Nupedia Pronunciation Guide
American English Version
Edited by Ruth Ifcher

Symbol	Examples

  a	cat, acid, academy
  aa	father, barn, yard
  aw	tall, awful, haul, off
  ay	day, ache, prey
  air	hair, aerate, care, their
  b	but, amber, butter
  ch	chin, church, picture
  d	do, riddle, send
  & 	(schwa -- see notes below)
	about, item, edible, common, circus
  e	bet, imbed, feather
  ee	feel, easy, seal, fierce, peer, dear, sere
  ei	dice, eyes, guide
  f     fond, effort, phase, rough
  g	go, egg, bigamy
  h	hat, rehearse, apprehend
  hw	when, awhile, whim
  i	pit , imperial, guild, women
  j     juice, gentle, adjust, carriage
  k	key, coach, sick, local, ecology
  l	let, full, trivial
  m	mother, grammar, damage
  n	not, another, spent
  ng	song, rung, finger
  o	pot, octave, robot
  oh	toe, open, know, echo
  ow	foul, out, howl, coward
  oy	coin, oyster, boy, noisy
  oo	boot, school, through
  p	pen, zipper, ramp
  r	road, current, spirit
  s	say, sauce, cost
  sh	sheep, dish, issue, action
  t	tell, utter, latent
  th	thin, ether, cloth
  dh	this, neither, bathe 
  ts	tsetse fly, tsunami
  u	cut, udder, tuck, some
  uu	took, put, wood, could
  ur	purge, urge, firm, word, early
  v	very, envy, valve
  w	way, award, wail
  y	yet, yellow, beyond
  z	buzz, zone, desire 
  zh	vision, pleasure, garage

Foreign Words:
  ae	German mädchen
  B	Spanish caverna	 Note: This is the same as
			 a Spanish "b."  It is 
			 somewhere between the 
			 American English "b" 
			 and "v."
  gw	Spanish agua	 Note: This applies to "gu" 
			 when it appears before an 
			 "a."
  kh	German ich
	Scottish loch
	Spanish frijoles
  N	French vin,	 Note: The "N" indicates
	blanc, bon, un	 nasilization of preceding
			 vowel.
  ny	French agneau 
	i.e., \aa-nyoh'\
  oe	German schön
	French feu 
  R	Non-American English "r" (trills, flaps)
	French parler	(trill)
	French l'Arc de
	       Triomphe	(both trills)
	German sprechen	(trill)
	German Reich	(trill)
	Spanish arroz	(trill)
	Spanish Puerto 	(flap)
		Rico	(trill)
  ue	French rue
	German über
  ?	German be(?)achten   Note: This is similar 
			to the sound between the 
			two syllables in English 
			"uh oh" when pronounced as 
			two separate words.


Stress Marks:

'  primary stress 
   as in secret [see'-kr&t;]
"  secondary stress 
   as in secretary [sek'-ri-ter"-ee]

N.B. the stress marks are appended to the end of
the stressed syllable.


Syllabification:

All syllables are to be separated by a hyphen: "-".



The Schwa: An Explanation

The schwa represents a short weak vowel that occurs 
only in unstressed syllables in American English.

It sounds something like the verbal pause "uh."  
Since all American English words have at least one 
stressed  syllable (aside from some articles), a 
word should not have all of its vowels represented 
by the schwa.  The schwa normally appears as an 
initial sound, a final sound, and as the vowel 
sound between two consonants.

Additional examples: 

       alone
       silent
       pencil
       lemon
       Nupedia
       tremendous
       limousine
       section

N.B. It will also be used where the vowel sound has 
all but disappeared.

Examples:

       needle		i.e. need'-&l;
       sudden		i.e. sud'-&n;
       rhythm		i.e. ridh'-&m;