A. English Sounds and Their Symbols (International Phonetic Alphabet)

English Sounds
Vowels			Consonants
Cardinal Vowels	Diphthongs	Triphthongs

B. Comparison of various symbol systems currently in use (from Davis, 1995, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English language, p. 237) Gimson=Gimson, An introduction to the pronunciation of English; Jones= by Jones, F&R=Fromkin and Rodman, An Introduction to Language, widely used textbooks in the USA.

C. The International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet below is produced by International Phonetic Association (revised 1993, update 1996). The red or underlined symbols represent the sounds that are present in the English language.

Vowels

Consonants