Grapheme Data for English written with Latin script

The data shown below of graphemes and phonemes for English is quite simplified, and is intended to represent the Received Pronunciation of the UK and most North American dialects. A number of phonological issues, such as r-colored vowels (-er, -ar) and vowel length, are not included. Note also that the sounds indicated are phonemes, not actual phones, and as such do not reflect many subtleties of pronunciation. Also, only a small sample of words with unusual spellings have been included.

A common phenomenon in English orthography is the vowel + consonant + silent e sequence (e.g., ‘bake’, ‘home’) where the presence of the silent e affects the pronunciation of the vowel. This is not represented in this data.

One of the sources used in compiling this data was The Writing Road to Reading by Romalda Bishop Spalding and Walter T. Spalding.

Grapheme	USV	Phoneme	Status	Example	Notes
<ai>	0061 0069	/ei/	common	paid
<ai>	0061 0069	/ɛ/	uncommon	again, mountain
<au>	0061 0075	/ɔ/	common	fault	A longer vowel occurs in UK dialects. /ɔ/ merges with /ɑ/ in many American dialects.
<au>	0061 0075	/æ/	rare	laugh
<aw>	0061 0077	/ɔ/	common	saw	/ɔ/ merges with /ɑ/ in many American dialects.
<ay>	0061 0079	/ei/	common	say
<a>	0061	/ei/	common	navy
<a>	0061	/ɔ/	common	tall	A longer vowel occurs in UK dialects. /ɔ/ merges with /ɑ/ in many American dialects.
<a>	0061	/ɒ/	common	watch	/ɒ/ merges with /ɑ/ in most American dialects.
<a>	0061	/ɑ/	common	father
<a>	0061	/ə/	common	about
<a>	0061	/æ/	expected	hat
<a>	0061	/ɛ/	uncommon	many
<b>	0062	/b/	expected	but
<ce>	0063 0065	/ʃ/	rare	ocean
<ch>	0063 0068	/tʃ/	expected	such, church
<ch>	0063 0068	/ʃ/	uncommon	machine
<ch>	0063 0068	/k/	uncommon	school
<ci>	0063 0069	/ʃ/	common	social
<ck>	0063 006B	/k/	common	lock
<c>	0063	/s/	common	cent	Before e and i
<c>	0063	/k/	expected	cat	Before a, o and u
<dge>	0064 0067 0065	/dʒ/	common	bridge
<d>	0064	/d/	expected	dog
<eau>	0065 0061 0075	/ju/	rare	beautiful	Loan word
<ea>	0065 0061	/ei/	common	break
<ea>	0065 0061	/i/	expected	eat
<ea>	0065 0061	/ɛ/	common	head
<ee>	0065 0065	/i/	expected	feed
<eigh>	0065 0069 0067 0068	/ei/	uncommon	weigh, eight
<eigh>	0065 0069 0067 0068	/ai/	uncommon	height
<ei>	0065 0069	/ei/	common	rein
<ei>	0065 0069	/ə/	uncommon	forfeit
<ei>	0065 0069	/i/	uncommon	conceit, protein
<eo>	0065 006F	/i/	rare	people
<eo>	0065 006F	/ɛ/	rare	leopard
<eu>	0065 0075	/ju/	uncommon	Europe	Sound is closer to [jʊ].
<ew>	0065 0077	/ou/	rare	sew
<ew>	0065 0077	/ju/	expected	few
<ew>	0065 0077	/u/	common	drew
<ey>	0065 0079	/ei/	common	they
<ey>	0065 0079	/i/	common	key, valley
<e>	0065	/ə/	common	garden
<e>	0065	/i/	expected	he
<e>	0065	/ɪ/	rare	English
<e>	0065	/ɛ/	expected	bet
<f>	0066	/v/	rare	of
<f>	0066	/f/	expected	fun
<gh>	0067 0068	/f/	rare	laugh, rough
<gh>	0067 0068	/g/	common	ghost
<gn>	0067 006E	/n/	common	gnat
<gu>	0067 0075	/g/	rare	vague, guess
<g>	0067	/dʒ/	common	gem	Before e and i
<g>	0067	/g/	common	girl	Almost always before a, o and u; occasionally before e and i
<h>	0068	/h/	expected	hat
<ie>	0069 0065	/ai/	common	tie
<ie>	0069 0065	/i/	common	field
<ie>	0069 0065	/ɛ/	rare	friend
<igh>	0069 0067 0068	/ai/	common	sigh, light
<i>	0069	/ai/	expected	silent
<i>	0069	/ɪ/	expected	hill
<j>	006A	/dʒ/	expected	jam
<kn>	006B 006E	/n/	common	knit
<k>	006B	/k/	expected	keep
<le>	006C 0065	/l/	common	trouble
<l>	006C	/l/	expected	lake
<m>	006D	/m/	expected	man
<ng>	006E 0067	/ŋ/	expected	rang
<n>	006E	/n/	expected	nose
<oa>	006F 0061	/ou/	common	boat
<oe>	006F 0065	/ou/	common	toe
<oe>	006F 0065	/u/	rare	canoe
<oi>	006F 0069	/oi/	expected	point
<oo>	006F 006F	/u/	common	food
<oo>	006F 006F	/ʊ/	common	good, foot
<ough>	006F 0075 0067 0068	/ou/	rare	though, thorough
<ough>	006F 0075 0067 0068	/au/	uncommon	bough
<ough>	006F 0075 0067 0068	/u/	rare	through
<ou>	006F 0075	/au/	common	round
<ou>	006F 0075	/u/	common	you
<ou>	006F 0075	/ɔ/	rare	cough	/ɔ/ merges with /ɑ/ in many American dialects.
<ou>	006F 0075	/ʌ/	uncommon	country, rough
<ou>	006F 0075	/ə/	uncommon	serious
<ow>	006F 0077	/ou/	common	row
<ow>	006F 0077	/au/	common	how
<oy>	006F 0079	/oi/	expected	joy
<o>	006F	/ou/	expected	open
<o>	006F	/u/	uncommon	to, approve, who
<o>	006F	/ʌ/	uncommon	love, ton
<o>	006F	/ɒ/	common	odd	/ɒ/ merges with /ɑ/ in most American dialects.
<o>	006F	/ə/	common	season
<o>	006F	/ʊ/	rare	woman
<o>	006F	/ɪ/	rare	women
<ph>	0070 0068	/f/	common	phone
<pn>	0070 006E	/n/	uncommon	pneumonia
<ps>	0070 0073	/s/	uncommon	psychology
<p>	0070	/p/	expected	pat
<qu>	0071 0075	/k/	uncommon	mosquito	Loan words from Spanish
<qu>	0071 0075	/k/	expected	quick
<rh>	0072 0068	/ɻ/	uncommon	rhyme
<r>	0072	/ɻ/	expected	run
<sh>	0073 0068	/ʃ/	expected	shell
<si>	0073 0069	/ʒ/	uncommon	vision
<si>	0073 0069	/ʃ/	common	discussion
<s>	0073	/z/	uncommon	has
<s>	0073	/s/	expected	sand
<s>	0073	/ʒ/	uncommon	measure
<s>	0073	/ʃ/	uncommon	sure
<tch>	0074 0063 0068	/tʃ/	common	match
<th>	0074 0068	/ð/	common	them
<th>	0074 0068	/θ/	expected	thin
<ti>	0074 0069	/ʃ/	common	patient
<t>	0074	/t/	expected	toy
<ui>	0075 0069	/ju/	common	nuisance	Yod-dropping occurs before alveolar consonants in most American dialects, changing /ju/ to /u/.
<ui>	0075 0069	/u/	common	fruit
<ui>	0075 0069	/ɪ/	rare	build
<uy>	0075 0079	/ai/	rare	buy
<u>	0075	/ju/	expected	music
<u>	0075	/u/	common	congruent, affluent
<u>	0075	/ʌ/	expected	fun
<u>	0075	/ʊ/	common	put
<u>	0075	/ɪ/	rare	busy
<v>	0076	/v/	expected	violet
<wh>	0077 0068	/h/	rare	who
<wh>	0077 0068	/w/	common	when	/hw/ is merging with /w/ in most American dialects. When differentiated, the sound may be closer to [ʍ].
<wr>	0077 0072	/ɻ/	common	write
<w>	0077	/w/	expected	water
<x>	0078	/z/	rare	xylophone
<x>	0078	/k/	expected	tax
<y>	0079	/j/	expected	yet
<y>	0079	/ai/	common	my
<y>	0079	/i/	common	baby
<y>	0079	/ɪ/	uncommon	system
<z>	007A	/z/	expected	zebra