IPA vowel chart with audio

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article includes inline links to audio files. If you have trouble playing the files, see Wikipedia Media help.

This chart provides audio examples for phonetic vowel symbols. The symbols shown include those in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and added material. The chart is based on the official IPA vowel chart.^[1]

The International Phonetic Alphabet is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language.^[2]

Within the chart “close”, “open”, “mid”, “front”, “central”, and “back” refer to the placement of the sound within the mouth.^[3] At points where two sounds share an intersection, the left is unrounded, and the right is rounded which refers to the shape of the lips while making the sound.^[4]

IPA: Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ^ⓘ y ^ⓘ	ɨ ^ⓘ ʉ ^ⓘ	ɯ ^ⓘ u ^ⓘ
Near-close	ɪ ^ⓘ ʏ ^ⓘ		ʊ ^ⓘ
Close-mid	e ^ⓘ ø ^ⓘ	ɘ ^ⓘ ɵ ^ⓘ	ɤ ^ⓘ o ^ⓘ
Mid	e̞ ^ⓘ ø̞ ^ⓘ	ə ^ⓘ	ɤ̞ ^ⓘ o̞ ^ⓘ
Open-mid	ɛ ^ⓘ œ ^ⓘ	ɜ ^ⓘ ɞ ^ⓘ	ʌ ^ⓘ ɔ ^ⓘ
Near-open	æ ^ⓘ	ɐ ^ⓘ
Open	a ^ⓘ ɶ ^ⓘ	ä ^ⓘ	ɑ ^ⓘ ɒ ^ⓘ

Legend: unrounded • rounded

References

^ "IPA Vowels". InternationalPhoneticAssociation.org. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
^ International Phonetic Association (1999). Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780521637510.
^ "Understanding the IPA Vowel Sounds Chart". YourDictionary.com. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
^ "Describing English vowels". home.cc.umanitoba.ca. Retrieved 7 December 2022.