ia

Explore the English multigraph 'ia' in this lesson, where you'll learn about its varied pronunciations and how context influences its sound in different words.

'ia' as a digraph has some sounds that we are going to talk about here.

Digraphs are a set of two letters that stand together and produce a new sound.

Digraph	ia
Name	ia (pronounced /ˈaɪ ˈeɪ /)
Common Sound(s)	/iə/, /ə/, /iɑ/, /ieɪ/, /aɪə/, /iæ/, /aɪæ/

Pie Chart of Digraph 'ia' Pronunciation in American English

The Digraph 'ia'

Sound 1: /iə/

The most common sound 'ia' makes is /iə/:

media /ˈmidiə/

radiant /ˈɹeɪdiənt/

bacteria /bækˈtɪɹiə/

pianist /ˈpiənɪst/

Sound 2: /ə/

'ia' sounds /ə/:

special /ˈspeʃəl/

Egyptian /iˈdʒɪpʃən/

official /əˈfɪʃəl/

social /ˈsoʊʃəl/

Sound 3: /iɑ/

'ia' can also produce the /iɑ/ sound:

caviar /ˈkæviˌɑɹ/

fiance /fiˈɑnseɪ/

tiara /tiˈɑɹə/

Sound 4: /ieɪ/

'ia' also produces the /ieɪ/ sound:

initiate /ɪˈnɪʃieɪt/

radiator /ˈreɪdieɪt̬ɚ/

deviation /diviˈeɪʃən/

Sound 5: /aɪə/

'ia' also sounds /aɪə/:

trial /ˈtɹaɪəl/

psychiatrist /ˌsaɪˈkaɪətɹɪst/

bias /ˈbaɪəs/

Sound 6: /iæ/

'ia' can produce the sound /iæ/:

enthusiastic /ɪnˌθuːziˈæstɪk/

zodiac /ˈzoʊdiˌæk/

cardiac /ˈkɑɹdiˌæk/

Sound 7: /aɪæ/

Another diphthong 'ia' creates is /aɪæ/:

triangle /ˈtɹaɪˌæŋɡəl/

diameter /daɪˈæmɪɾɚ/

Viagra /vaɪˈæɡɹə/

Comments

(0)

Share on :

English VocabularyStart learning categorized English vocabulary on Langeek.

Click to start