Phonetic notation of the American Heritage Dictionary

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The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (abbreviated AHD) uses a phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet to transcribe the pronunciation of spoken English. It and similar respelling systems, such as those used by the Merriam-Webster and Random House dictionaries, are familiar to US schoolchildren.

Contents

The following tables show the AHD representations of English phonemes, [1] along with the IPA equivalents as used on Wikipedia.

Vowels

In general, long vowels are marked with a macron, and short vowels with a breve. A circumflex may also be used to indicate a pre-rhotic vowel. Usage of other symbols vary.

AHD IPA Example
ăæbat
ābait
ârɛərbear
äɑːfather
ĕɛbet
ēbeat
ĭɪbit
ībite
îrɪərbeer
ŏɒbot
ōboat
ôɔːbought
ôrɔːrnorth
oiɔɪboy
o͝oʊbook
o͞oboot
oubout
ŭʌbutt
ûrɜːrbird
əəabout
ərərbutter
Foreign
œøFrench feu, German schön
œFrench œuf, German zwölf
üyFrench tu, German über
N ◌̃ French bon

Consonants

AHD IPA Example
bbbuy
chChina
dddye
fffight
gɡguy
hhhigh
hwhwwhy
jjive
kkkite
lllie
əlbottle
mmmy
nnnigh
ənbutton
ngŋsing
pppie
rrrye
sssigh
shʃshy
tttie
thθthigh
thðthy
vvvie
wwwide
yjyacht
zzzoo
zhʒvision
əməmrhythm
Foreign
KHçGerman ich
xGerman ach, Scottish loch

Suprasegmentals

Stress is indicated by a prime character following stressed syllables. The character is in boldface when it indicates primary stress.

AHD IPA Description
''ˈ◌ Primary stress
ˌ◌ Secondary stress
-. Syllable division (omitted after stressed syllables)

See also

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References

  1. Houghton Mifflin, American Heritage Dictionary pronunciation key (PDF), retrieved 2016-01-21.