The Sounds of English

This section contains a phonetic representation and pronunciation of the sounds of Received Pronunciation, the pronunciation standard in England. This accent is important in linguistics because it is often used as a reference with which to compare and discuss other accents. The tree on the left also contains some examples of the main sounds found outside of Received Pronunciation which students are likely to come in contact with, e.g. the pronunciation variants found in American English.

Note that the speaker is not a native speaker of Received Pronunciation but of mainstream Dublin English. However, the imitation of Received Pronunciation should be sufficiently accurate for students to appreciate the values of the sounds in question.