Update: 2004-04-02 08:58 PM -0500

TIL

Pronouncing the letters

ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY

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_i
I | IE | IEU | IO

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letter I

p265. The vowel letter [i] has two main strong pronunciations linked to spelling: a 'short' pronunciation /ɪ/, and a 'long' pronunciation /aɪ/. In the 'short' pronunciation, the [i] is generally 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 i is followed by a single consonant and then a vowel, although it should be noted that this spelling spelling does not regularly predict a 'long' pronunciation, e.g.:

In many cases, the 'short' pronunciation results from the above kind of spelling, e.g.:

Also, the 'long' pronunciation appears in some words where the vowel is followed by two consonants, e.g.:

Preceding the letters gh, i is pronounced /aɪ/, except in some names such as <Brigham> and <Brighouse> e.g.:

When [i] is followed by [r], the strong pronunciation is one of two possibilities: /aɪə (us) aɪɚ/ or /ɜː (us) ɝː/. E.g., in:

Another vowel sound associated with the letter i is /iː/, e.g.:

In weak syllables

The vowel letter i is realized with the vowels /ɪ/ and /ə/ in weak syllables, and may also be elided in British English, e.g.:

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p267. There are several pronunciation possibilities for the vowel digraph ie. One of the most common is /iː/ :

Another common pronunciation is /aɪ/, e.g.:

When followed by an [r] in the spelling, [ie] is pronounce as /ɪə (us) ɪr/, e.g.:

In addition

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

In weak syllables

The vowel digraph ie is realised with the vowel /ə/ in weak syllables, or can cause the following consonant to be realised as syllabic, e.g.:

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p267. The vowel letter combination [ieu] has a number of possible pronunciations, but most are associated with particular words, e.g.:

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p286. There are several pronunciation possibilities for the vowel digraph [io], e.g.:

In weak syllables

In weak syllables where it is preceded by the letters [s] and [t], the vowel digraph [io] is realised with the vowel /ə/, and may result in a syllabic consonant, e.g.:

In other weak syllabic contexts, [io] is realised with /i.ə/ or /jə/, e.g.:

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