Shared set · @enysather · Linguistics / Phonetics
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
A study set on reading, writing, and interpreting IPA symbols, covering consonant and vowel classification and transcription practice.
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15 questions with worked explanations. Or make your own from your notes — the first draft needs no account.
Try the first 5 cards
1 of 15
What is the IPA symbol for the voiceless postalveolar fricative, as in the 'sh' in 'ship'?
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[ʃ]
This sound is produced with a narrow channel just behind the alveolar ridge, with turbulent airflow and no vocal fold vibration. It's distinct from [s], which is made slightly further forward at the alveolar ridge itself.
2 of 15
Which two features distinguish [b] from [p]?
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Voicing — [b] is voiced, [p] is voiceless; they share the same place (bilabial) and manner (stop).
Both sounds involve the lips closing completely and releasing (stop/plosive, bilabial), but [b] has vocal fold vibration during closure while [p] does not.
3 of 15
What is the difference between [t] and [tʰ]?
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[tʰ] has a diacritic marking aspiration — a strong puff of air released after the stop — while [t] is unaspirated.
In English, aspirated [tʰ] typically occurs at the start of a stressed syllable (as in 'top'), while unaspirated [t] occurs after [s] (as in 'stop'), even though English spelling doesn't distinguish them.
4 of 15
On the vowel chart, how would you describe the vowel [i]?
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Close (high), front, unrounded.
[i] is produced with the tongue raised close to the roof of the mouth and pushed forward, with the lips spread rather than rounded, as in the vowel sound in 'see'.
5 of 15
What manner of articulation describes [l]?
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Lateral approximant.
[l] is produced by touching the tongue tip to the alveolar ridge while air flows around the sides of the tongue, with no turbulence, making it an approximant rather than a fricative or stop.
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Also in this set
- Transcribe the word 'ship' in IPA.
- What does the diacritic [◌̃] (a tilde above a symbol) indicate?
- What is the place and manner of articulation for [g]?
- Which symbol represents the vowel sound in the English word 'cup' (in most dialects)?
- What does the length mark [ː] after a vowel indicate, and give an example.
and 5 more — open the set to see every question and its worked explanation.