There are many dialects of English, thus making it difficult to define the standardized symbols of the IPA in terms useful to every reader. All the symbols used in this chapter are repeated here, in more or less alphabetical order, with examples drawn from General American. In addition, some attention is given to the Received Pronunciation of (British) English. These two dialects are referred to as GA and RP respectively. Speakers of other dialects should consult a book on phonetics or their local television sets.
| [ˈ] | An IPA indicator of primary stress; the syllable which follows [ˈ] receives primary stress. |
| [ʔ] | An allowed variant of Lojban .. This sound is not usually considered part of English. It is the catch in your throat that sometimes occurs prior to the beginning of a word (and sometimes a syllable) which starts with a vowel. In some dialects, like Cockney and some kinds of American English, it is used between vowels instead of “t” : “bottle” [boʔl̩]. The English interjection “uh-oh!” almost always has it between the syllables. |
| [ː] | A symbol indicating that the previous vowel is to be spoken for a longer time than usual. Lojban vowels can be pronounced long in order to make a greater contrast with buffer vowels. |
| [a] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban a. This sound doesn't occur in GA, but sounds somewhat like the “ar” of “park” , as spoken in RP or New England American. It is pronounced further forward in the mouth than [ɑ]. |
| [ɑ] | An allowed variant of Lojban a. The “a” of GA “father”. The sound [a] is preferred because GA speakers often relax an unstressed [ɑ] into a schwa [ə] , as in the usual pronunciations of “about” and “sofa”. Because schwa is a distinct vowel in Lojban, English speakers must either learn to avoid this shift or to use [a] instead: the Lojban word for “sofa” is sfofa , pronounced [sfofa] or [sfofɑ] but never [sfofə] which would be the non-word sfofy. |
| [æ] | Not a Lojban sound. The “a” of English “cat”. |
| [b] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban b. As in English “boy” , “sober” , or “job”. |
| [β] | An allowed variant of Lojban v. Not an English sound; the Spanish “b” or “v” between vowels. This sound should not be used for Lojban b. |
| [d] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban d. As in English “dog” , “soda” , or “mad”. |
| [ɛ] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban e. The “e” of English “met”. |
| [e] | An allowed variant of Lojban e. This sound is not found in English, but is the Spanish “e” , or the tense «e» of Italian. The vowel of English “say” is similar except for the off-glide: you can learn to make this sound by holding your tongue steady while saying the first part of the English vowel. |
| [ə] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban y. As in the “a” of English “sofa” or “about”. Schwa is generally unstressed in Lojban, as it is in English. It is a totally relaxed sound made with the tongue in the middle of the mouth. |
| [f] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban f. As in “fee” , “loafer” , or “chef”. |
| [ɸ] | An allowed variant of Lojban f. Not an English sound; the Japanese “f” sound. |
| [g] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban g. As in English “go” , “eagle” , or “dog”. |
| [h] | The preferred pronunciation of the Lojban apostrophe sound. As in English “aha” or the second "h" in “oh, hello”. |
| [i] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban i. Essentially like the English vowel of “pizza” or “machine” , although the English vowel is sometimes pronounced with an off-glide, which should not be present in Lojban. |
| [ɪ] | A possible Lojban buffer vowel. The “i” of English “bit”. |
| [ɨ] | A possible Lojban buffer vowel. The “u” of “just” in some varieties of GA, those which make the word sound more or less like “jist”. Also Russian «y» as in «byt'» (to be); like a schwa [ə] , but higher in the mouth. |
| [j] | Used in Lojban diphthongs beginning or ending with i. Like the “y” in English “yard” or “say”. |
| [k] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban k. As in English “kill” , “token” , or “flak”. |
| [l] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban l. As in English “low” , “nylon” , or “excel”. |
| [l̩] | The syllabic version of Lojban l , as in English “bottle” or “middle”. |
| [m] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban m. As in English “me” , “humor” , or “ham”. |
| [m̩] | The syllabic version of Lojban m. As in English “catch 'em” or “bottom”. |
| [n] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban n. As in English no , “honor” , or “son”. |
| [n̩] | The syllabic version of Lojban n. As in English “button”. |
| [ŋ] | An allowed variant of Lojban n , especially in Lojbanized names and before g or k. As in English “sing” or “singer” (but not “finger” or “danger”). |
| [ŋ̍] | An allowed variant of Lojban syllabic n , especially in Lojbanized names. |
| [o] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban o. As in the French « haute (cuisine) » or Spanish “como”. There is no exact English equivalent of this sound. The nearest GA equivalent is the “o” of “dough” or “joke” , but it is essential that the off-glide (a [w] -like sound) at the end of the vowel is not pronounced when speaking Lojban. The RP sound in these words is [əw] in IPA terms, and has no [o] in it at all; unless you can speak with a Scots, Irish, or American accent, you may have trouble with this sound. |
| [ɔ] | An allowed variant of Lojban o , especially before r. This sound is a shortened form of the “aw” in GA “dawn” (for those people who don't pronounce “dawn” and “Don” alike; if you do, you may have trouble with this sound). In RP, but not GA, it is the “o” of “hot”. |
| [p] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban p. As in English “pay” , “super” , or “up”. |
| [r] | One version of Lojban r. Not an English sound. The Spanish “rr” and the Scots “r” , a tongue-tip trill. |
| [ɹ] | One version of Lojban r. As in GA “right” , “baron” , or “car”. Not found in RP. |
| [ɾ] | One version of Lojban r. In GA, appears as a variant of “t” or “d” in the words “metal” and “medal” respectively. A tongue-tip flap. |
| [ʀ] | One version of Lojban r. Not an English sound. The French or German « r » in « reine » or „rot“ respectively. A uvular trill. |
| [r̩] , [ɹ̩] , [ʀ̩] | Syllabic versions of the above. [ɹ̩] appears in the GA (but not RP) pronunciation of “bird”. |
| [s] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban s. As in English “so” , “basin” , or “yes”. |
| [ʃ] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban c. The “sh” of English “ship” , “ashen” , or “dish”. |
| [ʂ] | An allowed variant of Lojban c. Not an English sound. The Hindi retroflex “s” with dot below, or Klingon “S”. |
| [t] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban t. As in English “tea” , “later” , or “not”. It is important to avoid the GA habit of pronouncing the “t” between vowels as [d] or [ɾ]. |
| [θ] | Not normally a Lojban sound, but a possible variant of Lojban '. The “th” of English “thin” (but not “then”). |
| [u] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban u. As in the French « boule » or German „Stuhl“. There is no exact English equivalent of this sound. The nearest sound appears in “boot” or “cool”, but many dialects pronounce these with an off-glide, which should not be present when speaking Lojban. |
| [v] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban v. As in English “voice” , “savor” , or “live”. |
| [w] | Used in Lojban diphthongs beginning or ending with u. Like the “w” in English “wet” [wɛt] or “cow” [kɑw]. |
| [x] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban x. Not normally an English sound, but used in some pronunciations of “loch” and “Bach” ; “gh” in Scots “might” and “night”. The German „Ach-Laut“. To pronounce [x] , force air through your throat without vibrating your vocal chords; there should be lots of scrape. |
| [ʏ] | A possible Lojban buffer vowel. Not an English sound: the „ü“ of German „hübsch“. |
| [z] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban z. As in English “zoo” , “hazard” , or “fizz”. |
| [ʒ] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban j. The “si” of English “vision” , or the consonant at the end of GA “garage”. |
| [ʐ] | An allowed variant of Lojban j. Not an English sound. The voiced version of [ʂ]. |
The following guide will help American English speakers approximate Lojban sounds using familiar reference points from their dialect. When speaking Lojban, aim to pronounce each sound clearly and distinctly. Avoid the tendency in American English to reduce unstressed vowels to schwa or to add glides to pure vowels. Practice each sound individually and in combination to improve your Lojban pronunciation.
| [a] | The Lojban a. Similar to the “a” in “father”, but pronounced slightly forward in the mouth. Think of the “a” in “spa” without rounding your lips. |
| [b] | The Lojban b. Identical to the “b” in “boy” or “about”. |
| [d] | The Lojban d. As in “dog” or “add”. Be careful not to soften this to a flap [ɾ] between vowels, as in American “ladder”. |
| [e] | The Lojban e. Similar to the “ay” in “say”, but without the glide at the end. Hold your tongue still while saying the first part of the English vowel. |
| [f] | The Lojban f. As in “four” or “if”. |
| [g] | The Lojban g. As in “go” or “big”. |
| [h] | The Lojban apostrophe. As in “ahead” or the second “h” in “oh hi”. |
| [i] | The Lojban i. Like the “ee” in “see”, but without any glide at the end. |
| [j] | Used in Lojban diphthongs with i. Like the “y” in “yes” or the “i” in “radio”. |
| [k] | The Lojban k. As in “ski” or “take”. |
| [l] | The Lojban l. As in “love” or “fall”. |
| [m] | The Lojban m. As in “more” or “him”. |
| [n] | The Lojban n. As in “no” or “on”. |
| [o] | The Lojban o. Similar to the “o” in “go”, but without the glide at the end. Hold your tongue still while saying the first part of the English vowel. |
| [p] | The Lojban p. As in “spin” or “top”. |
| [r] | The Lojban r. Similar to the American “r” in “red” or “car”, but can also be trilled as in Spanish. |
| [s] | The Lojban s. As in “sit” or “bus”. |
| [ʃ] | The Lojban c. The “sh” sound in “ship” or “cash”. |
| [t] | The Lojban t. As in “stop” or “it”. Avoid softening to a flap [ɾ] between vowels, as in American “water”. |
| [u] | The Lojban u. Similar to the “oo” in “boot”, but without any glide at the end. Hold your tongue still while saying the vowel. |
| [v] | The Lojban v. As in “vote” or “have”. |
| [w] | Used in Lojban diphthongs with u. As in “wet” or “cow”. |
| [x] | The Lojban x. Similar to the “ch” in the German “Bach” or Scottish “loch”. Pronounce like a strong “h” with friction in your throat. |
| [y] | The Lojban y. Like the “a” in “sofa” or the “u” in “supply”. This is the schwa sound. |
| [z] | The Lojban z. As in “zip” or “easy”. |
| [ʒ] | The Lojban j. The “s” in “treasure” or “j” in “Jacques”. |
The following table is tailored for speakers of British English, particularly those familiar with Received Pronunciation (RP). While Lojban has a standardised pronunciation, some sounds may be challenging for RP speakers. This guide aims to clarify these differences and provide familiar reference points.
| [a] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban a. Similar to the “a” in RP “bath” or “palm”, but shorter and more forward in the mouth. Avoid the tendency to use the “æ” sound as in “cat”. |
| [ɛ] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban e. As in the “e” of RP “bet” or “set”. |
| [i] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban i. Similar to the “ee” in RP “see” or “meat”, but without the slight glide often present in English. |
| [o] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban o. This sound doesn“t quite exist in RP. It”s similar to the first part of the “o” in “go”, but without the glide to [ʊ]. Think of the “o” in Scottish English “go” or try to hold the first part of the RP “o” sound without moving your tongue. |
| [u] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban u. Similar to the “oo” in RP “boot” or “food”, but without the slight glide often present in English. It's closer to the “u” in Scottish English “good”. |
| [ə] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban y. As in the “a” of RP “about” or the “er” of “river” when not rhotic. This is the neutral schwa sound. |
| [x] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban x. This sound is not common in RP but occurs in Scottish “loch” or German “Bach”. Produce it by forcing air through your throat without vibrating your vocal cords. |
| [r] | One version of Lojban r. This is a trilled “r”, not typically used in RP. It's similar to the Scottish rolled “r”. RP speakers may find it easier to use [ɹ], which is also acceptable in Lojban. |
| [ʃ] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban c. As in the “sh” of RP “ship” or “wash”. |
| [ʒ] | The preferred pronunciation of Lojban j. As in the “s” in RP “vision” or “measure”. |
Note that Lojban consonants not listed here are pronounced similarly to their RP counterparts. RP speakers should be particularly mindful of the following:
Lojban r can be pronounced as in RP, but a trilled [r] is also acceptable and sometimes preferred.
The letter x represents a sound not native to RP. Practice may be required to produce this sound consistently.
Vowels in Lojban are pure, without the glides often found in RP. Concentrate on producing steady vowel sounds without movement.
Lojban does not use the RP vowels [ɪ] (as in “bit”), [ʊ] (as in “put”), or [ʌ] (as in “but”). Be careful not to substitute these for Lojban vowels.