Pronunciation

The following list of phonetic symbols and sample words is intended to provide a ready-reference guide to the system of transcription used in DARE entries. For an explanation of the criteria for inclusion of pronunciations and a more detailed discussion of the sounds and their regional distributions, readers are referred to the “Guide to Pronunciation.”

Pronunciations in the head sections of DARE entries are in “broadly phonetic” transcriptions using International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) characters* enclosed in vertical lines. Those in quotations from DARE fieldwork are usually much more narrowly phonetic and are enclosed in square brackets. When quotations from sources other than DARE include pronunciations, the transcriptions are reproduced faithfully, with two exceptions: archaic or idiosyncratic systems are silently translated to DARE’s transcriptional system, and some of the minute details in sources such as the Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States have not been preserved. Characters that are raised above the line of text are to be interpreted as weakly articulated; those enclosed in parentheses are variably present. Sequences of symbols not listed here should be interpreted as the sum of their parts. When two vowels in a transcription are contiguous but do not constitute a diphthong, they are separated by a hyphen.

In the list below, each symbol on the left is followed by a sample word containing the sound it represents. It must be remembered, however, that regional variation is complex, and one person’s pronunciation of father, for instance, will not necessarily match another’s. (In a few cases where readers are likely to recognize sounds characteristic of a particular region, notes regarding geographic distribution have been included.) Indented under the sample words are symbols for similar sounds that occur in the same phonetic environments. These include both those variants that occur frequently in DARE transcriptions and (in an effort to include symbols found in sources other than DARE materials) those that are less common. No attempt is made to determine an overall phonemic system.

*A few exceptions to the use of IPA characters are DARE’s use of |ð|, |š|, |ž|, |č|,and |ǰ|, which are traditional Linguistic Atlas symbols.

The Vowels

  • |i| beat; a higher-high-front unrounded vowel
    • [ɪi] upgliding variant
    • [iə] ingliding variant
    • [ɨ] centralized variant
    • [y] rounded variant
  • |ɪ| bit; a lower-high-front unrounded vowel
    • [ɪə] ingliding variant
    • [ə] centralized variant; usu unstressed
    • [ʏ] rounded variant
  • |e| bait; a higher-mid-front unrounded vowel
    • [eɪ] upgliding variant
    • [eə] ingliding variant
  • |ɛ| bet; a lower-mid-front unrounded vowel
    • [ɛɪ] upgliding variant
    • [ɛə] ingliding variant
    • [ɞ] rounded variant
  • |æ| bat; a higher-low-front unrounded vowel
    • [æɪ] upgliding variant
    • [æə] ingliding variant
    • [a] lowered variant; used esp in parts of New England in such words as ask, dance, path, etc
  • |u| boot; a higher-high-back rounded vowel
    • [ᴜu], [ʌu] upgliding variants
    • [uƗ] ingliding variant
    • [ʉ] centralized variant
    • [ɯ] unrounded variant; see also |l|
  • |ᴜ| book; a lower-high-back rounded vowel
    • [ᴜə] ingliding variant
    • [ᴜɪ] front-gliding variant
    • [ʉ] centralized variant
    • [ɤ] unrounded variant
  • |o| boat; a higher-mid-back rounded vowel [oᴜ], [ɞᴜ] upgliding variants [oə] ingliding variant [ɵ] slightly fronted variant (the “New England short o”)
  • |ʌ| cut; a fronted, lower-mid-back unrounded vowel occurring in stressed syllables
    • [ʌɪ] upgliding variant
    • [ʌə] ingliding variant
  • |ɔ| bought; a higher-low-back rounded vowel; see also |ɔɪ| and Pronc Intro 3.II.9
    • [ɔᴜ] upgliding variant
    • [ɔə] ingliding variant
    • [ɒ] lowered variant
  • |ɑ| cot; a lower-low-central unrounded vowel; see also Pronc Intro 3.II.9, 10
    • [a] fronted variant
    • [ɐ] retracted variant
  • |ə| sofa; also mother (for speakers without postvocalic r); a mid-central unrounded, unconstricted vowel occurring in unstressed syllables (except when the first element of a diphthong; see |aə|, |aᴜ|)
    • [ɑ] lowered variant
  • |ɚ| mother (for speakers with postvocalic r); a mid-central unrounded, constricted vowel occurring in unstressed syllables
  • |ɜ| bird (for speakers without postvocalic r); a mid-central slightly rounded, unconstricted vowel occurring in stressed syllables
    • [ɜɪ] upgliding variant
    • [ɞ] fully rounded variant
  • |ɝ| bird (for speakers with postvocalic r); a mid-central slightly rounded, constricted vowel occurring in stressed syllables
  • |aɪ| bite; a front-upgliding diphthong
    • [ɑɪ], [ɐɪ] retracted variants
    • [əɪ], [ʌɪ] centralized variants (esp in Mid Atl and Canadian border regions)
    • [aə], [ɑə] ingliding variants [a:] monophthongized variant (esp in parts of Sth and S Midl)
  • |aᴜ| about; a back-upgliding diphthong
    • [ɒᴜ] retracted variant
    • [əᴜ], [ʌᴜ] centralized variants (esp in Mid Atl and Canadian border regions)
    • [a:] monophthongized variant (esp in parts of Midl)
  • |ɔɪ| boy; a front-upgliding diphthong
    • [oɪ] raised variant
    • [ɒɪ] lowered variant
    • [ɔə] ingliding variant
    • [ɔ:] monophthongized variant (esp in parts of Sth and Midl)

The Consonants

  • |p| pat; a voiceless bilabial stop
  • |b| bat; a voiced bilabial stop
    • [b] fricativized variant
  • |t| tap; a voiceless alveolar stop
  • |d| dog; a voiced alveolar stop
  • |k| keep; a voiceless velar stop
    • [x] fricativized variant
  • |g| get; a voiced velar stop
  • |ʔ| bottle; a glottal stop
  • |f | fist; a voiceless labiodental fricative
  • |v| vice; a voiced labiodental fricative
  • |θ| thing; a voiceless interdental fricative
  • |ð| this; a voiced interdental fricative
  • |s| see; a voiceless alveolar fricative
  • |z| zoo; a voiced alveolar fricative
  • |š| shoe; a voiceless palatal fricative (also represented as [ʃ])
  • |ž| vision; a voiced palatal fricative (also represented as [ʒ])
  • |č| chin; a voiceless palatal affricate (also represented as [tʃ])
  • |ǰ| jump; a voiced palatal affricate (also represented as [dʒ])
  • |m| mad; a voiced bilabial nasal
    • [ɱ] labiodental variant
  • |n| new; a voiced alveolar nasal
    • [ɲ] palatalized variant
  • |ŋ| spring; a voiced velar nasal
  • |h| high; a voiceless glottal fricative
  • |w| witch; a voiced velar frictionless continuant
  • |hw| which; a voiceless continuant, for those who distinguish it from witch; (also represented as [ʍ])
  • |j| you; a voiced palatal frictionless continuant
  • |r| run; a voiced alveolar frictionless continuant
    • [ɾ] flapped variant
    • [ɹ] fricativized variant
  • |l| light; a voiced alveolar lateral
    • [l̡] palatalized or “clear” variant
    • [ɫ] velarized or “dark” variant
    • [Ɯ] fully vocalized variant; see also |u|

Diacritical Marks

  • ˈ (raised, preceding a syllable) = having primary stress
  • ˌ (lowered, preceding a syllable) = having secondary stress
  •  ͂ (over a symbol) = nasalized
  •  ̶ (through the middle of a symbol) = articulated toward the center of the mouth.
  • . (following a symbol) = slightly lengthened
  • : (following a symbol) = significantly lengthened
  • ˂ or ⊢ (following a symbol) = forward in the mouth
  • ˃ or ⊣ (following a symbol) = retracted in the mouth
  • ˄ or ⊤ (following a symbol) = higher in the mouth
  • ˅ or ⊥ (following a symbol) = lower in the mouth
  • ʻ (following a symbol) = aspirated
  • ˉ (following a symbol) = unreleased
  •  ̥ (beneath a symbol) = voiceless
  •  ̬ (beneath a symbol) = voiced
  •  ̮ (beneath a symbol) = labialized
  •  ̯ (beneath a consonant) = dentalized
  •  ̯ (beneath |ə|) = unsyllabic
  •  ̣ (beneath a consonant) = syllabic
  •  ̣ (beneath a vowel) = constricted