Pronunciation Key

This symbol is used in French pronunciations. It represents a sound between , as in cat, and ä, as in cot. The arching of the tongue to form this vowel occurs at a point between the front and back of the mouth.

This symbol is used in French pronunciations. The sound is made by rounding the lips as though to say oh while pronouncing the sound , as in get.

This symbol is used chiefly in French pronunciations. The sound is made by rounding the lips as though to say oh while pronouncing the sound , as in ate.

This symbol represents a range of sounds between [ô] and [u] from a variety of languages, including French, German, Spanish, and Italian. The sounds may be approximated by rounding the lips loosely as for [ô] and pronouncing [u], as in cut.

This symbol represents variously the vowel sound in the French word duc and the German word grün. Make the sound by rounding the lips as for saying [] and prounouncing [].

This symbol represents variously the final consonant sound of the German doch and the Scots English loch. Make the sound by saying [k] while allowing the breath to escape in a stream, as in saying [h].

This symbol represents the consonant sound of the German word ich. Make the sound by pronouncing [*] while keeping the tip of the tongue pointed downward.

This symbol indicates that the vowel sound preceding it is voiced with air expelled through both the mouth cavity and nasal passage. It is a nasalized vowel. Note that this symbol does not represent the sound of the consonant [n]. The sound occurs in the pronunciations of French words, such as bonjour (bb= &1r').

This symbol represents the sound of r as it occurs in a variety of languages. The sound is sometimes made with a vibrating, or trilling, of the tip of the tongue, as in Italian and Russian, or with a trilling of the uvula, as in French and German.

The apostrophe has two functions in the pronunciation of French words. It is used to indicate that a final consonant l, as in fille (fe´y'), or r, as in lettre (le´tr'), is spoken with a short, voiceless sound. In the case of fille, the [l] is so shortened as to be more like a voiceless [y]. The apostrophe is also used to indicate that a letter e is silent or nearly so, as in dirigisme (dc >c &cs$m') or table (tD$bl'). In running French speech, certain of these "silent" letters may be given fuller sounding. Note that in the case of table, unlike that of fille, the consonant l is voiced.

This symbol is used in the pronunciations of certain Russian words, such as Sevastopol (se#väs ta$p!l y'). The symbol indicates that the final consonant of the word is pronounced with the blade of the tongue (the flat part just behind the tip) raised toward the hard palate. It is a palatalized sound. The sound is made by pronouncing an unvoiced [y] immediately after pronouncing the consonant.