Key to pronunciation: East African English
View the pronunciation model for East African English here.
The pronunciations given are those in use among speakers of standard English in the East African nations of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. While avoiding strongly regionally or socially marked forms, they are intended to include the most common variants for each word.
Words associated with East Africa are given British and American pronunciations alongside the East African pronunciation(s). Where a word is associated with an additional part of the English-speaking world, further pronunciations in the appropriate global variety of English are also given.
To hear the pronunciation spoken aloud, click the blue play icon to the left of each transcription.
Vowels
| East African English | As in… |
| i | fleece, happy, kit |
| e | dress, nurse, face |
| a | trap, bath, cup, nurse, palm, start, letter |
| o | lot, cloth, force, thought, goat |
| ʊa | cure |
| ea | square |
| ia | here |
| u | foot, goose |
| ai | pride |
| oi | choice |
| au | mouth |
Consonants
| As in… | |
| b | big /biɡ/ |
| d | dig /diɡ/ |
| dʒ | jet /dʒet/ |
| ð | brother /ˈbraða/, thin /ðin/ |
| f | fig /fiɡ/ |
| ɡ | get /ɡet/ |
| h | head /hed/ |
| w | wet /wet/ |
| j | yes /jes/ |
| k | kit /kit/ |
| l | leg /leɡ/ |
| m | mud /mad/ |
| n | net /net/ |
| ŋ | ring /riŋ/ |
| p | pit /pit/ |
| r | red /red/ |
| s | sit /sit/ |
| ʃ | ship /ʃip/ |
| t | tip /tip/ |
| tʃ | chip /tʃip/ |
| v | van /van/ |
| z | zip /zip/ |
| ʒ | beige /beʒ/ |
The consonants /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ and even /l/ or /r/ can take on the function of a vowel in some unstressed syllables. It should generally be clear when this interpretation is intended, but in cases of potential ambiguity, the consonant symbol may appear with a diacritic, as in the British and U.S. pronunciations.
Stress
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress. The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress. The symbol ˈˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable may be pronounced with either primary or secondary stress.