Possible Pronunciation and Phonemic Representation of all English Letters lesson 1

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Possible Pronunciation and Phonemic Representation of all English Letters

Do you know that the English language has only one alphabet? Yes! There is only one alphabetical system used in the English language. An alphabet is a set of letters used when writing in a language. In other words, it is a writing system in which letters represent phonemes (meaning distinguishing sounds), that is, letters represent consonant and vowel phonemes. The alphabetical system used in the English language is the Latin alphabet, consisting of 26 letters, each having an uppercase and a lowercase form:



Figure 1: An English pangram displaying all the characters in context.

Below is a table with the English alphabet

Letter
lowercase  
Name
Transcription
A
a
A
/ˈeɪ/
B
b
Bee
/ˈbi:/
C
c
Cee
/ˈsi:/
D
d
Dee
/ˈdi:/
E
e
 Eee
/ˈi:/
F
f
Ef
/ˈef
G
g
Gee
/ˈʤi:/
H
h
Aitch
/ˈeɪʧ/
I
i
I
/ˈaɪ/
J
j
Jay
/ˈʤeɪ/
K
k
Kay
/ˈkeɪ/
L
l
El
/ˈel/
M
m
Em
/ˈem/
N
n
En
/ˈen/
O
o
Owe
/ˈәʊ/
P
p
Pee
/ˈpi:/
Q
q
Cue
/ˈkju:/
R
r
Ar
/ɑ:/
S
s
Ess
/ˈess/
T
t
Tee
/ˈti:/
U
u
You
/ˈju:/
V
v
Vee
/ˈvi:/
W
w
Double-you
/ˈdʌbәl.ju:/
X
x
Ex
/ˈeks/
Y
y
Why
/ˈwaɪ/
Z
z
Zed
/ˈzed/
The 26 letters are grouped into 5 vowel letters and 21 consonant letters. The letters A,E,I,O and U are considered vowel letters, since (except when silent) they represent vowels; the remaining letters are considered consonant letters, since when not silent they generally represent consonants. However, Y commonly represents vowels as well as a consonant (e.g., myth/mɪθ/), as rarely does W (e.g., cwm/kʊm/). Conversely, U and I sometimes represent a consonant (e.g., quiz/kwi:z and onion/ˈʌn.jәn).

Pronouncing the letter A

The vowel a has two main strong pronunciations linked to spelling: a ‘short’ pronunciation /æ/ and a ‘long’ pronunciation /eɪ/. in the ‘short’ pronunciation, the a  is usually followed by a consonant which closes the syllable, or a double consonant before another vowel, e.g.:
                                Map /mæp/
                                Mapping /ˈmæp.ɪŋ/
The ‘long’ pronunciation usually means the  a is followed by a single consonant and then a vowel, e.g.:
                                Make/meɪk/
                                Making/ˈmeɪ.kɪŋ/
When there is an r in the spelling, the spelling, the strong pronunciation is one of the three possibilities: /ɑ:/, /eә/ or /æ/, e.g.:
                                Car/kɑ:/
                                Care/keә/
                                Carry/ˈkær.i/
In addition, there are other vowel sounds associated with the letter a, e.g.:
                                /ɑ:/        father/ˈfɑ:ðә/; bath/bɑ:θ/
                                /ɒ/         swan/swɒn/; watch/wɑʧ/
                                /ɔ:/         walk/wɔ:/; warm/wɔ:m/
And in rare cases;
                                /e/         many/ˈmeni/
In weak syllables, the vowel a is realized with the vowels /ә/ and /ɪ/, and may not be pronounced at all in British English, due to compression, e.g.:
                                Above/әˈbʌv/
                                Village/ˈvɪl.ɪʤ/
                                Necessary/ˈnes.ә.sri/

Pronouncing the letters AE

The vowel digraph ‘ae’ is a fairly low-frequency spelling. In some cases, the American spelling of words containing ‘ae’ omits the ‘a’, e.g. in aesthetic, which is spelt in American English as esthetic.
The pronunciation of the digraph in strong syllables (stressed syllables) strongly depends on whether or not it is followed by an ‘r’ in the spelling. If so, the pronunciation is /eә/, e.g.:
                                Aeroplane/ˈeәrәpleɪn/
                                Aeronaunt/ˈeәrәnɔ:t/
When not followed by ‘r’, the pronunciation is most usually one of /i:/, /ɪ/, or /e/, the latter being most common in American pronunciation, e.g.:
                                Ceasar/ˈsi:zә/
                                Aesthetic/i:sˈθetɪk/ us /esˈθetɪk/
In addition, other vowel sounds associated with the digraph ae include /æ/, for old English names, e.g.:
                                Aesthelstan/ˈæθәlstәn/
Also, in weak syllables, the digraph is realized with the vowels /ә/ and /ɪ/, e.g.:
                                Gynaecology/ˌgaɪnәˈkɒlәʤi/

Pronouncing the letters AEO

The vowel letter combination aeo is of low frequency, and is often spelt eo in American English. It has two pronunciation associated with it:
                                /iˈɒ/       archaeology/ˌɑ:kiˈɒlәʤi/; aeon/ˈi:әn/
                                /iәʊ/      palaeotype/ˈpæliәʊtaɪp/

Pronouncing the letters AI, AY

The vowel-letter digraphs ai and ay are similar in that their most common pronunciation is /eɪ/, e.g.:
                                Say/seɪ/
                                Pail/peɪl/
However, in days of the week, ay is also frequently pronounced /i/, e.g.:
                                Monday/ˈmʌndi/
When followed by r in the spelling, ai and ay are pronounced as /eә/, e.g.:
                                Hair/heә/
                                Ayr/eә/
In addition, there are other vowel sounds associated with the digraphs ai and ay, e.g.:
                                /e/         said/sed/; says/sez/
                                /æ/        plait/plæt/; plaid/plæd/
                                /aɪ/         aisle/aɪl/
And rare cases:
                                /eɪ.ɪ/      archaic/ɑ:ˈkeɪ.ɪk/
In weak syllables, the vowel digraphs ai and ay are realized with the vowels /ɪ/ and /i/ respectively, and ai may also result in a schwa vowel(/ә/) or a syllabic consonant, e.g.:
                                Bargain/ˈbɑ:gɪn/
                                Murray/ˈmʌri/
                                Britain/ˈbrɪt.әn/

Pronouncing the letters AU, AW

The vowel-letter combinations au and aw are similar in that their most common pronunciation is /ɔ:/, e.g.:
                                Sauce/sɔ:s/
                                Saw/sɔ:/
However, there is more variation in the case of au. When followed by gh in the spelling realized as /f/, it is pronounced as /ɑ:/,e.g.:
                                Laugh/lɑ:f/
The combination of au may also be pronounced as /ɒ/, e.g.:
                                Australia/ˈɒsˈtreɪ.li.ә/
                                Because/ˈbɪkɒz/
In addition, other sounds associated with the combinations are:
                                /әʊ/       chauffeur/ˈʃәʊfә/
And in rare cases:
                                /eɪ/        gauge/geɪʤ/
In weak syllables, the digraphs au and aw are realized with the vowel /ә/, and au may result in syllabic consonant:
                                Awry/әˈraɪ/
                                Restaurant/ˈrestәrɑ:nt/
Friday Abiona Stephen is a researcher, educator, writer, linguist, web designer, proofreader and editor with keen interest in child language development, computer language processing, web designing, and proofreading. He is a graduate of Lagos State University, Ojo, with a second class upper degree in English Education.

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