ | price | open central → close front |
| /ɔɪ/ | choice | open-mid back → close front |
| /əʊ/ | goat | mid central → close back |
| /aʊ/ | mouth | open central → close back |
| /ɪə/ | near | close front → mid central |
| /eə/ | square | mid front → mid central |
| /ʊə/ | cure | close back → mid central |
The schwa deserves special attention because it is the most common vowel sound in English. It is a short, unstressed, mid-central vowel — the "default" vowel sound that appears in virtually all unstressed syllables.
Examples of schwa in common words:
The schwa is critical for understanding connected speech (covered in Lesson 4) because full vowels in unstressed positions are frequently reduced to schwa in natural speech.
Here are some example words transcribed in broad IPA (RP):
| Word | Transcription |
|---|---|
| cat | /kæt/ |
| think | /θɪŋk/ |
| church | /tʃɜːtʃ/ |
| pleasure | /ˈpleʒə/ |
| language | /ˈlæŋgwɪdʒ/ |
| phonetics | /fəˈnetɪks/ |
| international | /ˌɪntəˈnæʃənəl/ |
| alphabet | /ˈælfəbet/ |
Note the use of stress marks: the primary stress mark /ˈ/ is placed before the stressed syllable, and the secondary stress mark /ˌ/ before a syllable with secondary stress.