Lineup

S4: the list

This table lists the S4 set and shows the equivalent IPA symbols

S4	Example	Example validity	Name	Name (UK accent)	IPA	Notes
		First the vowels and diphthongs, which are stand-alone sounds.
a	ap	US & UK	short-a	ʃoot-ei	ʌ	As in cut. I would say that "a" is to "aa" what "ʌ" is to "ɑː", I can't see why "ʌ" was ever used in the first place. Anyway this sound is near as dammit to a sound in French that is represented by "a", and it looks good to me.
aa	paa‛m	US & UK	long-a	loŋ-ei	ɑː
e	bed	US & UK	short-e	ʃoot-ii	e
ee	bee·ə	UK	long-e	loŋ-ii		Only seems to occur, by default, in the IPA diphthong /eə/. Can be heard in "Mary" for instance.
i	ʃip	UK	short-i	ʃoot-ii	ɪ	"As in 'see', but plain i if weak as in 'happy'." is what it says on the UCL list I was given to use, but as far as I can see, I never say "happi" but always "happee", I can't see the point of this at all.
ii	ʃiip	US & UK	long-i	loŋ-ii	iː
o	ori‛ndʒ	US & UK	short-o	ʃoot-ou	ɒ
oo	doo	UK	long-o	loŋ-oo	ɔː
u	buk	US	short-u	ʃoot yuu	ʊ
uu	ʃuu	US & UK	long-u	loŋ yuu	uː
ə	soudə	US & UK	short schwa	ʃoo‛ ʃwaa	ə
əə	bəəd	UK	long schwa	loŋ ʃwaa	ɜː
æ	æp‛l	US & UK	ash	æʃ	æ
ei	sbeid	US & UK	diphthong-ei	ii ai	eɪ
ou	bout	US & UK	diphthong-ou	ou yuu	ou	This symbol is taken from the official UCL 2003 list, nevertheless the sound is often written /əʊ/, which is maybe an attempt to render the "upperclass English O". I would say that in British English, there is the lower-class "a·uu" the middle-class "ou" and the upper-class "ə·uu".
ai	ai	US & UK	diphthong-ai	ei ai	ai
au	kau		diphthong-au	ei yuu	au
oi	boi		diphthong-oi	ou ai	oi
		Next the consonants, which go with vowels, before and/or after.
l	liif	US & UK	clear-L	klii·ər- e‛l	l
‛l	bad‛l	US	dark-L	daak-e‛l	l əl l̩	Clearly, the L-sound is not pronounced the same way when it comes before the vowel in a syllable and when it come after it. In IPA transcriptions, there is sometimes an attempt to render this by putting a schwa before a trailing L, and some times the syllabic L /l̩/character is used (but rarely).
m	maŋkii	US & UK	clear-m	klii·ər-e‛m	m
‛m	blas‛m	US	dark-m	daak-e‛m	m əm m̩	See above
n	nouz	US & UK	clear-n	klii·ər-e‛n	n
‛n	wum‛n	US & UK	dark-m	daak-e‛n	n ən n̩	See above
r	rei‛n	US & UK	clear-r	klii·ər-aa	r
‛r	hee‛r	US	dark-r	daak-aa	r ər r̩ ɚ	See above.
p	pe‛n	US & UK	p	pii	p
b	bii	US & UK	b	bii	b
t	trii	US & UK	t	tii	t
d	dræg‛n	US & UK	d	dii	d
k	kæt	US & UK	k	kei	k
g	gout	US & UK	g	dʒii	g
ʃ	fiʃ	US & UK	esh	eʃ	ʃ
ʒ	te‛ləviʒ‛n	US & UK	ezh	eʒ	ʒ
tʃ	tʃeriiz	US & UK	t-esh	tii eʃ	tʃ
dʒ	dʒiip	US & UK	d-ezh	dii eʒ	dʒ
þ	tuuþ	US & UK	thorn	þoo‛n	þ
ð	feðə	US & UK	eth	eþ	ð
f	fre‛nz	US & UK	f	ef	f
v	vaaz	US & UK	v	vii	v
s	sa‛n	US & UK	s	es	s
z	zuu	US & UK	z	zed	z
y	ye‛lou	US & UK	y	wai	j	As in 'you'. Here, a “y” is what you would expect. Changed from “j” to “y” in 2011, as suggested earlier by Jack Windsor Lewis.
w	wai‛n	US & UK	w	dab‛lyuu	w
h	hee‛nd	US	h	eitʃ	h
ŋ	fiŋgə	UK	eng	eŋ	ŋ