The sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet | Antimoon1. Almost all dictionaries use the e symbol for the vowel in bed. The problem with this convention is that e in the IPA does not stand for the vowel in bed; it stands for a different vowel that is heard, for example, in the German word Seele. The “proper” symbol for the bed-vowel is ɛ (do not confuse with ɜ:). The same goes for eə vs. ɛə. 2. In əʳ and ɜ:ʳ, the ʳ is not pronounced in BrE, unless th
