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Pronunciation guide

This pronunciation guide has been developed and approved by the USAN Council, and was revised at the USAN Council meeting, July 14, 2006, to facilitate pronunciation of USAN and will be used on all future Statements of Adoption.

Syllables
Syllable designations are based upon phonetic considerations. A prime mark (') follows the primary accent syllable; a double prime mark (") follows any secondary accent syllable. All syllables are separated by a blank space. No diacritical marks are used.

Sounds and spelling
Short vowel sounds receive no special designations in any syllable.

Vowels, long - spelling designations in all syllables except the last syllable unless indicated otherwise:

a	ay	(may)
e	ee	(lee) same in last syllable also
i	eye ye	when by itself as a syllable when in conjunction with a consonant: lye
o	oh oe	(when by itself as a syllable) (when in conjunction with a consonant: toe)
u	ue	(cue, cure) same in last syllable also
y	ee i eye	(oxytocin, ox ee toe' sin) (thrombolytic, throm boe lit' ik) (kanamycin, kan a mye' sin)

Spelling designations in the last syllable: The vowels a, i, and o assume long vowel sounds by the addition of an e at the end of the syllable.

- rate

- bite

- toe

Short vowel sounds receive no special designation in any syllable.

Digraphs:

ah	father
aw	paw
oi	oil
oo	food
ou	ought
ow	out
oy	oil

ch	child
ng	sing
sh	shot
th	thought
wh	when

Consonant sounds and examples:

b	bed
c	citrate (si' trate) carbon (kar' bon)
d	door
f	floor
g	gore digital (di' ji tal)
h	hat
j	jar
k	king
l	low
m	my
n	no
p	pot
q	queen (kween)
r	rot
s	sing osmotic (oz mot' ik) aspirin (as' pir in) vision (vi' zhun)
t	taught
v	vote
w	wing
x	ox xanthines (zan' theens)
y	yes
z	zinc (zink)

Last updated: May 06, 2008
Content provided by: USAN