Learn the Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet for American English. Although the International Phonetic Association has produced the gold standard in phonetic alphabets, many of its symbols are not available in online ASCII text. The emerging European Union Standard, SAMPA, was designed for online use and is shown here adapted for American English:
Consonants:
p --- pin --- pIn
b --- bin --- bIn
t --- tin --- tIn
d --- din --- dIn
k --- kin --- kIn
g --- give --- gIv
tS --- chin --- tSIn
dZ --- gin --- dZIn
f --- fin --- fIn
v --- vim --- vIm
T --- thin --- TIn
D --- this --- DIs
s --- sin --- sIn
z --- zing --- zIN
S --- shin --- SIn
Z --- measure --- "mEZ@`
h --- hit --- hIt
m --- mock --- mAk
n --- knock --- nAk
N --- thing --- TIN
r --- wrong --- rON
l --- long --- lON
w --- wasp --- wAsp
j --- yacht --- jAt
Vowel Sounds:
I --- pit --- pIt
E --- pet --- pEt
{ --- pat --- p{t
A --- pot --- pAt
V --- cut --- kVt
U --- put --- pUt
i --- ease --- iz
e --- raise --- rez
u --- lose --- luz
o --- nose --- noz
O --- cause --- kOz
aI --- rise --- raIz
OI --- noise --- nOIz
aU --- rouse --- raUz
3` --- furs --- f3`z
@ --- allow --- @"laU
@` --- corner --- "kOrn@`
Choose a word that you would like to transcribe into a phonetic alphabet and parse it for syllables. Without looking at the word, without thinking about its spelling, say it in your mind and think about the sounds and the stress of each syllable. Stress is important, because unstressed syllables in English are often reduced to a weaker form, as in "photograph," where the first vowel has a full, stressed "o" sound, versus "photography", where the first syllable is unstressed and reduced to a weak "uh" sound, called schwa by phoneticians.
Match the sounds of the word with the sounds from the phonetic alphabet chart. In the case of pho|to|graph, we get /fot@gr{f/. In the case of pho|to|gra|phy, we get /f@tAgr@fi/. Always enclose phonetically spelled words in backslashes.
Develop your skills with the phonetic alphabet by rendering the following phonetically spelled sentence into standard English spelling:
/T@ wird pip@l lipt On T@ tSif Vv p@lis/