System of representing sounds with symbols used in our course. The OED uses the same basic system with some small difference, but often bases the pronunciation on RP or Received Pronunciation, a preferred dialect of spoken English in Great Britain. Our course page has a connection to a Canadian website with practice words and IPA symbols.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists. It is intended to provide a standardized, accurate and unique way of representing the sounds of any spoken language, and is used, often on a day-to-day basis, by linguists, speech pathologists and therapists, foreign language teachers, lexicographers, and translators. In its unextended form (as of 2005) it has approximately 107 base symbols and 55 modifiers.