English as an Additional Language/Pronunciation

Consonants
The symbols used for consonants are shown in the following table. Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the left is voiceless, the one to the right voiced.

Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation is the prestige British accent, sometimes referred to as BBC English. It is used as the standard in most media within Great Britain.

Full vowels
Full vowels are those that appear in stressed syllables.

Reduced vowels
Reduced vowels occur in unstressed syllables.
 * : roses
 * : Rosa’s, runner
 * : bottle
 * : button
 * : rhythm

General American
General American is the standardized accent of the United States, and is the dialect most commonly used in spoken media there.

Full vowels
Note: the vowels and  are usually diphthongal, so the transcriptions  and  are also often used.

Reduced vowels

 * : roses (for many Americans merged with )
 * : Rosa’s
 * : runner
 * : bottle
 * : button
 * : rhythm

Reduced vowels

 * : roses, Rosa’s, runner
 * : bottle
 * : button
 * : rhythm