This topic provides a US English phonetic chart to assist you in correcting US English baseform phonetic sounds.
Sound | Symbol | As in | Suggested | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
“ae” |
AE |
add cat pan |
ae |
The short “a” sound. |
“ah” |
AA |
are drop collar |
ah |
Rarely wrong but sometimes an open 'o' sound is used instead of the 'ah'. So spell 'mot' as 'maht' to change it from 'moat' to 'mott'. |
“uh” |
AH |
one come |
'Uh' or double the following letter |
Very rarely wrong; sometimes an unstressed sound is used instead. So spell 'merom' as 'meromm'. |
Short “o” |
AO |
all off caution |
or |
Very rarely wrong. Try spelling 'Audi' as 'Ordi'. |
“au” |
AW |
how about |
ou au ow |
If 'ow' is mispronounced as 'oh' try switching to 'au' or 'ou'. |
“eh” |
AX |
enable moment |
eh |
The unstressed “eh” sound as in “moment” or “enable” but not as in “enter”. |
“er” |
AXR |
another over or |
er |
The unstressed “er” sound as in “another” over or “or” but not as in “her”. |
Long “i” |
AY |
fire why eye |
y ai add an e |
Rare but if 'Byron' is mispronounced more like “Birron” then try spelling it as 'Bairon' or “Byeron” or even 'Byre-on'. |
“eh” |
EH |
enter pleasant |
eh |
Rare but replacing the vowel letter or letters by 'eh' usually works. For example if 'pleasant' were mispronounced as “pleesant” then 'plehsant' corrects it. |
“er” |
ER |
bird turn her |
er |
Never observed but 'er' should work. |
Long “a” |
EY |
train eight A |
ai ay ey |
If 'wacome' is mispronounced “wah-come” then one of 'waicome' 'waycome' or 'weycome' should fix. |
Short “i” |
IH |
if it pick |
ih |
The short I sound as in “it” “if ” or “pick” but not as in “lasting”. 'Piro' should be pronounced with a short I and is mispronounced as “pyro” then 'pihro' should work. |
“ix” |
IX |
discuss saving budgeted decided |
ix |
The unstressed short “i” sound as in “discuss” “budgeted” “decided” or “saving”. |
Long “e” |
IY |
any he obvious |
ee ey ie |
If 'matrio' was mispronounced as “mah-try-oh” then 'matreeo' 'matreeoh' or 'mahtreeoh' should fix. |
Long “o” |
OW |
quote open go |
oh ow oe |
'bow' should be right for 'beau' and 'dohl' should work for 'dole'. |
“oi” |
OY |
avoid enjoy dive why |
oy |
The long “i” sound (or oi sound) as in “avoid” “employ” “dive” or “why”. |
Short “u” |
UH |
good full could put |
uh |
The short “u” sound as in “good” “put” “full” or “could”. If 'clough' should be pronounced as in “cluf” then 'cluhf' should work. |
Long “u” |
UW |
tooth blue view use you |
oo yoo |
The stressed long “u” sound as in “to” “use” “you” or “view”. Try 'bloomehn' for the German pronunciation of 'blumen'. |
Usually non-vowel sounds are not a problem for the Run Time baseform engine unless the name is of foreign extraction, as in the British pronunciation of Schedule (Schxhule). The table below lists the consonant sounds if you need to select a different sound than that produced by the automatic pronunciation rules.
Sound | Symbol | As in | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
“b” |
B |
be able |
The “b” sound as in “be” or “able”. |
“bd” |
BD |
sob tab blurb |
The hard “b” sound at the end of a word. |
“ch” |
CH |
cheap child |
The soft “c” sound before “h”. The “ch” sound as in “cheap”. |
“d” |
D |
and David |
The “d” sound as in “David” or “and”. |
“dd” |
DD |
|
The “d” sound at the end of a word. |
“dh” |
DH |
the either |
The voiced “th” sound as in “the” or “either” but NOT as in “thesis” or “thing”. |
“dx” |
DX |
butter greater regarding order |
The very short “t” or “d” sound as in “butter” “greater” “regarding” or “order”. |
“d$” |
D$ |
|
A dummy sound that marks the beginning and end of a sentence. |
“f” |
F |
father rough |
The soft “f” sound. |
“g” |
G |
again peg |
The hard “g” sound. |
“gd” |
GD |
log tug |
The “g” sound at the end of a word. |
“hh” |
HH |
here who |
The “h” sound. |
“jh” |
JH |
jeep roger |
The soft “g” sound. |
“k” |
K |
because dark scale |
The “k” sound but not the “j” sound at the beginning of a word. |
“kd” |
KD |
cake |
The “k” sound at the end of a word. |
“L” |
L |
level parallel |
The “L” sound. |
“m” |
M |
am must |
The “m” sound. |
“n” |
N |
final not none |
The starting “n” or the unaccented “n” in the middle of a word as in “final” “not” or “none”. |
“ng” |
NG |
bang think singing |
The “n” followed by a “g” or “k” sound. |
“p” |
P |
adoption amps rapid |
The “p” sound but not at the beginning of a word. |
“pd” |
PD |
pop tarp mop |
The “p” sound at the end of a word. |
“r” |
R |
abroad brace read |
The “r” sound followed by a vowel sound in the same syllable. |
“s” |
S |
sit circus decide |
The “s” not followed by an “h” sound. |
“sh” |
SH |
action shade splash |
The “sh” sound. |
“t” |
T |
adapter retry let |
The “t” (not “th”) sound not at the beginning of a word. |
“td” |
TD |
date quit |
The “t” sound at the end of word. |
“th” |
TH |
thesis thing |
The unvoiced “th” sound but NOT as in “the” or “either”. |
“ts” |
TS |
|
The “ts” sound at the end of a word. |
“v” |
V |
eleven improve very |
The “v” sound. |
“w” |
W |
frequent way question anywhere |
The “w” sound. |
“y” |
Y |
emulate yes senior you |
The “y” sound that leads into a vowel. |
“z” |
Z |
pans goes zero |
The “z” sound. |
“zh” |
ZH |
Asia pleasure Zho |
The soft “z” sound. |