pronunciation keys
Sound-spelling reference symbols
Pronunciation keys are the systems of symbols and diacritical marks that dictionaries use to show how words are spoken.
Traditional keys use respellings with accent marks and modified letters: kat for "cat," prə-noun'sē-ā'shən for "pronunciation." The International Phonetic Alphabet offers a more precise but less intuitive alternative.
Most dictionaries include a key at the bottom of pages or in front matter, since the symbols vary between publishers.
- respellingRewriting with different letters
- IPASound notation system
- acute accentDiacritic showing stress
- schwaNeutral unstressed vowel
- long vowelDrawn-out letter sound
short vowel · phonetics · syllabification · word stress · phoneme · breve · diaeresis · speech therapy · lexicography · stress mark · diphthong · circumflex · tilde · phonology · transcription · allophone · umlaut · cedilla
pronunciation keysspelling
Correct letter sequence
orthography · written form · standard spelling · spelling conventions · spelling rules
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