Phonetics: Word Stress(reference: Spoken English by RK Bansal & JB Harrison, Orient Longman1994)

Phonetic transcription is the visual representation of speech sounds.IPA or International Phonetic Alphabet provides the symbols to transcribe sounds i.e. to convert written words into their corresponding sounds. When you transcribe a word, you actually indicate its pronunciation by using separate symbols for each sound. While in the English language one letter may represent many different sounds, in IPA one symbol stands for just one sound. Example, in the English word ‘gigantic’ the first ‘g’ stands for ‘j’ sound as in ‘jar’ and the second stands for ‘g’ as in goat. 

Vowels

Long Vowels i:ː sheep a:ː farm u:ː coo ɔ:ː horse ɜ:ː bird

Short Vowels ɪ ship e head æ hat ə above ʊ foot ɒ sock (UK) ʌ cup

Consonants

b book d day ɡ give v very ð the z zoo ʒ vision dʒ jump l look r run j yes w we m moon n name ŋ sing

p pen t town k cat f fish θ think s say ʃ she tʃ cheese

Diphthongs

eɪ	day
aɪ	eye
ɔɪ	boy
aʊ	mouth
əʊ	nose (UK)
oʊ	nose (US)
ɪə	ear (UK)
eə	hair (UK)
ʊə	pure (UK)

IPA Examples (consonants)

b buy, cab

d dye, cad, do

ð father

dʒ giant, badge, jam

f phi, fan

ɡ (ɡ)^[1] guy, bag

h high, ahead

j^[2] yes, yacht

k sky, crack

l lie, sly, gal

m my, smile, cam

n nigh, snide, can

ŋ sang, sink, singer

θ thigh, math

p pie, spy, cap

r rye, try, very^[3]

s sigh, mass

ʃ shy, cash, emotion

t tie, sty, cat, atom

tʃ China, catch

v vie, have

w window, wow

 z zoo, has

ʒ pleasure, vision