The charts below compare three transcription systems for standard British English and add one American system, too. The old-school symbols are those of A. C. Gimson (1962). These are wide-spread in the EFL industry, but have become phonetically imprecise in the last 50 years, and are also phonologically untenable (as the classification here shows). The CUBE symbols are those of Geoff Lindsey (2012). The simple symbols are derivates of the CUBE symbols, replacing the odd looking ones with simple vowel letters, giving a broader transcription. The “American” equivalents are the symbols of Kenyon and Knott (1944).
| old-school (gimson/wells) | current (lindsey) | simple | standard lexical set | american (k&k) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| checked vowels (short monophthongs) | ||||
| kit | ||||
| dress | ||||
| trap | ||||
| strut | ||||
| lot | ||||
| cloth | ||||
| foot | ||||
| R vowels (long monophthongs) | ||||
| near | ||||
| square | ||||
| start | ||||
| palm | ||||
| bath | ||||
| nurse | ||||
| north | ||||
| force | ||||
| thought | ||||
| cure | ||||
| free vowels (diphthongs) | ||||
| fleece | ||||
| face | ||||
| price | ||||
| choice | ||||
| mouth | ||||
| goat | ||||
| goose | ||||
| reduced vowels (unstressed) | ||||
| comma | ||||
| letter | ||||
| happy | ||||