calm, ah | |
æ | act, mass |
I | dive, cry |
υ | out, down |
ε | met, lend, pen |
eI | say, weight |
I | fit, win |
i | feed, me |
lot, spot | |
oυ | note, coat |
claw, maul | |
I | boy, joint |
υ | could, stood |
u | you, use |
fund, must | |
first vowel in about | |
i | second vowel in very |
u | second vowel in actual |
b | bed, rub |
d | done, red |
f | fit, if |
good, dog | |
h | hat, horse |
j | yellow, you |
k | king, pick |
l | lip, bill |
l | handle, panel |
m | mat, ram |
n | not, tin |
n | hidden, written |
p | pay, lip |
r | run, read |
s | soon, bus |
t | talk, bet |
v | van, love |
w | win, wool |
x | loch |
z | zoo, buzz |
ship, wish | |
measure, leisure | |
ŋ | sing, working |
t | cheap, witch |
θ | thin, myth |
ð | then, bathe |
d | joy, bridge |
Stress is shown by underlining the vowel in the stressed syllable:
two [tu]
result [rIzlt]
disappointing [dIspIntIŋ]
When a word is spoken in isolation, stress falls on the syllables which have vowels which are underlined. If there is one syllable underlined, it will have primary stress.
‘TWO’
‘reSULT’
If two syllables are underlined, the first will have secondary stress, and the second will have primary stress:
‘DISapPOINTing’
A few words are shown with three underlined syllables, for example ‘disqualification’ [dIskwlIfIkIn]. In this case, the third underlined syllable will have primary stress, while the secondary stress may be on the first or second syllable:
‘DISqualifiCAtion’ or ‘disQUALifiCAtion’
GenAm usually prefers ‘dis-’, while RP tends to prefer ‘DIS-’.
In the case of compound words, where the pronunciation of each part is given separately, the stress pattern is shown by underlining the headword:‘off-peak’, ‘first-class’, but ‘cake pan’.
When words are used in context, the way in which they are pronounced depends upon the information units that are constructed by the speaker. For example, a speaker could say:
In (3), neither of the two underlined syllables in disappointing [dIspIntIŋ] receives either primary or secondary stress. This shows that it is not possible for a dictionary to predict whether a particular syllable will be stressed in context.
It should be noted, however, that in the case of adjectives with two stressed syllables, the second syllable often loses its stress when it is used before a noun:
‘an OFF-peak FARE’
‘a FIRST-class SEAT’
Two things should be noted about the marked syllables:
These features are shared by most of the one-syllable words in English, which are therefore transcribed in this dictionary as stressed syllables:
two [tu]
inn [In]
tree [tri]
It is an important characteristic of English that vowels in unstressed syllables tend not to be pronounced clearly. Many unstressed syllables contain the vowel [], a neutral vowel which is not found in stressed syllables. The vowels [I], or [υ], which are relatively neutral in quality, are also common in unstressed syllables.
Single-syllable grammatical words such as ‘shall’ and ‘at’ are often pronounced with a weak vowel such as []. However some of them are pronounced with a more distinct vowel under certain circumstances, for example when they occur at the end of a sentence. This distinct pronunciation is generally referred to as the strong form, and is given in this dictionary after the word STRONG.
shall [l, STRONG æl]
at [t, STRONG æt]