The ARPAbet is a subset of the [[International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)]] used for representing the sounds of the English language. It was developed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States Department of Defense in the 1970s to facilitate speech recognition technology. The ARPAbet includes 39 phonemes, or distinct sound units, that can be represented using a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Each phoneme is assigned a unique code, and these codes are used to transcribe speech in computer systems and linguistic research. The ARPAbet has been widely used in fields such as computational linguistics, speech synthesis, and acoustic phonetics. (Shoup, 1980). ### Consonants | ARPAbet | IPA | Word | ARPAbet Transcription | | ------- | --- | ------------ | ----------------------- | | [p] | [\[p\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_bilabial_plosive "Voiceless bilabial plosive") | **p**arsley | [**p** aa r s l iy] | | [t] | [\[t\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_plosive "Voiceless alveolar plosive") | **t**ea | [**t** iy] | | [k] | [\[k\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_velar_plosive "Voiceless velar plosive") | **c**ook | [**k** uh k] | | [b] | [\[b\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_plosive "Voiced bilabial plosive") | **b**ay | [**b** ey] | | [d] | [\[d\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_plosive "Voiced alveolar plosive")| **d**ill | [**d** ih l] | | [g] | [\[ɡ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_velar_plosive) | **g**arlic | [**g** aa r l ix k] | | [m] | [\[m\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_bilabial_nasal "Voiced bilabial nasal") | **m**int | [**m** ih n t] | | [n] | [\[n\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_nasal "Voiced alveolar nasal") | **n**utmeg | [**n** ah t m eh g] | | [ng] | [\[ŋ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_velar_nasal) | baki**ng** | [b ey k ix **ng**] | | [f] | [\[f\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_labiodental_fricative "Voiceless labiodental fricative") | **f**lour | [**f** l aw axr] | | [v] | [\[v\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_labiodental_fricative) | clo**v**e | [k l ow **v**] | | [th] | [\[θ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_dental_fricative "Voiceless dental fricative")| **th**ick | [**th** ih k] | | [dh] | [\[ð\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_dental_fricative) | **th**ose | [**dh** ow z] | | [s] | [\[s\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_fricative "Voiceless alveolar fricative") | **s**oup | [**s** uw p] | | [z] | [\[z\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_fricative) | egg**s** | [eh g **z**] | | [sh] | [\[ʃ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative "Voiceless postalveolar fricative") | squa**sh** | [s k w aa **sh**] | | [zh] | [\[ʒ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_fricative "Voiced postalveolar fricative") | ambro**s**ia | [ae m b r ow **zh** ax] | | [ch] | [\[tʃ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_postalveolar_affricate "Voiceless postalveolar affricate")] | **ch**erry | [**ch** eh r iy] | | [jh] | [\[dʒ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_affricate "Voiced postalveolar affricate") | **j**ar | [**jh** aa r] | | [l] | [\[l\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_lateral_approximant "Voiced alveolar lateral approximant") | **l**icorice | [**l** ih k axr ix sh] | | [w] | [\[w\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant "Voiced labial–velar approximant") | ki**w**i | [k iy w iy] | | [r] | [\[ɹ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_alveolar_approximant "Voiced alveolar approximant") | **r**ice | [**r** ay s] | | [y] | [\[j\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_palatal_approximant "Voiced palatal approximant") | **y**ellow | [**y** eh l ow] | | [h] | [\[h\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_glottal_fricative) | **h**oney | [**h** ah n iy] | ### Vowels | ARPAbet | IPA | Word | ARPAbet Transcription | | ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------- | --------------------- | | [iy] | [\[i\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowel "Close front unrounded vowel") | lil**y** | [l ih l **iy**] | | [ih] | [\[ɪ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_near-front_unrounded_vowel "Near-close near-front unrounded vowel") | b**i**t | [b **ih** t] | | [ey] | [eɪ] | d**ai**sy | [d **ey** z iy] | | [eh] | [\[ɛ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowel "Open-mid front unrounded vowel") | p**e**n | [p **eh** n] | | [ae] | [\[æ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowel "Near-open front unrounded vowel") | **a**ster | [**ae** s t axr] | | [aa] | [\[ɑ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowel "Open central unrounded vowel") | p**o**ppy | [p **aa** p iy] | | [ao] | [\[ɔ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel "Open-mid back rounded vowel") | **o**rchid | [**ao** r k ix d] | | [ax] | [\[ə\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel "Mid central vowel") | comm**a** | [k aa m ae] | | [axr] | [\[ɚ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-colored_vowel) | lett**er** | [l eh t arx] | | [uh] | [\[ʊ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_near-back_rounded_vowel "Near-close near-back rounded vowel") | w**oo**d | [w uh d] | | [ow] | [oʊ] | l**o**tus | [l ow dx ax s] | | [uw] | [\[u\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel "Close back rounded vowel") | t**u**lip | [t **uw** l ix p] | | [ah] | [\[ʌ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_central_vowel "Near-open central vowel") | b**u**tter | [b **ah** dx axr] | | [er] | [\[ɝ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-colored_vowel) | b**i**rd | [b **er** d] | | [ay] | [aɪ] | **i**ris | [**ay** r ix s] | | [aw] | [aʊ] | fl**ow**er | [f l **aw** axr] | | [oy] | [ɔɪ] | s**oi**l | [s oy l] |