Minimal Pair List RP phonemes in the Advanced Learner's Dictionary
(1974 electronic edition with Roger Mitton's 1992 additions)
Total number of words in the dictionary: 70,646
Total number of symbols in the dictionary pronunciation field: 492,745
Figures for running words in transcribed spoken text from D.B.Fry, 1947, cited in Crystal, 1995.
| Vowels | Keyword | Total | Words | in dictionary | Freq. rank | in spoken text | Freq. rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
i |
bead |
6721 |
6525 |
1.36% |
9 |
1.65% |
7 |
|
ɪ |
bid |
51830 |
37729 |
10.52% |
1 |
8.33% |
2 |
|
e |
bed |
11312 |
10940 |
2.30% |
4 |
2.97% |
3 |
|
æ |
bad |
11603 |
11149 |
2.35% |
3 |
1.45% |
9 |
|
ɑ |
bard |
4215 |
4141 |
0.86% |
14 |
0.79% |
14 |
|
ɒ |
pot |
7960 |
7747 |
1.62% |
6 |
1.37% |
10 |
|
ɔ |
port |
4730 |
4627 |
0.96% |
12 |
1.24% |
11 |
|
ʊ |
put |
1977 |
1959 |
0.40% |
17 |
0.86% |
13 |
|
u |
boot |
4794 |
4743 |
0.97% |
11 |
1.13% |
12 |
|
ʌ |
bud |
7124 |
6917 |
1.45% |
8 |
1.75% |
5 |
|
ɜ |
bird |
3095 |
3083 |
0.63% |
15 |
0.52% |
16 |
|
ə |
another |
31009 |
26813 |
6.29% |
2 |
10.74% |
1 |
|
eɪ |
bait |
10234 |
10029 |
2.08% |
5 |
1.71% |
6 |
|
aɪ |
bite |
7441 |
7236 |
1.51% |
7 |
1.83% |
4 |
|
oɪ |
boy |
788 |
784 |
0.16% |
20 |
0.14% |
19 |
|
aʊ |
cow |
2179 |
2135 |
0.44% |
16 |
0.61% |
15 |
|
əʊ |
no |
6685 |
6416 |
1.36% |
10 |
1.51% |
8 |
|
ɪə |
beer |
4174 |
4034 |
0.85% |
13 |
0.21% |
18 |
|
eə |
bear |
965 |
962 |
0.20% |
19 |
0.34% |
17 |
|
ʊə |
poor |
1053 |
1053 |
0.21% |
18 |
0.06% |
20 |
|
Consonants |
|||||||
|
p |
pop |
15553 |
14569 |
3.16% |
9 |
1.78% |
15 |
|
b |
bib |
10907 |
10420 |
2.21% |
11 |
1.97% |
13 |
|
t |
teat |
34260 |
29441 |
6.95% |
1 |
6.42% |
2 |
|
d |
died |
21275 |
19125 |
4.32% |
7 |
5.14% |
3 |
|
k |
cake |
22453 |
20308 |
4.56% |
6 |
3.09% |
9 |
|
g |
go |
6239 |
6079 |
1.27% |
14 |
1.05% |
18 |
|
ʧ |
chin |
2672 |
2639 |
0.54% |
21 |
0.41% |
22 |
|
ʤ |
judge |
3869 |
3802 |
0.79% |
18 |
0.60% |
21 |
|
f |
fine |
8839 |
8606 |
1.79% |
13 |
1.79% |
14 |
|
v |
vine |
6007 |
5859 |
1.22% |
16 |
2.00% |
12 |
|
Ɵ |
think |
1602 |
1591 |
0.33% |
22 |
0.37% |
23 |
|
ð |
then |
596 |
593 |
0.12% |
23 |
3.56% |
6 |
|
s |
see |
33922 |
28548 |
6.88% |
2 |
4.81% |
4 |
|
z |
zoo |
19972 |
18808 |
4.05% |
8 |
2.46% |
11 |
|
ʃ |
shy |
6117 |
6039 |
1.24% |
15 |
0.96% |
19 |
|
ʒ |
treasure |
334 |
334 |
0.07% |
24 |
0.10% |
24 |
|
m |
my |
14823 |
13988 |
3.01% |
10 |
3.22% |
8 |
|
n |
near |
31934 |
27020 |
6.48% |
3 |
7.58% |
1 |
|
ŋ |
sing |
9181 |
8958 |
1.86% |
12 |
1.15% |
17 |
|
l |
low |
27373 |
25435 |
5.56% |
4 |
3.66% |
5 |
|
r |
raw |
23069 |
21434 |
4.68% |
5 |
3.51% |
7 |
|
w |
west |
4600 |
4523 |
0.93% |
17 |
2.81% |
10 |
|
j |
year |
3560 |
3518 |
0.72% |
20 |
0.88% |
20 |
|
h |
high |
3699 |
3625 |
0.75% |
19 |
1.46% |
16 |
Notes:
Column 1 contains vowel or consonant phonetic characters. Column 2 shows an illustrative keyword.References:
Column 3 shows the total number of occurrences of the sound in the dictionary and column 4 the number of words in which it occurred. (The difference between these two corresponds to the number of words in which the sound occurs more than once.)
Column 5 is column 3 as a percentage of 492,745, the total number of symbols in the pronunciation field in the dictionary. Column 6 shows the frequency rank of the sound, separately calculated for vowels and consonants. Columns 7 and 8 are frequency as percentage and rank for transcribed running speech.Average number of vowel symbols per dictionary word: 2.55 or 36.3%
Average number of consonant symbols per dictionary word: 4.43 or 63.7%
Balance of vowels and consonants in connected speech sample: 39.2% : 60.8%.Notice the difference in frequencies of consonants between the dictionary list and the speech text, partly accounted for by the high frequency of the function words with /ð/ such as the and that . The data for transcribed running speech are affected by the transcription used. The research was done a long time ago (1947) so it may be that a careful style of speech was recorded and a broad transcription used. Some evidence for this is the relatively high ranking for /h/ , suggesting that the words he, his, her, have, has and had have always been transcribed with initial /h/ . I have not seen the original research so cannot be sure.
Crystal, David (1995).
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.
Cambridge University Press.
Fry, D.B. (1947). "The frequency of occurrence of speech sounds in Southern English."
Archives Néerlandaises de Phonétique Experimentales
, 20.
