The ASCII Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet is very popular, but there is a big problem with this alphabet: the IPA symbols are difficult to type on computers. You can do it, but you need special fonts and special software. This is very inconvenient.

Therefore, when you want to write English sounds in computer documents, or in e-mail messages, or in SuperMemo collections, it is better to use a phonetic alphabet which doesn’t use strange symbols like ʒ or æ, but uses regular symbols like Z or @ instead.

We have created such an alphabet. We’ve named it the ASCII Phonetic Alphabet, because the letters and symbols displayed by computers are called ASCII characters. (By the way, “ASCII” is pronounced /ˈæski/.)

Here is a table with all the symbols of the ASCII Phonetic Alphabet. A special printable version is also available.

vowels
IPA	ASCII	examples	listen
`ʌ`	`^`	cup, luck	Amer
`ɑ:`	`a:`	arm, father	Amer / Brit
`æ`	`@`	cat, black	Amer
`e`	`e`	met, bed	Amer
`ə`	`..`	away, cinema	Amer
`ɜ:ʳ`	`e:(r)`	turn, learn	Amer / Brit
`ɪ`	`i`	hit, sitting	Amer
`i:`	`i:`	see, heat	Amer
`ɒ`	`o`	hot, rock	Amer / Brit
`ɔ:`	`o:`	call, four	Amer / Brit
`ʊ`	`u`	put, could	Amer
`u:`	`u:`	blue, food	Amer
`aɪ`	`ai`	five, eye	Amer
`aʊ`	`au`	now, out	Amer
`eɪ`	`ei`	say, eight	Amer
`oʊ`	`Ou`	go, home	Amer
`ɔɪ`	`oi`	boy, join	Amer
`eəʳ`	`e..(r)`	where, air	Amer / Brit
`ɪəʳ`	`i..(r)`	near, here	Amer / Brit
`ʊəʳ`	`u..(r)`	pure, tourist	Amer / Brit

consonants
IPA	ASCII	examples	listen
`b`	`b`	bad, lab	Amer
`d`	`d`	did, lady	Amer
`f`	`f`	find, if	Amer
`g`	`g`	give, flag	Amer
`h`	`h`	how, hello	Amer
`j`	`j`	yes, yellow	Amer
`k`	`k`	cat, back	Amer
`l`	`l`	leg, little	Amer
`m`	`m`	man, lemon	Amer
`n`	`n`	no, ten	Amer
`ŋ`	`N`	sing, finger	Amer
`p`	`p`	pet, map	Amer
`r`	`r`	red, try	Amer
`s`	`s`	sun, miss	Amer
`ʃ`	`S`	she, crash	Amer
`t`	`t`	tea, getting	Amer
`tʃ`	`tS`	check, church	Amer
`θ`	`th`	think, both	Amer
`ð`	`TH`	this, mother	Amer
`v`	`v`	voice, five	Amer
`w`	`w`	wet, window	Amer
`z`	`z`	zoo, lazy	Amer
`ʒ`	`Z`	pleasure, vision	Amer
`dʒ`	`dZ`	just, large	Amer

special symbols
IPA	ASCII	what it means
`ˈ`	`'`	`'` is placed before the stressed syllable in a word. For example, `['kon tr@kt]` is pronounced like this, and `[k..n 'tr@kt]` like that.
`ʳ`	`(r)`	`[ka:(r)]` means `[ka:r]` in American English, and `[ka:]` in British English.
`i`	`i(:)`	`i(:)` means something between `i:` and `i`. Examples: very `['veri(:)]`, ability `[.. 'biliti(:)]`, previous `['pri:vi(:)..s]`.
`^əl`	`.l`	`.l` shows that the consonant `l` is pronounced as a syllable (it sounds like a vowel). Examples: little `['lit.l]`, uncle `['^Nk.l]`.
`^ən`	`.n`	`.n` shows that the consonant `n` is pronounced as a syllable. Examples: written `['rit.n]`, listen `['lis.n]`.