All information given here is to be understood as hints from a language learner to a language learner. I have no thorough education in Languages, Linguistics or Phonology. I am German and I don't speak perfect English. By reading this essay, you accept that I do not accept any responsibility for the completeness or correctness of this essay. If you find an error in this essay, I would be grateful for a note:

If you want to save this file, download the archive instead, because it contains all the embedded images and sound files. All sound samples are by native speakers.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• IPA speech sounds
  • Consonants
  • Vowels
  • Diphthongs
  • Stress
• Patterns
• Common Pitfalls
• German
  • Vowels
  • Consonants
  • Diphthongs
  • Word Boundaries and Syllable Boundaries
• English
  • Vowels and Dipthongs
  • Consonants
  • Word Linking
  • Word Stress
  • Compound Stress
• References
• Acknowledgements

• Most dictionaries give only the phonemes, i.e. the units of sound that are necessary to distinguish meaning [Wikipedia / phonemes]. They do not give the phones, i.e. the actual sounds [Wikipedia / phones]. For example, they will write /r/ for the English, the Italian and the German r-sound — although they are all different.
• Even if a narrow phonetic description is given, it is often not narrow enough to reproduce the sound. For example, English dictionaries will transscribe "moon" as [mu:n], even though the [u] is diphthongised and should be written as []. Worse, the same symbol is used to describe different sounds (the German [ɔ] and the English [ɔ], for example, are different).
• Most dictionaries explain the distinct sounds through examples of the target language. For example, a German dictionary will explain that /x/ is pronounced like in the German word "Dach" — which is of little use when you want to figure out how "Dach" is pronounced.
• The dictionaries usually define the set of permissable pronunciations, not the "right" pronunciation. This is because they see themselves as descriptive, not prescriptive resources.
• Some dictionaries use their proprietary phonetic alphabets instead of the standard one. Worse, they explain the sounds of their alphabet by examples from the target language, so that you have no chance to figure out how a word is pronounced unless you know it already.

This essay considers only the Received Pronunciation of English and German Hochdeutsch. All other variants are ignored. Furthermore, this essay ignores all foreign words that have been imported into the languages and all proper names.

IPA speech sounds

The IPA sounds are carefully defined and classified systematically according to parameters such as the position of the tongue, the flow of air, the vibration of the cords and many more. This essay confines itself to listing the relevant sounds with examples from the languages. If a sound does not appear in all discussed languages, an explanation is given below.

Consonants

Sound	English	German	French	Italian	Spanish
[b]	blue	blau	boue	bue	bomba
[d]	dog	Dach	de	dove	India
[f]	fantastic	fantastisch	phantastique	fantastico	fantastico
[g]	great	groß	grand	grande	gran
[h]	hello	hallo	-	-	-
[j]	you	ja	yeux	-	-
[k]	cat	Käfig	cabinet	casa	casa
[l]	love	liebe	lune	luna	luna
[ɫ]	well	-	-	-	-
[m]	man	Mann	mer	mare	mesa
[n]	nose	Nase	nez	notte	noche
[ŋ]	sing	lang	parking	anche	domingo
[p]	problem	Problem	problème	problema	problema
[ɹ]	rot	-	-	-	-
[ʁ]	-	rot	rouge	-	-
[ɾ]	-	-	-	rosa	raton
[r]	-	-	-	-	perro
[s]	salt	Biss	sel	sale	sal
[sj]	this thing	-	-	-	-
[t]	today	Tochter	-	-	todo
[]	width	-	tout	tutto	-
[θ]	thing	-	-	-	cinco
[ð]	mother	-	-	-	dedo
[v]	very	Wal	valve	vecchio	-
[w]	well	-	-	quando	cuando
[x]	-	ach	-	-	general
[z]	zero	Salz	zèbre	casa	desde
[ʃ]	sheep	schade	chàvre	sciarpa	-
[ʒ]	treasure	Massage	jour	-	-
[β]	-	-	-	-	vivir
[ʎ]	-	-	-	figlio	-
[ç]	-	ich	-	-	-
[ʔ]	The glottal stop between two vowels, as in
	uh/-oh	Be/amter	les / hérissons	-	-

Source: [Wikipedia / IPA] and Wikipedia pages linked from there. Part of the examples by me.

Consonants — Modifiers

Symbol	Explanation
[ʰ]	The aspiration that occurs after saying [p]
[ʷ]	Indicates that the preceding sound has round lips like a [u]
[]	Indicates that the sound is pronounced with the tongue tip touching the inside of the upper front teeth. [], for example, is a [d] where the tongue touches the upper front teeth.
[]	Indicates that the sound is pronounced without vibrating chords. [], for example, sounds similar to a [t], but is weaker than [t].

Source: [Wikipedia / IPA].

Consonants — Explanations

Sound	Explanation
[h]	Open your mouth like for an [a]. Push air through the mouth.
[j]	Pronounce [i]. Press the middle of your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
[ɾ]	Say [bdavo] the flap of the tongue that appears after the [b] is the [r].
[r]	Pronounce [bdavo] in quick repetition. When multiple tongue flaps happen after the [b], you are pronouncing a [r].
[R]	Let the hindmost rear of your tongue touch the very back of the roof of your mouth. Push air through your mouth, make your cords vibrate and your uvula flap.
[ʁ]	A stronger [x]
[sj]	Pronounce [s] so that not the tip of your tongue touches the roof of the mouth, but the part that comes directly behind the tip.
[t]	Pronounce [], but with the tip of your tongue touching the roof of the mouth well away from the teeth.
[]	Pronounce [t], with the tip of your tongue touching the inside of the upper front teeth.
[v]	Pronounce [z]. Place the upper lips on the lower front teeth and get your tongue away from the roof of the mouth.
[w]	A [w] is a short [u] that glides immediately into the following vowel.
[x]	Let the hindmost rear of your tongue touch the very back of the roof of your mouth. Push air through your mouth
[θ]	Pronounce [s]. Push the tip of the tongue between the front teeth.
[ð]	Pronounce [z]. Push the tip of the tongue between the front teeth.
[ʃ]	Pronounce [s]. Let the tip of the tongue travel backwards in the mouth beyond the "corner" in the roof of your mouth.
[ʒ]	Pronounce [z]. Let the tip of the tongue travel backwards in the mouth beyond the "corner" in the roof of your mouth. This sound appears in English, German and Italian with a preceding [d], e.g. in "journal", "Dschungel" and "giusto".
[β]	Pronounce [a]. Close your mouth until the lips touch each other but you can still push out air.
[ʎ]	Pronounce [lj]. The sound that appears in the transition from [l] to [j] is [ʎ].
[ç]	Pronounce [h] with the tongue in the position of [j]
[ɹ]	Pronounce [ʒ], let the tongue travel even further back and then pronounce a [œ].
[ɫ]	Put the tip of the tongue in the position of [l], then pronounce [o].
[ʔ]	Stop the flow of air between two vowels

Affricates: In the sequences [ts], [dz], [tʃ], [dʒ] and [pf], the first sound often crosses over directly into the second one. This is denoted by an over-arc in IPA. Since this phenomenon seems to be universal in the languages under consideration here (and thus no native speaker of one of them will make a mistake in another one), this subtlety is ignored in this essay.

Source: My observations

Source: [Wikipedia / IPA]. Introduction of [A] by myself.

Vowels — Modifiers

Symbol	Explanation
[ ~ ]	Indicates that the vowel is nasalized, i.e. the velum is lowered, so that part of the air escapes through the nose. [], for example, is a nasalized [æ]. It appears in the French word "main", [m:].
[ ]	Indicates that the vowel is pronounced further to the front.
[ ]	Indicates that the vowel is pronounced further to the back.
[ ]	Indicates that the vowel is pronounced more closed.
[ ]	Indicates that the vowel is pronounced more open.
[ ]	Indicates that the vowel is pronounced with less lip rounding.
[ ]	Indicates that the vowel is pronounced with more lip rounding.
[ vowel ]	Indicates that the vowel is pronounced weaker and shorter than usual
[ : ]	Prolongs the preceding vowel.

Source: [Wikipedia / IPA]

Vowels — Examples

Sound	English	German	French	Italian	Spanish
[i]	happy	ihr	iris	isola	isla
[y]	-	üben	usage	-	-
[u]	-	Uhr	ou	uva	uva
[ɪ]	it	Insel	-	-	-
[ʏ]	-	üppig	-	-	-
[ʊ]	-	unter	-	-	-
[]	put	-	-	-	-
[e]	-	Esel	et	e	este
[ø]	-	Öhse	Europe	-	-
[o]	-	Ofen	au	oro	once
[ə]	err	keine	-	-	-
[ɛ]	estimate	Ärger	espoir	-	-
[œ]	-	öffnen	soeur	-	-
[ɔ]	-	offen	sort	parola	-
[]	ought	-	-	-	-
[ɐ]	-	besser	-	-	-
[]	hug	-	-	-	-
[A]	-	anders	à	a	a
[ɑ]	father	-	-	-	-
[]	onion	-	-	-	-
[æ]	angle	-	-	-	-

Remark: For the English transscriptions, see the remark at English.

Source: [Wikipedia / IPA] and Wikipedia pages linked from there. English transscriptions as given in [Barry]

Diphthongs

A diphthong is a vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another. In IPA notation, diphthong vowels are joined by an under-arc:

Sound	English	German	French	Italian	Spanish
[**]	house	Haus	moi	sei	guapa

A syllable is a vowel sequence with its surrounding consonants that is perceived as a phonological unit (for example, the English word "nicely" falls into two syllables like "nice-ly"). A diphthong is never split up into syllables. A prolongation ([ : ]) always applies to the whole diphthong.

A minimal pair is a pair of words that differ only by one speech sound in their pronunciation. A minimal pair proves that the speech sound difference is important in the language. For example, the words "vat" and "bat" form a minimal pair that proves that the distinction between [v] and [b] is important in the English language.

An affix is a string that is appended to the basic form of a word. Examples are the plural "s" for nouns, the adjective modifiers (such as "-ly" and "est") and the all verb form indicators (such as "-ing", "-s" or "-ed").

Source: [Wikipedia / Diphthongs]. My definitions for "syllable", "minimal pair" and "affix".

Stress

Native Italian/Spanish speakers: Take care that the [h]-sound appears, but that it does not sound too strong and pressed. Try to distinguish open/short and closed/long vowels (e.g. the English words "beach" [bɪjtʃ] and "bitch" [bɪtʃ]). Stop the vocal chords from vibrating after having pronounced a word, do not produce an [ɛ]-sound at the end of the word.

Source: My observations

Vowels

The German vowel letters are either pronounced as tense vowels or as lax vowels. Here they are, together with their minimal pairs:

show vowel table

Vowel letter	Tense		Lax
a	[A:]	Rahmen	[A]	rammen
e, ä	[e:]	Weg	[ɛ]	weg
i	[i:]	riet	[ɪ]	ritt
o	[o:]	Ofen	[ɔ]	offen
ö	[ø:]	Höhle	[œ]	Hölle
u	[u:]	Ruhm	[ʊ]	Rum
ü	[y:]	fühle	[ʏ]	fülle

A vowel letter is pronounced tense when it appears in the following patterns:

Pattern	Example
in a simple word	rot [ʁo:th]
duplicated	Boot [bo:th]
together with an "h"	Mohn [mo:n]
followed by b, d, g, ß	Obst [o:pst]
followed by a syllable onset	rote [ʁo:thə]

A vowel letter is pronounced lax when it appears in the following patterns:

Pattern	Example
before a duplicated consonant	Rotte [ʁɔtə]
before "x"	Hexe [hɛksə]

In the other cases, it cannot be said deterministically whether the vowel is pronounced tense or lax. A lax pronunciation is usually a good guess.

Exceptions: Prepositions (such as "mit", "zum", "was", and the above "weg") are often pronounced lax.
Vowels before "ch" and may be either tense or lax ("lachen" [laxən], but "Nachen" [na:xən]).

Baseform rule: Derivative forms usually follow the pronunciation of their base form. Examples:

• "er flucht" has a tense "u", because "fluchen" has a tense "u"
• "die Flucht" has a lax "u", because "flüchten" has a lax "ü"
• "höflich" has a tense "ö", because "Hof" has a tense "o".

Remarks: There are also a number of debated pronunciations ("Dusche", e.g., is pronounced either lax or tense). Furthermore, it is debated whether the sound [ɛ:] occurs in German. This sound is necessary to distinguish the minimal pair "Ehre" [e:ʁə] and "Ähre" [ɛ:ʁə] . However, this distinction is not made in all German variants of Hochdeutsch and the Duden allows to pronounce "äh" as [e:]. Hence, this essay adheres to this simplification.

There are two additional rules:

Pattern	Sound	Example
e after stressed syllable	[ə]	keine
ie, ieh	[i:]	riet

Source: Compiled from [Wikipedia / German Phonology], [Wikipedia / German Spelling], [Wikipedia / Aussprache der deutschen Sprache] and Wikipedia pages linked from there. Rules for tense and lax vowels by me. Some minimal pairs for tense and lax vowels by me.

Diphthongs

The following diphthongs appear in German:

Patterns	Pronunciation	Example
au	[ɑʊ]	Haus
ei, ai, ey, ay	[aɪ]	Heim
eu, äu	[ɔɪ]	Eule

Remark: To make it sound German, keep your lips and your mouth in a rather closed position when pronouncing these diphthongs.

Source: By myself

Consonants

Some German consonants exist as fortis (voiceless, aspirated) and lenis (voiced) versions. Lenis consonants appear only at the syllable onset:

Fortis	Lenis
Patterns Sound Example p, pp, b [pʰ] Pulle t, tt, d [tʰ] Torf k, ck, g [kʰ] Keil ß, ss, s [s] weiße f, ff, v, w [fʰ] Fall	Patterns Sound Example b at syllable onset [b] Bulle d at syllable onset [d] Dorf g at syllable onset [g] geil s at syllable onset [z] weise w at syllable onset [v] Wall
Fortis consonants are always aspirated.

Remark: Note that even lenis consonants are pronounced fortis in all places except for the beginning of a syllable! In particular, they are pronounced fortis at the end of a syllable. Thus, "Rad" and "Rat" sound the same. This phenomenon is called Auslautverhärtung. Often, the lenis consonants serve just to make the preceding vowel tense. "Obst", for example, is pronounced [o:pst].

Deaspiration: The fortis consonants lose their aspiration at the beginning of a syllable after consonants:

Pattern	Sound	Example
p at the beginning of a syllable after consonants	[p]	Spiel [ʃpi:l]
t at the beginning of a syllable after consonants	[t]	Stahl [ʃtA:l]

The letter "r": The German "r" is often considered a difficult sound. Fortunately, it appears far less frequently than assumed! "r" is pronounced [ʁ] only if a vowel follows in the same syllable! Else, it is pronounced [ɐ] (a phenomenon called Vokalisierung). If an "e" or an "a" precedes the "r", the Vokalisierung eats this letter as well. If a syllable boundary follows, a glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted.

Patterns	Sound	Example
r followed by a vowel	[ʁ]	rot [ʁo:th]
r at word end	[ɐ]	der [deɐ]
er followed by a consonant or word end	[ɐ]	immer [ɪmɐ]
ar followed by a consonant or word end	[A:]	Art [A:th]
r followed by vowel syllable onset	[ɐʔ]	Urahne [Uɐʔ A:nə]	Do not say [UʁA:nə]
er followed by vowel syllable onset	[ɐʔ]	Verein [fɐʔ aɪn]	Do not say [feʁaɪn]

Other patterns: Some patterns trigger special sounds:

Patterns	Sound	Example	Remark
(a/o/u)ch	[x]	Dach	"ch" after "a", "o" or "u"
ch	[ç]	ich	"ch" after anything else than "a", "o" or "u".
chs	[ks]	wechseln	[xs] would be too complicated even for Germans
dt	[t]	Stadt	the voiceless "d" and the "t" get contracted
ig at word end	[ɪç]	wichtig	at word end
ng	[ŋ]	Junge [jʊŋə]	Note: There is no [g] sound! Do not say [jʊŋgə]
qu	[kv]	Qualle	"Q" appears only together with "u"
sch	[ʃʷ]	Schule	Make your lips round!
sp at syllable onset	[ʃʷp]	Spiel	only at the syllable onset
st at syllable onset	[ʃʷt]	Stein	only at the syllable onset
ti followed by on/är/al/ell	[tsɪ]	Information	applies mostly to loanwords
tz	[ts]	Katze

The remaining sounds are:

Patterns	Sound	Example
h	[h]	Haus
j	[j]	Jahr
L, LL	[L]	Land
m, mm	[m]	Meer
n, nn	[n]	Nase
x	[ks]	Hexe
z	[ts]	Zahl [tsA:l]

Source: Compiled from the Wikipedia pages mentioned above, pronunciation of "r" by me, rules for fortis and lenis consonants by me as well. Rule for deaspiration derived from [Barry].

Word Boundaries and Syllable Boundaries

When two vowels meet across syllables, Germans insert a glottal stop:

Pattern	Sound	Example
syllable onset between vowels	[ʔ]	Beamter [bə ʔ Amtɐ]

This also applies on word-level: A word is separated from the preceding word by a glottal stop, if it starts with a vowel:

Pattern	Sound	Example
word start with vowel	[ʔ]	Alle aufgepasst! [ʔ Alə ʔ ɑʊfgəpAsth]
		Sehr gut! [se:ɐ gu:th]

This gives German its hard sounding nature.

Source: My formalizations

• Many of its vowel sounds are different from the vowel sounds in the other languages (see the table above). English does not have the basic stand-alone vowel sounds that are common to the other languages: [A], [e], [o], [u].
• It cannot be figured out deterministically from the writing how a word is pronounced. The string "ough", e.g., can be pronounced as in "though", as in "through", as in "plough", as in "thought", as in "cough" or as in "tough".
• There are a multitude of ways to spell the same sound. The sound [k], e.g. can be spelled as "c", "k", "ck", "ch", "cc", "qu", "q", "cq", "cu", "que", "kk" or "kh".
• Frequently, one letter triggers more than one sound, so that a word may have more sounds than letters. Consider e.g. the words "mind" [maɪnd] and "music" [mju:zik].
• The pronounciation of a vowel can be determined by a letter that follows several letters later. The different pronunciations of "i" in "win" and "wine", e.g., are triggered only by the "e", which comes behind the "n". Similarly, the difference between "sign" and "signal" is indicated by the "al", which comes behind the "gn".

Source: My observations. Spellings of [k] from [Wikipedia / English spelling].

Vowels and Diphthongs

I group the the English vowels into 4 classes: Short vowels, long vowels, open combinations and closed combinations (the columns in the following table). Within each class, there are different types (the rows in the following table). To each type, I have assigned a letter, which roughly mirrors the phonetic symbol. Here are the sounds, together with example words:

show vowel table

Letter	Short	Long	Closed combination	Open combination
a	[æ] rat	[ɑ:] tar	[] tie	[] tire
a variant	[] hug		[aʊ] tow	[aʊə] tower
e	[ɛ] ret		[] Tay	[ɛə] tare
i	[ɪ] it		[ɪj] tea	[ɪə] tear
u	[] put		[] two	[ʊə] tour
o	[] rot	[] tore	[] toy
schwa	[ə] an	[ə:] deter	[əʊ] toe

Furthermore, there is a syllable-final [i].

Explanations:

• [] is a diphthong of two vowels: The first is an [ɛ] that is slightly more closed (witness the []), i.e. it is shifted towards the [e]. The second is a weaker [ɪ] (which is why it appears as a superscript).
• [] consists of an [ɑ] and a weaker [e] that is shifted slightly towards the [ə].
• [] is a dipthong that is similar to [ou], albeit a little more central. It sounds similar to [u].
• [] is a sound between [o] and [ɔ], with a little more lip-rounding.
• [] is a diphthong that goes from [] to a weaker sound between a [ə] and an [e].
• [] is the near-back, open-mid unrounded vowel. It is basically the [ɔ], but without lip-rounding and pronounced more towards the front.
• To hear the difference between [æ] and [ɛ], listen to the words "back" [bæk] and "beck" [bɛk] .

Remarks: Other transscriptions are often used in the literature. However, these often do not correspond to the exact Received Pronunciation. I have digged out the above narrow transsciptions from [Barry].
I have called the long vowels "long" because they are long. I have called the short vowels "short" because they are short. I have called the combinations "combinations", because they are combinations of (semi-)vowels. I have called the open combinations "open" because they end with an open vowel. I have called the closed combinations "closed" because they end with a closed vowel.

Alternative pronunciations: There are a number of acceptable other pronunciations:

• The open "u" combination is sometimes pronounced [], as in "sure" [ʃ]
• The open "a" combination is sometimes pronounced [ɑ:ə], as in "fire" [fɑ:ə]
• The open "a" combination variant is sometimes pronounced [a:ə], as in "power" [pa:ə]

Destressing: Vowels that do not carry the first or second stress in a word are pronounced [ə] in some cases — irrespective of the vowel letter.

Pattern	Sound	Example
him	[hɪm]	We'll see him tomorrow
(C) him	[ɪm]	Have you seen him?
his	[ɪz]	His car is gone
(C) his	[ɪz]	Have you seen his car?
her	[hə]	Her car is gone
(C) her	[ə]	Have you seen her car?
he	[hi]	He did it?
(C) he	[i]	Has he done it?
she	[ʃi]	What did she say?
we	[wi]	Can we help?
our	[aʊə]	It's our great strength
our (V)	[aɹ]	It's our own fault
you	[jə]	How do you do?
your	[jə]	How's your father?
their	[ðɛ]	That's their slogan
for	[fə]	Time for tea
to	[tə]	We went to the shops
to (V)	[t]	He gave his money to others
VL is	[s]	The cup is broken
is	[z]	The idea is a good one
the	[ðə]	The problem
the (V)	[ði]	The idea

The j-sound:The sound [j] can only occur at the beginning of a word or after certain sounds at the onset of a syllable. I abbreviate this pattern as follows:
   J = (# / [p] / [b] / [t] / [d] / [k] / [g] / [m] / [n] / [f] / [v] / [θ] / [z] / [h]).

Vowel patterns:There usually exist multiple vowel sounds for one pattern in English. For each pattern I have put the pronunciation that I assume to be the most common to the top.

Pattern	Sound	Example	Exception
a	[ɑ:] long "a"	father
a	[] short "o"	watch
a	[æ] short "a"	man
a	[] closed "e" comb.	paper
a	[] long "o"	fall
a	[ə] short schwa	another
a	[ɛ] short "e"	many
a	[ɪ] short "i"	damage
#a|	[] closed "e" comb.	atheist
a(C+)e	[] closed "e" comb.	rate
aar	[ɑ:] long "a"	bazaar
ae	[ɛ] short "e"	aesthetic
ae	[] closed "a" comb.	maestro
ae	[] closed "e" comb.	reggae
aer	[ɛə] open "e" comb.	aerial
ai	[] closed "e" comb.	rain
ai	[æ] short "a"	plaid
ai	[ə] short schwa	mountain
ai	[ɛ] short "e"	said
ai	[ɪ] short "i"	bargain
ai(C+)e	[] closed "e" comb.	cocaine
air	[ɛə] open "e" comb.	hair
aire	[ɛə] open "e" comb.	millionaire
ais	[] closed "a" comb.	aisle
a (l)	[] long "o"	bald
al (k)	[] long "o"	walk
al (l)	[] long "o"	call	[æ] shall
al (f)	[ɑ:] long "a"	half
al (m)	[ɑ:] long "a"	calm	[æm] salmon
ar	[ɑ:] long "a"	car
ar	[] long "o"	war
ar	[ə:] long schwa	grammar
ar	[ɛə] open "e" comb.	stationary
are	[ɛə] open "e" comb.	ware
are	[ɑ:] long "a"	are
au	[] long "o"	author
au	[ɑ:] long "a"	aunt
au	[] short "o"	sausage
au	[æ] short "a"	laugh
au	[] closed "e" comb.	gauge
au(C+)e	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	mauve
aw	[] long "o"	jaw
ay	[] closed "e" comb.	pay
ay	[ɛ] short "e"	says
e	[ɛ] short "e"	met
e	[ə] short schwa	anthem
e	[ɪ] short "i"	pretty
(C)e#	[i] final "i"	be
ea	[ɪj] closed "i" comb.	beach
ea	[ɛ] short "e"	weather
ea	[ɪ] short "i"	mileage
ea	[] closed "e" comb.	steak
ea(C+)e	[ɛ] short "e"	cleanse
ear	[ɪə] open "i" comb.	ear
ear	[ɑ:] long "a"	heart
ear	[ə:] long schwa	earth
J eau	[j] closed "u" comb.	beauty
ee	[ɪj] closed "i" comb.	bee
ee	[ɪ] short "i"	been
ei	[ɪj] closed "i" comb.	deceit
ei	[ɛ] short "e"	heifer
ei	[ɪ] short "i"	counterfeit, soverein
ei	[] closed "e" comb.	veil	[] height, sleight
ei	[ə] short schwa	foreign
eir	[ɛə] open "e" comb.	heir
eo	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	yeoman
eo	[ɪj] closed "i" comb.	people
eo	[ɛ] short "e"	jeopardy
er	[ə:] long schwa	fern	[ɑ:] sergeant
er	[ɛə] open "e" comb.	stationary
er(V/y)	[ɪər]	serious, series, cereal, serial [Barry / 115]
ere	[ɛə] open "e" comb.	where
ere	[ɪə] open "i" comb.	here
err	[ə:] long schwa	err
J eu	[j] closed "u" comb.	feud
J eue	[j] closed "u" comb.	queue
eur	[ə:] long schwa	amateur
J ew	[j] closed "u" comb.	few
ew	[] closed "u" comb.	jewel	[əʊ] sew
J ewe	[j] closed "u" comb.	ewe
ey	[ɪj] closed "i" comb.	key
ey	[] closed "a" comb.	geyser
ey	[] closed "e" comb.	obey
eye	[] closed "a" comb.	eye
i	[ɪ] short "i"	bid
i	[] closed "a" comb.	mind
i	[æ] short "a"	meringe
i	[ɪ] short "i"	medicine
i	[j]	onion
i(C+)e	[] closed "a" comb.	fine	[ɪ] recipe [rɛsɪpi]
i(C+)e	[ɪj] closed "i" comb.	machine
ia	[ɪ] short "i"	carriage
ic	[ɪk]	strict	[] indict
ie	[ɪj] closed "i" comb.	field
ie	[ɛ] short "e"	friend
ie	[ɪ] short "i"	sieve
ier	[ɪə] open "i" comb.	frontier
ier	[] closed "e" comb.	dossier
J ieu	[j] closed "u" comb.	adieu
J iew	[j] closed "u" comb.	view
ir	[ə:] long schwa	thirst
ir	[] open "a" comb.	choir
ire	[] open "a" comb.	fire
is	[] closed "a" comb.	isle
o	[] short "o"	lock
o	[] short "u"	son
o	[ə] short schwa	awesome
o	[ɪ] short "i"	women
o	[] closed "u" comb.	who
o	[] short "u"	wolf
o	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	so
o	[w]	choir
o(C+)e	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	mope
o(C+)e	[] short "u"	come
o(C+)e	[] closed "u" comb.	lose
o(C+)e	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	bone
oa	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	boat
oa	[] long "o"	broad
oar(C+)e	[] long "o"	coarse
oar	[]	board [Barry / 130]
oe	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	foe
oe	[] short "u"	does
oe#	[əʊ]	toe	[] canoe, shoe [Barry / 118]
oi	[] closed "o" comb.	noise
oi	[ə] short schwa	porpoise, tortoise
o (l)	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	old	[ə:] colonel
ol (k)	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	folk
ol (l)	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	roll
ol (m)	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	holm
oo	[] closed "u" comb.	tool
oo	[] short "u"	flood
oo	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	brooch
oo(C+)e	[] short "u"	gooseberry
ook	[] short "u"	book [Barry / 118]	[] snook, spook [Barry / 118]
oor	[] long "o"	door
or	[] long "o"	for
or	[ə:] long schwa	worst
or	[] short "u"	worsted
or(C+)e	[] long "o"	horse
ou	[] closed "u" comb.	soup
ou	[] short "u"	touch
ou	[ə] short schwa	callous
ou	[] short "u"	courier
ou	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	soul
ou	[] long "o"	bought
ou(C+)e	[aʊ] closed "a" comb. variant	mouse
ough	[] long "o"	ought [Barry / 131]
ough	[aʊ] closed "a" comb. variant	plough [Barry / 131]
ough	[f] short "o"	cough [Barry / 131]
ough	[f] short "a" variant	tough [Barry / 131]
ough	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	though
ough	[] closed "u" comb.	through
oul	[] short "u"	should
our	[aʊə] open "a" comb. variant	our [Barry / 131]
our	[] long "o"	four
our	[ə:] long schwa	journey
our	[ʊə] open "u" comb.	your
ow	[əʊ] closed schwa comb.	know
ow	[aʊ] closed "a" comb. variant	now
oy	[] closed "o" comb.	toy
oy(C+)e	[] closed "o" comb.	gargoyle
J u	[j] closed "u" comb.	music
u	[] short "u"	sun
u	[ɛ] short "e"	bury
u	[ɪ] short "i"	busy
u	[] closed "u" comb.	luminous
u	[] short "u"	full
J u(C+)e	[j] closed "u" comb.	use
u(C+)e	[] closed "u" comb.	flute
uar	[ɑ:] long "a"	guard
J ue	[j] closed "u" comb.	cue
ue	[ɛ] short "e"	guess
ue	[] closed "u" comb.	true
J ui	[j] closed "u" comb.	nuisance
ui	[] closed "a" comb.	guide
ui	[ɪ] short "i"	build
ui	[] closed "u" comb.	fruit
ui(C+)e	[] closed "u" comb.	juice
uo	[] long "o"	flourine
uoy	[] closed "o" comb.	buoy
ur	[ə:] long schwa	turn
ure	[ʊə] open "u" comb.	sure
J ure	[jʊə] open "u" comb.	cure
urr	[ə:] long schwa	burr [Barry / 141]
uy	[] closed "a" comb.	buy
wo	[] closed "u" comb.	two
y	[] closed "a" comb.	try
y	[ə] short schwa	beryl
y	[ɪ] short "i"	myth
y(C+)e	[] closed "a" comb.	type
y#	[i] final "i"	happy
ye	[] closed "a" comb.	dye
yr	[ə:] long schwa	myrtle
yrr	[ə:] long schwa	myrrh

Source: The vowel patterns in the big table are the reverse compilation from [Wikipedia / English orthography]. The J-pattern is deduced from [Wikipedia / English phonology]. All other information by myself or from [Barry], where indicated.

Consonants

The "th" combination: "th" is pronounced voiced in some function words and between vowels. Else it is pronounced voiceless.

Pattern	Sound	Example
th    in the words     this, these, their, them, the, those, there, though	[ð]	this [ðɪs]
(V) th (V)	[ð]	mother [mðə]
th	[θ]	thing [θɪŋ]

The tongue has to be at the teeth for "th". In order to prepare the tongue for this position, certain consonants are pronounced with the tongue already at the teeth when a "th" follows [Barry / 90]. The "th" may follow either in the same word or in the next word:

Pattern	Sound	Example
d [ð]	[]	hand this over [hænðɪsəʊvə]
d [θ]	[]	width [wɪθ]
t (th), t (#th)	[]	put through [pʔθɹ]
n (th), n (#th)	[]	month [mθ]
L (th), L (#th)	[]	health [hɛθ]
s (th), s (#th)	[sj]	this thing [ðɪsjθɪŋ]
thr	[θɾ]	three [θɾɪj]

The dark and light "L": The "L" is usually pronounced [ɫ]. If a vowel follows, it becomes [l]:

Pattern	Sound	Example
L	[ɫ]	mail
LL	[ɫ]	well
Le #	[ɫ]	pile
Les #	[ɫz]	piles
L (V)	[l]	mailing
L # (V)	[l]	mail and letters
Le # (V)	[l]	pile of letters
LL (V)	[l]	telling
LL # (V)	[l]	tell and listen

Final voiced consonants: A voiced consonant at the end of a syllable serves to prolong the preceding sound:

Pattern			Sound	Example
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	b	|	[:b]	mob [m:b]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	d	|	[:d]	mid [mɪ:d]
(l/m/n)	ed	|	[:d]	mailed [mɫ:d]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	g	|	[:g]	dog [d:g]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	ge	|	[:dʒ]	large [lɑ:dʒ]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	dge	|	[:dʒ]	wedge [wɛ:dʒ]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	s	|	[:z]	mails [mɫ:z]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	se	|	[:z]	rinse [ɹɪn:z]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	ve	|	[:v]	give [gɪ:v]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	z	|	[:z]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	zz	|	[:z]	buzz [b:z]

Pattern			Sound
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	b	| VL	[:]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	d	| VL	[:]
(l/m/n)	ed	| VL	[:]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	g	| VL	[:]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	ge	| VL	[:d]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	dge	| VL	[:d]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	s	| VL	[:]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	se	| VL	[:]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	ve	| VL	[:]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	z	| VL	[:]
(V/Vr/l/m/n)	zz	| VL	[:]

Thus, the main characteristics of final voiced consonants is not that they are voiced (because they may be devoiced), but that they prolong the preceding sound. This leads to the following lengths of vowel sounds: [Barry / 114]
      sit [sɪt] < Sid [sɪ:d] < seat [sɪjt] < seed [sɪj:d]

The influence of voiceless sounds has contributed to the following pronunciations of common verbal constructions: [Barry / 59]

Pattern	Sound
have VL	[hæ:]
have	[hæ:v]
have to (in the sense of "must")	[hæftə]
has VL	[hæ:]
has	[hæ:z]
has to (in the sense of "must")	[hæstə]
used VL	[j:z]
used	[j:zd]
used to (in the sense of "habitually")	[jstə]

Verbs and Nouns: If a verb is derived from a noun, the noun has often a voiceless sound at the end while the verb has a voiced sound.
Examples:
         advice/advise, the use [js] / to use [j:z], advertisement / advertise
The affixes are pronounced as follows:

Pattern				Sound
	s #	(as affix)	[z]	beds
VL	s #	(as affix)	[s]	pets
	ed #	(as affix)	[d]	failed
(d/t)	ed #	(as affix)	[ɪd]	waited
VL	ed #	(as affix)	[t]	topped
	es #	(as affix)	[ɪz]	washes
	ies #	(as affix)	[ɪz]	cities [Barry / 114]

The combination "ng": "ng" is usually pronounced [ŋg]. It is pronounced [ŋ] at the end of a word or an affix follows (except for comparative affixes). In some words, it is pronounced [nʒ]: [Barry / 236]

Pattern	Sound	Example
ng	[ŋg]	finger
nger #   (in a comparative form)	[ŋgə]	longer
ngest #   (in a superlative form)	[ŋgəst]	longest
ng #	[ŋ]	sing
ng + affix	[ŋ]	singing
ng	[nʒ]	passenger, danger, endanger, messenger, manger, ranger, ginger
ngue #	[ŋ]	tongue

Glottal Stops: While English does not have the glottal stop before vowels (as does German), it does insert a glottal stop before syllable-final [p], [t], [tʃ] and [k]. This is called glottal reinforcement.

Source: The big table is compiled from the tables in [Wikipedia / English orthography]. The rule for glottal stops is taken from [Wikipedia / Received Pronunciation]. All other rules are from myself or from [Barry] where indicated.

Word Linking

In English, words are linked together — either by connecting the words directly or by putting an intermediate sound between them.

Pattern	Sound	Name	Example
#	[]	Linking	Hop on, hop off	[hʔ pn hʔ pf]
(Vre) # (V)	[ɹ]	Linking "R"	spare a moment	[spɛəɹəməʊmɛnt]
(Vr) # (V)	[ɹ]	Linking "R"	far away	[fɑɹəw]
[ / / ] # (V)	[j]	Intrusive [j]	say it!	[sjɪt]
[ / aʊ / əʊ ] # (V)	[w]	Intrusive [w]	Take your shoe off	[...ʃwf]

If a word-final consonant meets a word-initial vowel, it helps to pretend that the consonant belongs to the next word. Thus, "hop on" is pronounced like "ho pon" and "Have an ice day" is pronounced like "Have a nice day" [

Source: Compiled from [Barry / 239ff].

Stress for compounds

Source: Compiled from [Barry / 239ff]. Explanations for phrasal verbs by myself.

References

• [Wikipedia] The free online encyclopedia "Wikipedia"
  http://www.wikipedia.org
• [Barry] The Phonetics and Phonology of English Pronunciation
  Hartwig Eckert and William Barry, Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, Trier, 2002