International Phonetic Alphabet
Never Too Late to Learn
Before, I had never heard of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). I learned about it when I began to correct my pronunciation.
I’m an independent English learner student. Almost, I learning about pogramming though English. My speaking isn’t well.
One problem I often face when I speak is that I don’t know which syllable to stress or how to say a word.
Until I used monolingual learners’ dictionaries, such as Longman, Merriam-Webster, and Cambridge. And now I know about IPA.
What is the International Phonetic Alphabet?
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of notation that uses symbols to represent of spoken languages. Each symbol corresponds to a distinct sound (phoneme). The IPA provides a clear way to write how to pronounce any language. It is consistent and accurate.
The American IPA divides into three main sections:
- Consonants
- Vowels
- Suprasegmentals include stress, tone, and intonation
Consonants
American English has 24 consonant sounds in the below table. Three areas divide consonants:
- The place is where the sound originates from.
- The manner in which air releases its sound.
- Voicing refers to the vibration of vocal cords. Voiced means the vocal cords vibrate. Voiceless means they do not.
| PLACE (Tougue placement) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MANNER (Air released) | Bilabial | Labio-dental | Lingua-dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Stop | p, b | t, d | k, g | |||||
| Fricative | f, v | θ, ð | s, z | ʃ, ʒ | h | |||
| Afficate | tʃ, dʒ | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Liquid (Lateral) | l | |||||||
| Liquid (Rhotic) | r | |||||||
| Glide | w | j | w | |||||
Vowels
Vowels are much more abstract than consonants. Vowels are always frustrating for me. You can’t rely on the word’s spelling to show how to pronounce them.
Example before when I see the words real and deal. Both are spelled with the letter “ea”, but that letter is pronouned differently in each word. In real the letter “ea” makes the “ɪə” sound. But in deal the letter “ea” makes the “iː” sound.
Vowel are categorized based on their lip, jaw and tongue positions. Some vowels are made with rounded lips and a closed jaw like the /u/ vowel, and some vowels are made with wide lips and an open jaw like the /ʌ/ vowel.
Main categories of vowels: front vowels, central vowels, and back vowels.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i ɪ | ɨ | u ʊ |
| Middle | e ɛ | ə | o ɔ |
| Low | æ | a | ɑ |
Suprasegmentals
Stress
American English stress is crazy. When I’m speaking English, my girlfriend said my voice sounds like a robot.
English is a stress-timed language. Some syllables are stressed, and some syllables are unstressed.
A raised line marks the main accent of a word. It goes at the start of the stressed syllable.
Secondary stress is medium. It’s not the loudest, but not unstressed. A lowered line indicates the start of the syllable.
Consider the word “delegate”. It’s a good example of the difference between “delegate” as a verb (/ˈdelɪɡeɪt/) and as a noun (/ˈdeləɡət/). It shows the difference between secondary stress and no stress.
Intonation
Intonation is the melody or the music of your speech. It’s your voice going up or down. And it’s remaining flat as you speak.
Intonation has three main categories:
- Upward intonation, which is when the voice moves up in pitch
- Downward intonation, which is when the voice moves down in pitch
- Flat intonation, which is when the voice remains on the same pitch
This is the hardest element to imitate for me because I’m a non-native speaker.
It’s difficult to isolate the intonation because my brain is too busy focusing on the words.
And including translating those words from English to Vietnamese.
Practice, Practice, and Practice
Above, it’s some knowledge of IPA. I should practice it, practice it, and practice it.
I can improve my English by listening more, reading more, and practicing more.