The below is a
cut and paste from
Appendix F Evan Kirshenbaum's
February 22, 2001 version
of his
Representing IPA phonetics in ASCII.
gn0sis transcribed an earlier version
of the
document, which did not have this section, and had a different Appendix F.
I found it helpful, even necessary, to make sense out of the rest of
that document.
This table is based on the “Guide to Pronunciation” in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary.
ASCII/IPA Representative words (per MWCD)
Symbol American pronunciation unless stated otherwise
@ banana, collide, abut, humdrum
n- signifies that the following consonant is syllabic, as in battle,
cotton, one pronunciation of open and of and.
R operation, further, urger
& mat, map, mad, gag, snap, patch
eI day, fade, date, aorta, drape, cape
A bother, cot, and, with most American speakers, father, cart
A. father as pronounced by speakers who do not rhyme it with bother
aU now, loud, out
b baby, rib
tS chin, nature
d did,adder
E bet, bed, peck
i beat, nosebleed, evenly, easy, mealy
f fifty, cuff
g go, big, gift
h hat, ahead
hw whale as pronounced by those who do not have the same
pronunciation for both whale and wail.
I tip, banish, active
aI site, side, buy, tripe
dZ job, gem, edge, join, judge
k kin, cook, ache
X German Buch, one pronunciation of English loch
C German ich
l lily, pool
m murmer, dim, nymph
n no, own
o~ indicates that a preceding vowel or diphthong is pronounced with
the nasal passages open as in the french un bon vin blanc
N sing, singer, finger, ink
oU bone, know, beau
O saw, all, gnaw, caught
W French boeuf, German Hölle
Y French feu, German Höhle
OI coin, destroy
p pepper, lip
r red, rarity, car
s source, less
S shy, mission, machine, special
t tie, attack, late, later, latter
T thin, ether
D then, either
u rule, youth
ju youth, union, few
U pull, wood, book
I. German füllen, hübsch
y French rue, German fühlen
v vivid, invite
w we, away
j yard, young
t; modifies the preceding sound to make it more “y-ish”
z zone, raise
Z vision, azure