# English

- Vowels
  - Short Vowels
  - Long Vowels
  - Rhotic Vowels
  - Reduced Vowels
  - Diphthongs
- References

The following English accents are supported by eSpeak NG and are referenced in this document:

BCP47 | Abbreviation | Accent Name
--- | --- | ---
en | BrE | British English
en-029 | JaE | Caribbean
en-GB-scotland | ScE | Scottish English
en-GB-x-gbclan |  | Lancastrian
en-GB-x-gbcwmd |  | West Midlands
en-GB-x-rp | RP | Received Pronunciation
en-US | GenAm | General American

The BCP47 name is the standard language identifier for the accent, used as the espeak language name. The Abbreviation is used in the tables below for the IPA transcriptions of that accent, and the BCP47 names are used for the eSpeak NG phoneme names.

## Vowels

The English language support uses a vowel system based on John Wells’ Lexical Sets[1]. These were created by Wells in 1982 by comparing the Received Pronunciation British (RP) and General American (GenAm) accents in use at that time.

### Short Vowels

Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm
--- | --- | --- | ---
KIT | `I` | ɪ | ɪ
DRESS | `E` | e | ɛ
TRAP | `a` | æ | æ
LOT | `0` | ɒ | ɑ
STRUT | `V` | ʌ | ʌ
FOOT | `U` | ʊ | ʊ

Additionally, Wells defines the following lexical sets to describe vowels that are different in both RP and GenAm:

Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm
--- | --- | --- | ---
BATH | `aa` | ɑː | æ
CLOTH | `O2` | ɒ | ɔ

### Long Vowels

Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm
--- | --- | --- | ---
FLEECE | `i:` | iː | i
PALM | `A:` | ɑː | ɑ
THOUGHT | `O:` | ɔː | ɔ
GOOSE | `u:` | uː | u

### Rhotic Vowels

These are vowels that are followed by an `r` that is not part of the next syllable when considering the root form of the word containing that vowel.

Lexical Set | en | en-GB-scotland | RP | GenAm | ScE
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
NURSE | `3:` | `VR` | ɜː | ɝ | ʌɾ
START | `A@` | `A@` | ɑː | ɑɹ | ɐ̟ɾ
NORTH | `O@` | `O@` | ɔː | ɔɹ | ɔɾ
FORCE | `o@` | `o@` | ɔː | oɹ | oɾ
CURE | `U@` | `U@` | ʊə̯ | ʊɹ | ʉɾ
NEAR | `i@3` | `i@3` | ɪə̯ | ɪɹ | iɾ
SQUARE | `e@` | `e@` | eə̯ | ɛɹ | eɾ

NOTE: `/i@3/` is used for the NEAR lexical set to differentiate it from `/i@/` used in words like `million`.

Additionally, espeak-ng has the following phonemes for different accents:

Lexical Set | en | en-GB-scotland | RP | GenAm | ScE
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
TERM | `3:` | `3:` | ɜː | ɝ | ɛɾ
BIRD | `3:` | `IR` | ɜː | ɝ | ɪɾ

### Reduced Vowels

These are unstressed vowels that differ from the vowels in the main lexical sets.

Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm
--- | --- | --- | ---
HAPPY | `i` | ɪ | i
COMMA | `@` | ə | ə
LETTER | `3` | ə | ɚ

Additionally, espeak-ng has the following phonemes for unstressed vowels.

Lexical Set | en | BrE | RP | GenAm | JaE
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
EXPLORE | `e#` | ɛ | ɪ | ɛ | ɛ
ROSES | `I#` | ɪ | ɪ | ᵻ | ɪ
BLESSED | `I2#` | ɪ | ɪ | ᵻ | ɛ
RABBIT | `I2` | ɪ | ɪ | ɪ | ɪ

The EXPLORE lexical set is used to support unstressed KIT vowels that have split from the KIT vowel and merged with the DRESS vowel in some accents. This includes `ex-` words.

The ROSES lexical set is used for words that are KIT in some accents and COMMA in others. The degree to which this occurs varies between accents and speakers.

The BLESSED lexical set is used for -ed based adjectives. These tend to preserve the KIT vowel in accents.

The RABBIT lexical set is used for unstressed KIT vowels. Some American accents have merged this with the COMMA lexical set, such that `rabbit` and `abbot` rhyme.

### Diphthongs

Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm
--- | --- | --- | ---
FACE | `eI` | eɪ̯ | eɪ̯
PRICE | `aI` | aɪ̯ | aɪ̯
CHOICE | `OI` | ɔɪ̯ | ɔɪ̯
GOAT | `oU` | əʊ̯ | oʊ̯
MOUTH | `aU` | aʊ̯ | aʊ̯

## References

1. Wikipedia. Lexical set. 2017. Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).

2. Wikipedia. IPA chart for English dialects. 2018. Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).