ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY
Pronouncing the letters

letter E

p168. See also EA | EE | EI | EO | EOU | EU/EW | EY |

The vowel letter e has two main strong pronunciations linked to spelling: a 'short' pronunciation /e/ and a 'long' pronunciation /iː/. However, the situation is not clear cut and other pronunciations are available.

The 'short' pronunciation always occurs when the e is followed by a consonant which closes the syllable, or a double consonant before another vowel, e.g.:

The 'long' pronunciation is usually found when the e is followed by a single consonant and then a vowel, e.g.:

However, the 'short' pronunciation occurs in many cases where the e is followed by a single consonant and then a vowel, e.g.:

The 'long' pronunciation may also occur where the e is followed by two consonants, e.g.:

When there is an r in the spelling, the strong pronunciation is one of four possibilities: /ɪə (us) ɪr/, /eə (us) er/ , /ɜː (us) ɝː/ or

It frequently happens that the letter e has no pronunciation at all, but is used as a spelling convention to show that a preceding vowel is realised with its 'long' pronunciation, e.g.:

In addition

There are other vowel sounds associated with the letter e, e.g.:

And, in rare cases:

In weak syllables

The vowel letter e is realised with the vowels /ɪ/, /i/ and /ə/ in weak syllables, or may also not be pronounced at all due to syllabic consonant formation or compression, e.g.:

UKT: The word <castle> has an "l" with a diacritical mark -- See l cedilla.

letters EA

p169. The vowel diagraph ea has two main strong pronunciations linked to spelling: a 'short' pronunciation /e/ and a 'long' pronunciation /iː/. However, it is not normally predictable which one will occur, e.g.:

When the digraph is followed by an r in the spelling, the strong pronunciation is one of four possibilities: /ɪə (us) ɪr/, /eə (us) er/, /ɜː (us) ɝː/ or /ɑː (us) ɑːr/, e.g.:

In addition

There are other vowel sounds associated with the digraph ea, e.g.:

In addition, there are instances when the two letters e and a come together in closed compounds, e.g.:

In weak syllables

The vowel diagraph ea is realised with the vowels /i/ and /ə/ in weak syllables and may result in a syllabic consonant, e.g.:

letters EE

p172. The most common pronunciation for the vowel digraph ee is /iː/

When followed by an r in the spelling, ee is pronounced as either /ɪə (us) ɪr/ or /iː.ə (us) iː.ɚ/, e.g.:

In addition

There are other vowel sounds associated with the diagraph ee, e.g.:

In weak syllables

The vowel digraph ee is realised with the vowel sound /i/ in weak syllables, e.g.:

letters EI

p173. There are several pronunciation possibilities for the vowel diagraph ei. One is /iː/ when following a c; this is immortalised in the spelling rhyme "I before E except after C, but only if the sound is /iː/", e.g.:

When followed by a silent gh in the spelling, it is usually pronounced as /eɪ/ but may be pronounced /aɪ/, e.g.:

The pronunciation /aɪ/ also occurs in two words which do not include gh, but only in British English, e.g.:

When followed by an r in the spelling, ei is pronounced as /eə (us) er/ and /ɪə (us) ɪr/, e.g.:

In addition

Other vowel sounds are associated with the digraph ei, e.g.:

In weak syllables

The vowel digraph ei is realized with the vowel /ɪ/ in weak syllables, e.g.:

letters EO

p182. There are several pronunciation possibilities for the vowel diagraph eo, e.g.:

UKT: The word <people> has an "l" with a diacritical mark -- See l cedilla.

When followed by an r in the spelling, eo is pronounced as /ɔː (us) ɔːr/ and /ɪə (us) ɪr/, e.g.:

Where geo- is a prefix, there are several possible realisations, e.g.:

(In geography, the prefix may also be pronounced as /ˈʤɒg-/ in British English.)

In addition

There are instances when the two letters e and o come together in closed compounds, e.g.:

In weak syllables

The vowel digraph eo is realised with the vowel /ə/ in weak syllables, e.g.:

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letters EOU

p182. The vowel letter combination eou has two possible pronunciations. After c or g the pronunciation is /ə/, e.g.:

After other letters, the pronunciation is /i.ə/, e.g.:

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letters EU/EW

p187. The vowel digraphs eu and ew are similar in that their most common pronunciation is one of /juː/ or /uː/, e.g.:

Many words in British English which have /juː/ are pronounced without the /j/ in American English, e.g.:

When the digraph eu is followed by an r in the spelling, the strong pronunciation is usually /jʊə (us) jʊr/, although words borrowed from French may have /ɜː (us) ɝː/ in stressed syllables, and /əʳ (us) ɚ/ in unstressed syllables, e.g.:

In addition

Other sounds associated with the digraphs eu and ew are as follows:

In words borrowed from German, eu is pronounced /ɔɪ/, e.g.:

letters EY

p194. The most common position for the vowel digraph ey is in word final position in an unstressed syllable.

In weak syllables the vowel digraph ey is realised with the vowel /i/, e.g.:

However, there are several pronunciation possibilities for the digraph in stressed syllables, e.g.:

letter F

p196. The consonant letter f is most often realised as /f/, and is given as a double consonant ff at the ends of many words, e.g.:

However, in one of the most common words containing f it is pronounced /v/

letter G

p219. See also GG | GH | GU | NG

There are two main pronunciations for the consonant letter g: /ʤ/ and /g/, e.g.:

A following vowel letter e, i or y may lead to the pronunciation /ʤ/. (See UKT note on Burmese consonant [ga.] corresponding to English g.). However, as can be seen in the above examples, this is not reliable as an indicator of which pronunciation to use. More reliably, before vowel letters a, o or u the pronunciation is highly likely to be /g/, although there are exceptions, e.g.:

In addition

g is often silent before a consonant letter m or n at the beginning and end of words, e.g.

letters GG

p225. The main pronunciation for the consonant digraph gg is /g/, e.g.:

In addition

gg may be pronounced as /ʤ/, e.g.:

And in rare cases for American English as /gʤ/:

letters GH

p225. The consonant digraph gh can be pronounced as /g/, /f/ or may be silent.

In syllable-initial position (UKT: see onset), gh is always pronounced as /g/, e.g.:

Following a vowel letter, the pronunciation may be silent. This is always the case after i and ei, e.g.:

Alternatively, the pronunciation may be /f/, e.g.:

In addition

A unique pronunciation of the consonant digraph gh is /p/, e.g.:

letters GU

p237. At the beginning of words, the consonant digraph gu is usually realised as /g/, e.g.:

Word-finally, gu is usually followed by e in nouns and is pronounced /g/, e.g.:

gu may also be pronounced as /gw/, e.g.:

letter H p240

letter I p265

letters IE p267

letters IEU p267

letters IO p286

letter J p291

letter K p297

letter L p304

letters LL p318

letter M p325

letters MN p347

letter N p358

letters NG p365

letter O p373

letters OA p374

letters OEU p377

letters OI, OY p378

letters OO p381

letters OU p385

letters OW p390

letter P p392

letters PH p407

letter Q p438

letter R p442

letters RRH p464

letter S p467

letters SC p473

letters SCH p474

letters SH p483

letter T p524

letters TH p533

letters TZ p554

letter U p555

letters UE p556

letters UI p556

letters UOU p570

letters UY p572

letter V p573

letter W p584

letters WH p592

letter X p601

letters XC p601

letter Y p602

letter Z p605

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UKT notes

Burmese consonant [ga.]

Points to remember In romanisation of the Burmese script:

• The Burmese script is an abugida similar to Indic scripts, and every consonant has an inherent vowel similar to the English short a.

• The Burmese consonant [ga.] corresponds to the English g. When the Burmese [ya.] corresponding to English y follows the Burmese [ga.], the resulting conjunct [gya.] comes to have the pronunciation /ʤ/.

• The Burmese vowels [e] and [i] following [ga.] do not alter the pronunciation of [ga.].

• English syllables are of the form CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant), whereas the Burmese syllables are of the form CV. However, a consonant may enter the coda of the syllable after the inherent vowel of the entering consonant has been "killed" (Romabama a'thut.) resulting in CVÇ (U00C7, Alt0199, Ç = Latin capital C with cedilla). Thus, if we were to Burmanise the English word <gem>, em would be considered to be the Burmese vowel ma.thut  resulting in a pronunciation /gem/ and not /ʤem/.

Silent letters

Unlike Burmese consonants, English consonants can become silent (zero realization) in some words. I have collected the examples from DJPD16, and you can see the pronunciation by clicking on the links given.
Silent b -- See letter B
   in [bt]: <doubt>, <subtle>;
   in [mb]: <bomb>, <bombing>
Silent c -- See letter c
   in [ct]: <indict>
   in British place names <Leicester>
Silent ch -- See letters ch
   in <yacht>
Silent g -- See letter g
   in <gnat>, <paradigm>
Silent gh See letters ei | letters gh
   <eight>, <height>
   <high>, <height>, <plough>, <caught>

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Pronouncing the letters
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