IPA Vowels

The Vowels of West Coast American English

These symbols (Ladefoged, 1993, 2001) will be used in this class. Learn them as soon as you can!
この授業では、こちらの記号を使います。早めに覚えましょう.

To hear the sound, just click on the keyword.

	Keyword	IPA symbol*		How these are spelled in American English**
front	beat		Similar to イ but lips are spread	ee as in cheese ea in pea e as in be ie as in piece ey as in key i as in machine
	bit			i as in sit e as in pretty y as in happy u as in busy o as in women a as in village
	bet		Similar to エ but lower	e as in bed ea as in breath a as in many
	bat			a as in hat au as in laugh
back	boot		Similar to ウ but lips are rounded	oo as in too ou as in you oe as in shoe o as in to u as in tulip ue as in blue ew as in flew
	put			u as in full ou as in could oo as in foot o as in woman
	father		Similar to ア but further back	a as in father aw as in awful au as in daughter ea as in heart o as in hot ou as in cough ow as in knowledge
center	but		(Written as in reduced syllables)	u as in sun o as in son ou as in cousin oo as in blood oe as in does
center	bird			ur as in church ir as in bird er as in her ear as in heard or as in world our as in journey
dipthongs	boat		Similar to オ　but further back & lower, ending in .	o as in so oa as in road oe as in toe ou as in though ow as in low ew as in sew
	bait			a as in hate ei as in eight ey as in prey ai as in rain ay as in ray
	bite			i as in time igh as in high ie as in lie y as in dry
	about			ou as in house ow as in now
	boy			oy as in toy oi as in noise

Ladefoged, P. (1993). A Course in Phonetics, 3rd ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.
Ladefoged, P. (2001). Vowels and Consonants. Blackwell.

Adapted from
**Taylor, L. (1993). Pronunciation in Action. New York: Prentice Hall.