Update: 2012-01-01 12:28 AM +0630

TIL

ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY
Pronouncing the letters

let-w-v-x-y-z.htm

Daniel Jones. Edited by Peter Roach, James Hartman and Jane Setter. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Scanned by Maung Kan Tun and edited by U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.). Not for sale. Prepared for students of TIL Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR.

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pronounce_v-w-x-y-z
V | W | WH
X | XC
Y | Z

Contents of this page

letter V

p573. The consonant letter [v] is always realised as /v/ in English words, e.g.:

However, in words borrowed from German and Slavic languages, the pronunciation may be /f/, e.g.:

letter W

p584. The consonant letter [w] is most often realised as /w/, e.g.:

In addition

[w] can be silent. There are four conditions under which this can occur. In the spelling combination [wr] , [w] is not pronounced and the realisation is /r/. In some instances of [tw] when at the beginning of a word, the pronunciation is /t/. Some word-meidal [sw} spellings are pronounced /s/. Finally, in (mostly) British place names ending [-wich], [w] is not normally pronounced, although exceptions do exist. E.g.:

The examples given above are for [w] in word or syllable-initial position. The letter [w] can also appear at the end of a word or syllable. These instances of [w] are covered at the panels for [aw] and [ow].

In words borrowed from German, [w] may be pronounced /v/. Words borrowed from Slavic may have /v/ or /f/. E.g.:

letters WH

p592. The consonant digraph [wh] is found in word or morpheme initial position in English, and usually pronounced as /w/ in British English and /hw/ in US English. The realisation /hw/ also occurs amongst some speakers of British English. In this dictionary, the transcription /hw/ is used to cover both variants, e.g.:

Another realisation of the consonant digraph [wh] is /h/, e.g.:

letter X

p601. The consonant letter [x], which rarely occurs at the beginning of a word, has three main pronunciations:

When [x] does appear at the beginning of word, it is almost always pronounced /z/, e.g.:

Another pronunciation associated with [x] is /eks/, e.g.:

p601. The consonant digraph [xc] has two pronunciations: /ks/ and /ksk/.

Before the vowel letters [ i ] or [e], it is pronounced as /ks/, e.g.:

In other situations, [xc] is pronounced as /ksk/, e.g.:

p602. The consonant letter [y] is special in that it can act as both a vowel and consonant. At the beginning of a word, it most often behaves as a consonant and, when doing so, is pronounced as /j/, e.g.:

When acting as a vowel, the letter [y] has two main strong pronunciations: a 'short' pronunciation /i/ and a 'long' pronunciation /aɪ/. There are no definite rules for when either of these pronunciations will occur, e.g.:

At the end of a word, in adjectives, and adverbs ending with a letter [y], a short /i/ is usually used. However, for other types of word, either /i/ or /aɪ/ may occur, e.g.:

When [y] is followed by [r], the strong pronunciation is one of four possibilities:
/aɪə (us) aɪɚ/ ,
/aɪə.r (us) aɪ.r/ , or
/ɪ/ when followed by a single consonant and then a vowel, otherwise
/ɜː (us) ɝː/, e.g.:

In addition

When acting as a vowel, [y] can also be realised as /iː/ or /ɪ/ in a small number of words, usually proper nouns, e.g.:

In weak syllables

When acting as a vowel, the letter [y] is realised with the vowels /ɪ/ and, occasionally, /ə/ and /i/ in word-medial weak syllables, e.g.:

letter Z

p605. The consonant letter [z] is most often realised as /z/, e.g.:

It can also be pronounced as /ʒ/ in words where it is followed by the letter [u], e.g.:

In addition

In the word rendezvous, [z] is silent, e.g.: