English has 44 phonemes or word sounds that make up the language. Phonemes include 19 consonants, 7 digraphs, 5 'r-controlled' sounds, 5 long vowels, 5 short vowels, 2 'oo' sounds, and 2 diphthongs. Phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds, including how they are produced, perceived, and their physical properties. It has three branches: articulatory phonetics studies sound production, acoustic phonetics studies physical properties, and auditory phonetics studies perception. Speech sounds are organized into phonetic features, phonemes, allophones, words, utterances, and longer stretches of speech.

1. English 44 phonemes
Regardless of your native language, to learn another language, you must be able to
piece together the sounds that make up words.
In English, there are 44 phonemes, or word sounds that make up the language.
They’re divided into 19 consonants, 7 digraphs, 5 ‘r-controlled’ sounds, 5 long
vowels, 5 short vowels, 2 ‘oo’ sounds, 2 diphthongs.
This guide will help you learn and understand those 44 sounds along with some other
blended and special sounds used in English. If you’re ever unsure of how to
pronounce phonemes in English, you can refer back to this guide and piece together
any word or phrase confidently.
19 Consonant Phonemes
In this list, notice that the consonants x, q, and c do not have unique phonemes. This
is because these letters are made by other sounds:
 C-sounds that make a /k/ in crop, crack, creep and
 C-sounds that make an /s/ in central, cent, and cite.
 Q-sounds are also in words that contain the letters ‘kw’ as in walkway,
parkway, and awkward.
 X-sounds are also in words with ‘cks’ as in backstop, rocks, and necks
/b/ – beg and bag
/d/ – doe and deal
/f/ – fall and fit
/g/ – goal and gill
/h/ – has and him
/j/ – job and jolt
/k/ – cap and kite
/l/ – lip and load
/m/ – map and moth
/n/ – net and nip

2. /p/ – pin and plot
/r/ – run and rope
/s/ – sat and small
/t/ – toe and tale
/v/ – vin and volt
/w/ – wait and wind
/y/ – yam and yet
/z/ – zip and zoo
7 Digraph Phonemes
Digraphs form when two consonants work together to create a completely different
sound. The two consonants have different sounds on their own and are most often—
but not always—seen at the start or end of a word.
/ch/ – watch and chime
/sh/ – shift and short
/ng/ – ring and sting
/th/ (voiced) – weather and thin
/th/ (unvoiced) – thing and thunder
/zh/ – genre and division
/wh/ (with breath) – what
5 R-Controlled, or Influenced, Phonemes
These phonemes are controlled or influenced by the letter r.
/a(r)/ – car and far
/ā(r)/ – fair and chair

3. /i(r)/ – here and steer
/o(r)/ – core and door
/u(r)/ – fern and burn
5 Long Vowel Phonemes
/ā/ – day and eight
/ē/ – beet and sleep
/ī/ – pie and sky
/ō/ – boat and row
/ū/ – hue and chew
5 Short Vowel Phonemes
/a/ – bat and laugh
/e/ – medical and bread
/i/ – sit and lip
/o/ – hot and orange
/u/ – shut and cut
2 ‘oo’ vowel Phonemes
/oo/ – took and could
/ōō/ – moon and
If you’re having trouble with ‘oo’ and other vowel sounds, we’ve got you covered!

4. 2 Diphthongs
A diphthong is two vowels that work together to form another sound.
/ow/ – mouse and cow
/oy/ – coin and toy
Sound Blends
This list is a group of common sounds you’ll hear in English. They’re a group
of consonant blends that create distinct sounds, and you’ll often see them at the
beginning of a word. Most of the sounds are a blend of the consonant sounds
described above, but when they work together, their sound is quick and smooth.
bl – blot and blunder
cl – clot and clam
fl – flow and flop
gl – glow and glamor
pl – plot and play
br – brat and broke
cr – cream and crop
dr – drop and drove
fr – frail and frozen
gr – grand and grow
pr – pronoun and prime
tr – trash and trust
sk – skip and sky
sl – slot and slow
sp – sponge and spell
st – still and stand

5. sw – swat and sway
spr – spruce and spring
str – strip and stretch
Conclusion
Knowing the 44 English phonemes will help you pronounce words correctly and be
understood by speakers around the world. But correct pronunciation won’t happen
overnight or even by just memorizing the text and audio from this list. You’ll need
practice!
Why not practice in an encouraging live environment like SpeakUp by Magoosh?
With SpeakUp, you can master the 44 English phonemes and learn other idioms,
phrases, and vocabulary. Plus, you get feedback from native English speakers who
can work with you to master your pronunciation.
What is phonetics in English PDF?
Phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds, that is described and
categorizing human sounds, understanding the creation of sounds, comparing
and contrasting sounds diagonally language. Finding constraints and restriction
of possible human speech
What are the example of phonetics?
An example of phonetics is the difference between the pronunciation of "Z" and
"S" in English. Our vocal cords vibrate when we pronounce "Z" but not when we
pronounce "S".
What are the 24 consonant sounds and examples?
English has 24 consonant sounds. Some consonants have voice from the voicebox
and some don't. These consonants are voiced and voiceless pairs /p/ /b/, /t/ /d/, /k/
/g/, /f/ /v/, /s/ /z/, /θ/ /ð/, /ʃ/ /ʒ/, /ʈʃ/ /dʒ/. These consonants are voiced /h/, /w/, /n/, /m/,
/r/, /j/, /ŋ/, /l/.
What are the 20 vowels sounds?
English has 20 vowel sounds. Short vowels in the IPA are /ɪ/-pit, /e/-pet, /æ/-pat,
/ʌ/-cut, /ʊ/-put, /ɒ/-dog, /ə/-about. Long vowels in the IPA are /i:/-week, /ɑ:/-
hard,/ɔ:/-fork,/ɜ:/-heard, /u:/-boot.

6. What are the 3 types of phonetics?
Modern phonetics has three branches:
 Articulatory phonetics, which addresses the way sounds are made with the
articulators,
 Acoustic phonetics, which addresses the acoustic results of different articulations,
and.
 Auditory phonetics, which addresses the way listeners perceive and understand
linguistic signals.
English Vowels Examples – IPA Short Single Vowels
Vowel Phonetic Symbol & IPA Examples in Words
/ɪ/ – fit /fiːt/, pick /piːk/, difficult /ˈdɪ.fɪ.kəlt/
/e/ – pet /pet/, sent /sent/, attention /əˈten.ʃən/
/æ/ – pat /pæt/, flat /flæt/, family /ˈfæ.mə.li/
/ʌ/ – cut /kʌt/ jump /dʒʌmp/, cover /ˈkʌ.vər/
/ʊ/ – put /pʊt/, book /bʊk/, cushion /ˈkʊ.ʃən/
/ɒ/ – pot /pɒt/, dog /dɒg/, hospital /ˈhɒs.pɪ.təl/
/ə/ – about /əˈbaʊt/, system /ˈsɪs.təm/, complete /kəmˈpliːt/.
What are the English Vowel Sound IPA symbols (International Phonetic Alphabet)? English
has 20 vowel sounds. Short vowels in the IPA are /ɪ/-pit, /e/-pet, /æ/-pat, /ʌ/-cut, /ʊ/-put,
/ɒ/-dog, /ə/-about. Long vowels in the IPA are /i:/-week, /ɑ:/-hard,/ɔ:/-fork,/ɜ:/-heard, /u:/-
boot. Diphthong vowels in the IPA are /eɪ/-place, /oʊ/-home, /aʊ/-mouse, /ɪə/-clear, /eə/-
care, /ɔɪ/-boy, /aɪ/-find, /ʊə/-tour.
What are the 4 branches of phonetics?
Three branches of phonetics
Phonetics has three main branches: Articulatory phonetics studies the production of
speech sounds by the human vocal tract. Auditory phonetics studies the perception
of speech sounds by the human perceptual system. Acoustic phonetics studies the
physical properties of speech sounds.
What is simple phonetics?
Phonetics is the study of the range of sounds which occur in speech, including
the way they are produced by the speech organs and their acoustic properties.
Phonology is the study of the distribution of and the relationships between speech
sounds, i.e, the system of sounds of a language.
What are the phonetic symbols in English?

7. English International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
Phonetic symbol Example Phonetic spelling
/ʌ/ but /b/ /ʌ/ /t/
/ə/ about /ə/ /b/ /o/ /t/
/ɚ/ bird /b/ /ɚ/ /d/
/u/ boot /b/ /u/ /t/
What are the 5 types of consonants?
It is this kind of closure that characterizes consonant sounds. In English there are
approximately 24 consonants and these are arranged into five main groups: (1)
plosives, (2) nasals, (3) fricatives, (4) affricates, and (5) approximants.
What are the top 10 most used consonants?
Unsurprisingly, Z, Q, J, and X consistently round out the bottom. As for the letters
that begin the most English words, the top five are T, O, A, W, and B. For the end
letter, the most common are E, S, T, D, and N.
What are the 10 basic vowels?
There are 4 basic sounds from 10 basic vowels, which are ㅏ(a), ㅓ(eo), ㅗ(o), ㅜ(u).
Add to them the glide sound [y], and they will become ㅑ(ya), ㅕ(yeo), ㅛ(yo), ㅠ(yu).
Of course we should not forget 2 other vowels left which are ㅡ(eu) and ㅣ(i).
What are the 10 organs of speech?
Speech organs include the lips, teeth, tongue, palate, uvula, nasal and oral
cavities, and vocal cords, as located in Figure 2. By manipulating the speech
organs in various ways, human beings can produce an unlimited number of different
sounds.
Who is the father of phonetics?
When was Phonetic writing invented? There have been multiple Phonetic alphabets
created over history. Two of the more recent ones were the 'English Phonotypic
Alphabet' and the 'Palaeotype alphabet'. Both of these were invented by Alexander
John Ellis, an English Mathematician, and early Phonetician.

8. Phonetics/Introduction
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Phonetics
Introduction Speech production
Phonetics is concerned with the sounds produced by human language. Unlike
phonology, phonetics studies the sounds themselves, rather than the patterning of
sounds in each language. We shall define here the scope of phonetics, defined by
the three branches and six levels.
Three branches of phonetics[edit | edit source]
Phonetics is usually said to have three dimensions. Each of them are concerned with
one particular property of sound:
Definition 0.1
Phonetics has three main branches:
 Articulatory phonetics studies the production of speech sounds by the human vocal
tract.
 Auditory phonetics studies the perception of speech sounds by the human
perceptual system.
 Acoustic phonetics studies the physical properties of speech sounds.
The three branches are interrelated, as we will soon see in this book. The
introductory section will cover the basics of all three. We will then dive into the
details of each type of sound and how they are articulated, are perceived and
exist physically.
Six levels of phonetic organisation[edit | edit source]
Speech sounds are arranged in six levels (Laver 1994), each of which are
described below.
Definition 0.1
Sound is organised into six levels:
 A phonetic feature is an attribute of sound, such as voicing, place of articulation,
tongue height, etc. We have seen examples of features in Linguistics. They are
distinct from but related to phonological features, which are most often expressed
as binary attributes, such as [+fricative] and [-consonontal].
 A segment is a unit of sound with relatively consistent bundle of features.
Features are sometimes constant over more than one segment

9. (suprasegmentals) or change within a segment (subsegmentals), but the
majority are dependent on the segment. In contrast with the phonological notion
of phoneme, which is more abstract, the phonetic segment is the phone.
 A phonetic syllable is ill-defined in phonetics. Laver did not define it clearly, nor
will we here.
 An utterance is the stretch of sound between two adjacent pauses, with no
pauses in the middle.
 A setting is any stretch of sound with a `tendency towards some particular state',
such as jaw position. It can be as long as an utterance or as short as a segment.
In the book, we will first deal with the segmental level of sound, looking at
individual phones, their features their properties. We will then rise above the
segmental level and look at the suprasegmental aspects of sound, such as
tone, intonation, rhythm, and so on.