---
name: text-to-speech-symbols-en-us
title: English (United States & Canada) symbols
description: The service supports the following symbols for English (United States & Canada).
last-updated: 2025-07-23
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/text-to-speech?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# English (United States & Canada) symbols
{: #usSymbols}

The service supports the following symbols for English (United States & Canada).

## Regular vowels
{: #usRegularVowels}

| SPR symbol | IPA symbol | IPA Unicode | Example words |
|:----------:|:----------:|:-----------:|---------------|
| a | a  \n   \n aː  \n   \n ɑ  \n   \n ɑː  \n   \n ɐ | 0061  \n   \n 0061+02D0  \n   \n 0251  \n   \n 0251+02D0  \n   \n 0250 | f**a**ther, l**o**t |
| A | æ | 00E6 | b**a**ck, h**a**d |
| e | e  \n   \n eɪ | 0065  \n   \n 0065+026A | c**a**ke, p**ai**n |
| E | ɛ | 025B | h**e**dge, l**e**t |
| i | i  \n   \n iː | 0069  \n   \n 0069+02D0 | s**ee**, sp**ea**k, bel**ie**ve |
| I | ɪ | 026A | p**i**ck, **i**ll |
| o | o  \n   \n oʊ | 006F  \n   \n 006F+028A | b**o**th, **o**ak |
| c | ɔ  \n   \n ɔː  \n   \n ɒ | 0254  \n   \n 0254+02D0  \n   \n 0252 | l**a**w, c**ou**gh |
| u | u  \n   \n uː | 0075  \n   \n 0075+02D0 | z**oo**, tr**u**th |
| U | ʊ  \n   \n ɯ | 028A  \n   \n 026F | t**oo**k, p**u**t |
| H | ʌ | 028C | b**u**t, m**u**g, s**o**n |
| R | ə˞  \n   \n ɚ  \n   \n ɜː  \n   \n ɝ | 0259+02DE  \n   \n 025A  \n   \n 025C+02D0  \n   \n 025D | butt**er**, h**ur**t |
{: caption="Regular vowels (US English)"}

## Diphthongs
{: #usDiphthongs}

| SPR symbol | IPA symbol | IPA Unicode | Example words |
|:----------:|:----------:|:-----------:|---------------|
| O | ɔɪ | 0254+026A | t**oi**l, b**oy** |
| W | aʊ | 0061+028A | **ou**t, c**ow** |
| Y | aɪ | 0061+026A | l**i**fe, f**i**ne |
{: caption="Diphthongs (US English)"}

## Reduced vowels
{: #usReducedVowels}

| SPR symbol | IPA symbol | IPA Unicode | Example words |
|:----------:|:----------:|:-----------:|---------------|
| x | ə | 0259 | sof**a**, **a**lone, s**u**ppose, tedi**ou**s, **A**meric**a** |
| X | ɨ  \n   \n ı | 0268  \n   \n 0131 | ros**e**s, c**o**nnect, mel**o**dy, symph**o**ny, hint**e**d |
{: caption="Reduced vowels (US English)"}

## Consonants
{: #usConsonants}

| SPR symbol | IPA symbol | IPA Unicode | Example words |
|:----------:|:----------:|:-----------:|---------------|
| b | b | 0062 | **b**ad, so**b** |
| C | tʃ  \n   \n ʧ | 0074+0283  \n   \n 02A7 | **ch**ip, wit**ch**, na**t**ure |
| d | d | 0064 | **d**ip, ha**d** |
| D | ð | 00F0 | **th**is, brea**th**e |
| f | f | 0066 | **f**ield, i**f**, gra**ph** |
| F (flap) | ɾ | 027E | wri**t**er, fi**dd**le, li**tt**le |
| g | g  \n   \n ɡ | 0067  \n   \n 0261 | **g**ood, bu**g** |
| G | ŋ | 014B | si**ng**, fi**ng**er |
| h | h  \n   \n ɦ  \n   \n x  \n   \n χ | 0068  \n   \n 0266  \n   \n 0078  \n   \n 03C7 | **h**ot, **h**ero, **ch**allah |
| J | dʒ  \n   \n ʤ | 0064+0292  \n   \n 02A4 | **J**ane, hu**g**e |
| k | k | 006B | **k**ill, **c**at, ma**k**e, ba**ck** |
| l | l | 006C | **l**ow, ha**ll** |
| m | m | 006D | **m**an, hu**m**, su**mm**er |
| M | m̩ | 006D+0329 | h**mmm** |
| n | n | 006E | **n**ever, su**n**, wi**nn**er |
| N (syllabic nasal) | n̩ | 006E+0329 | butt**on**, sat**in**, eat**en**, burd**en** |
| p | p | 0070 | **p**it, ri**p** |
| r | r  \n   \n ɹ | 0072  \n   \n 0279 | bo**rr**ow, **r**ake |
| s | s | 0073 | **s**eal, mi**ss**, **c**eiling |
| S | ʃ | 0283 | **sh**ip, wi**sh** |
| t | t | 0074 | **t**ip, pe**t** |
| T | θ | 03B8 | **th**ing, Be**th** |
| v | v | 0076 | **v**ase, sa**v**e |
| w | w  \n   \n ʍ | 0077  \n   \n 028D | **w**ear, q**ui**ck |
| y | j | 006A | **y**es, Virgin**i**a |
| z | z | 007A | **z**ip, pha**s**e |
| Z | ʒ | 0292 | trea**s**ure, gara**g**e |
| ? (glottal stop) | ʔ | 0294 | ki**tt**en, La**t**in |
{: caption="Consonants (US English)"}