ASCII IPA in a nutshell

This page covers American pronunciations only. There should be a British version, but so far there isn't.

The traditional 'long' vowels (note that four of the 'long vowels' are really diphthongs):

bait [beIt] - beet [bit] - bite [baIt] - boat [boUt] - beaut [bjut] - boot [but]
Sound: [WAV] [MPEG]

The traditional 'short' vowels:

pat [p&t] - pet [pEt] - pit [pIt] - pot [pAt] - putt [pVt] - put [pUt]
Sound: [WAV] [MPEG]

Other vowels and diphthongs:

pert [p@rt] - port [pOrt] - pout [paUt] - point [pOInt] - potential [p@'tEnS@l]
Sound: [WAV] [MPEG]

Consonants that always have the same sound in English spelling, and that's the sound they have in ASCII IPA, too:

b - d - f - h - k - l - m - n - p - r - s - t - v - w - z

Special consonants:

that [D&t] -  thin [TIn] - yet [jEt] - hung [hVN] - ship [SIp] - chip [tSIp] - gyp [dZIp] - measure ['mEZ@r]
Sound: [WAV] [MPEG]

The letter "g" can be used for the soft sound in "gyp" and the hard sound in "gift". For the hard sound, ASCII IPA [g] is used.

You might find that that's all the ASCII IPA you need to know for pronunciation discussions in alt.usage.english. But if you want to know more, see page ASCII IPA files