Remaining ER notes

These are outnumbered by the notes for the one other sound represented by the spelling *ER* (/ə/).

/ɜ:/ Notes

1. adversarial
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this vowel but the audio sample has  /ə/.
2. advertisement
   Stress (in British English) is on the second syllable, but a possible American pronunciation has stress on the third syllable (with /ə/ in the second), and this pronunciation is not infrequent among some speakers of British English.
3. alternate
   This is the adjective, with stress on the second syllable, but see also /ə/ for the verb.
4. berserk
   The second syllable has this sound. See also  /ə/.
5. controversyAn alternative (and quite common) pronunciation has stress on the second syllable and /ə/ in third.
6. dermatological
   Not in the Macmillan English Dictionary as a headword. The link is to the Collins English Dictionary entry for dermatology which includes this as a Derived form.
7. deserved and deservedly
   The verb has two syllable, but the adverb has four.
8. determinate
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this vowel, but seems to be introducing a nasal to the final syllable . This may be because the word determinate is much less common than its antonym (indeterminate); (The Britisn National Corpus has about half as many instances of determinate as of indeterminate , and in the Corpus of Contemporary American the weighting is nearly twice as marked.) The nearest soundalike (with /ə/ in the final syllable) is determinant. (more than twice as common in the Britisn National Corpus, three times as common in the Corpus of Contemporary American).
9. ferment
   This is the noun, stressed on the first syllable. The verb has stress on the second syllable and /ə/ in the first.
10. Germanic, hermaphrodite and hermeticThe Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this vowel but the audio sample has  /ə/ (a common and perfectly acceptable alternative).
11. inadvertentThe adjective is not included as a headword in Macmillan Engish Dictionary (although inadvertently is). The link is to the Collins Engish Dictionary.
12. kerbside
    This escapes the exclusion of compounds because it is chiefly used metaphorically, with no reference to nearness to the kerb (as in "kerbside recycling" - which rarely if ever involves adjacency to the kerb).
13. perfect
    This is the adjective. with stress on the first syllable. See also in the  /ə/ section. 
14. perfumed
    The Macmillan Engish Dictionary gives this, with primary stress on the first syllable, for British English. In American English, the stress is on the second syllable (with /ə/ in the first syllable). 
15. permit and pervert
    This is the noun, with stress on the first syllable. See also the  /ə/  section for the verb, which is stressed on the second syllable.
16. perseverance, persevere, and  persevering
    This sound is in the first syllable. For the sound in the third syllable, see the /iə/ section.
17. servery
    This sound is in the first syllable. See also /ə/.
18. superfluous. superlative, and superlatively
    This escapes the usual exclusion of words that start "super-" because neither *fluous  nor *lative is a free-standing word.; and besides the sound is not /ə/.
19. vermicelli
    The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this vowel but the audio sample is /eə/, an approximation to the Italian.
20. vermouth
    The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this vowel as does the audio sample, but another pronunciation (with stress on the second syllable and /ə/ in the first) is common. The Macmillan English Dictionary gives this pronunciation, with matching audio, calling it "American", but (confusingly, and presumably unintentionally) uses the same transcription.

/e/ Notes

1. a posteriori
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this vowel but the audio sample is /ɪə/. Both are used.
2. beriberi
   Both -ers represent this sound.
3. cerebral
   With this pronunciation, stress is on the first syllable. American English has stress on the second syllable, with /ə/ in the first (as in cerebrum). This pronunciation is becoming common in the UK.
4. ferret
   Note that, unlike with many noun/verb pairs (for example ferment), the verb has the same pronunciation as the noun.
5. herringbone
   This escapes the usual exclusion of compounds, because its chief use is as a metaphor that has little immediate relevance to fish.

/ɪə/ Notes

1. adherence
   Except in words ending -ere[d],the Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this diphthong but the audio sample is /i:/ (throughout this section).
2. arteriosclerosis
   This sound occurs in the first of the *er* syllables; for the second see e.
3. deleterious
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this diphthong but the audio sample is /eə/. Both pronunciations are common.
4. interfere, interference, and interfering
   This sound is in the third syllable; the sound /ə/ occurs in the second.
5. materiel
   The final syllable uses the /e/ sound (unlike material which has /ə/). The Macmillan English Dictionary has this transcription, but the audio example is /ə/. Presumably this is an unintentional slip.
6. perseverance, persevere, and persevering
   This sound is in the third syllable. For the sound in the first syllable, see the /ɜ:/ section.
7. serotonin
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this diphthong but the audio sample  uses /e/ (a common alternative).

/ɪ/ Notes

1. bereave
   The Macmillan English Dictionary does not list the bare infinitive, only the participle. Others do (the link is to the Collins English Dictionary).
2. derivative and erase
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this sound but the audio sample has a hint of /e/.
3. erratic
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this sound but the audio sample has /e/ - a common pronunciation.
4. ineradicable
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this sound but the audio sample has /ə/. Either is acceptable.

/eə/ Notes

1. bolero
   This vowel is in the second syllable. An alternative pronunciation, with stress on the first syllable, has /ə/ in the second.
2. ersatz
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this diphthong but the audio sample has /ɜ:/ - a common anglicization.
3. werewolf
   This escapes the general exclusion of compounds because wer (in the sense man) is not a word in Modern English.

/ɑ:/ Notes

*ER* represents this sound in a dwindling number of words. For example, in the BBC Radio comedy series The Navy Lark recorded 1959-61, the rear end of a ship is called its /stɑ:n/, but I have only ever heard the /ɑ:/ pronunciation in that context 

1. sergeant and sergeant-at-arms
   The Macmillan English Dictionary has no option with the -j- spelling for the word on its own, but other dictionaries do. The Macmillan English Dictionary does, though, for the derived phrase.

Notes for other sounds

1. every
   The *er* is occasionally enunciated, in childish speech or in music or poetry, if scansion requires it.
2. knobk[i]errie
   The Macmillan English Dictionary transcription has this sound but the audio sample /e/. The /i/ pronunciation presumably refers to the -ier- spelling.
3. croupier and dossier
   While croupier has, in the Macmillan English Dictionary a single English pronunciation (/ə/), dossier has two (/ə/ and /eɪ/). The reason (if any) for this is not clear; in fact, in my experience, the /eɪ/ pronunciatrion is if anything more common in the case of croupier (perhaps because of its association with smart ‘continental‘ life-styles).