Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation

This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcuts MOS:PRON MOS:IPA WP:MOSPRON

Pronunciation in Wikipedia should be transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), except in the particular cases noted below.

For English pronunciations, broad diaphonemic transcriptions should be used; these are intended to provide a correct interpretation regardless of the reader's accent. The system for doing this is outlined at Help:IPA/English, and the first instance should include a link to that page; for example: England (/ˈɪŋɡlənd/). This should be done using the template {{IPAc-en}}. The Wikipedia respelling system, using the {{respell}} template, can be used in addition to the IPA.

Phonetic transcriptions are not always the best way to render pronunciation. For brand names which are intended to be respellings of an existing word, it is better to provide that word than a phonetic transcription. Similarly, initialisms are better spelled out than transcribed. In both situations this will generally be unambiguous, and accessible to more of our readers.

For non-English pronunciations, a phonetic transcription is normally used, with a link to Help:IPA or to various language-specific IPA keys. If phonemic transcriptions are used, these require a link to a description of the phonology of the language in question, as otherwise the symbols used may be ambiguous.

Other options are to link to the corresponding entry in Wiktionary, or to include an audio file together with the transcription. Consider that Wikipedia is not a dictionary when thinking of adding a pronunciation to an article; also, if the pronunciation is included in the main article, it is best not to repeat it in various sub-articles. Besides the clutter, subsequent edits may result in contradictory pronunciations.

See also:

• Help:IPA—a non-technical introduction to the symbols used in the IPA for languages other than English
• The more detailed International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects—a good place for English-speakers to start learning IPA
• Help:IPA/Conventions for English—this compares Wikipedia's IPA conventions with the in-house conventions found in various dictionaries
• Pronunciation respelling for English—this compares the IPA with non-IPA transcriptions found in various American dictionaries
• Phonetic transcription—explains the difference between phonemic, phonetic, and morphological transcriptions, and broad vs narrow transcriptions