International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a special way to write down the sounds of spoken words. It was created by the International Phonetic Association a long time ago to help people understand how words sound. Many different groups use the IPA, including linguists, people who write dictionaries, students learning new languages, teachers, and even singers and actors.

The IPA focuses on capturing the small sounds that make up speech. It uses letters and small marks around the letters to show these sounds clearly. This helps people study languages, fix speech problems, or create new languages.

The IPA changes a little bit over time. The most recent update was in 2005. Today, it includes many letters and marks that help us write down almost any sound a person can make. You can see the full set of symbols in the IPA chart.

History

Main article: History of the International Phonetic Alphabet

In 1886, teachers from France and England, led by a language expert named Paul Passy, started the International Phonetic Association. They made a special alphabet to help write down speech sounds clearly. This idea came from another expert, Otto Jespersen. The alphabet used older writing systems.

At first, the symbols changed for each language. But as more languages were studied, the symbols were made the same for all. Since then, the alphabet has been updated many times. Big changes happened in 1989, with smaller updates in 1993 and 2005. Special symbols for speech problems were added in 1990 and updated later.

Description

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) helps us write down the exact sounds people make when speaking. It gives one symbol for each sound, so there are no confusing mixes of letters like in English. For example, English uses "sh" for one sound, but IPA uses just one symbol.

IPA symbols are mostly based on the Latin alphabet, with some extra letters from Greek and other scripts. They help linguists, teachers, and anyone who needs to show exactly how a word sounds. The IPA also includes special marks to show things like stress or tone, making it very useful for studying languages.

Modifying the IPA chart

The International Phonetic Alphabet is sometimes changed by the Association. After each change, the Association makes a new, simple chart to show the alphabet. (See History of the IPA.) Not everything can fit in the chart due to space. For example, the alveolo-palatal and epiglottal sounds are left out because they need more space. The lateral flap is also not in the main chart and is listed with other special symbols. There are many tone letters, so only a few are shown on the chart.

To change the alphabet, someone suggests the change in the Journal of the IPA. (See, for example, December 2008 on an open central unrounded vowel and August 2011 on central approximants.) Others can talk about the idea in the same or later issues of the Journal. Then, the Council of the IPA votes on the change.

Many people who use the alphabet, even the leaders of the Association, sometimes use it in their own way. The Journal of the IPA allows mixing IPA and extIPA symbols in charts. (For example, using the extIPA letter ⟨𝼆⟩ instead of ⟨ʎ̝̊⟩ in a chart.)

Usage

Further information: Phonetic transcription

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) has many symbols, but you only need a few to write speech in any language. When we write speech very exactly, showing every small sound, it is called a narrow transcription. When we write speech with fewer details, it is called a broad transcription. Both types are usually written inside square brackets.

For example, the English word little might be written simply as [ˈlɪtəl] or with more detail as [ˈɫɪɾɫ] in some American accents, [ˈlɪʔo] in Cockney, or [ˈɫɪːɫ] in Southern US English.

Phonemic transcriptions show the main sounds of speech and are written between slashes (/ /). They use simpler letters and fewer special marks. For example, the English words pick and peak might both be written as /ˈpik, ˈpiːk/.

Linguists

Linguists often use the IPA to write down how words sound. Some American linguists mix IPA with other symbols, but they should explain their choices.

Dictionaries

English

Many British dictionaries, such as the Oxford English Dictionary and some learner’s dictionaries like the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, use the IPA to show word pronunciations. However, most American dictionaries use simpler systems to show pronunciation instead.

Other languages

The IPA is not always used in dictionaries for languages other than English. Some dictionaries for languages that already have clear spelling rules do not show pronunciation. Others use different systems. For example, dictionaries in Israel rarely use IPA and might use the Hebrew alphabet instead.

Standard orthographies and case variants

Main article: Case variants of IPA letters

The IPA does not normally use uppercase and lowercase letters. But when IPA letters are used in actual writing systems for some languages, capital forms are created. This happens in many African languages, like Hausa, Fula, and Kabiyè in Togo.

Classical singing

The IPA is very useful for classical singers who need to sing in many different languages. It helps them improve their pronunciation and tone. Opera books are often written in IPA to help singers. Some websites use opera singers to record words and phrases because of their strong pronunciation and knowledge of IPA.

Letters

See also: International Phonetic Alphabet chart

The International Phonetic Association organizes the letters of the IPA into three categories: pulmonic consonants, non-pulmonic consonants, and vowels.

Pulmonic consonant letters are arranged singly or in pairs of voiceless (tenuis) and voiced sounds, with these then grouped in columns from front (labial) sounds on the left to back (glottal) sounds on the right. In official publications by the IPA, two columns are omitted to save space, with the letters listed among "other symbols" even though theoretically they belong in the main chart.

Vowel letters are also grouped in pairs – of unrounded and rounded vowel sounds – with these pairs also arranged from front on the left to back on the right, and from maximal closure at top to minimal closure at bottom.

Consonants

See also: IPA consonant chart with audio

Pulmonic consonants

A pulmonic consonant is a consonant made by obstructing the glottis (the space between the vocal folds) or oral cavity (the mouth) and either simultaneously or subsequently letting out air from the lungs. Pulmonic consonants make up the majority of consonants in the IPA, as well as in human language. All consonants in English fall into this category.

The pulmonic consonant table, which includes most consonants, is arranged in rows that designate manner of articulation, meaning how the consonant is produced, and columns that designate place of articulation, meaning where in the vocal tract the consonant is produced. The main chart includes only consonants with a single place of articulation.

Notes

• In rows where some letters appear in pairs (the obstruents), the letter to the right represents a voiced consonant, except breathy-voiced [ɦ]. In the other rows (the sonorants), the single letter represents a voiced consonant.
• Shaded areas indicate articulations judged to be impossible.
• The letters [β, ð, ʁ, ʕ, ʢ] are canonically voiced fricatives but may be used for approximants.
• In many languages, such as English or Korean, [h] and [ɦ] are not actually glottal, fricatives, or approximants. Rather, they are bare phonation.
• [ʜ, ʢ] are defined as epiglottal fricatives under the "Other symbols" section in the official IPA chart, but they may be treated as trills at the same place of articulation as [ħ, ʕ] because trilling of the aryepiglottic folds typically co-occurs.
• Some listed phones are not known to exist as phonemes in any language.

Non-pulmonic consonants

Non-pulmonic consonants are sounds whose airflow is not dependent on the lungs. These include clicks (found in the Khoisan languages and some neighboring Bantu languages of Africa), implosives (found in languages such as Sindhi, Hausa, Swahili and Vietnamese), and ejectives (found in many Amerindian and Caucasian languages).

Notes

• Clicks have traditionally been described as consisting of a forward place of articulation, commonly called the click "type" or historically the "influx", and a rear place of articulation, which when combined with the quality of the click is commonly called the click "accompaniment" or historically the "efflux".
• Letters for the voiceless implosives ⟨ƥ, ƭ, ƈ, ƙ, ʠ⟩ are no longer supported by the IPA, though they remain in Unicode. Instead, the IPA typically uses the voiced equivalent with a voiceless diacritic: ⟨ɓ̥, ɗ̥⟩, etc.
• The letter for the retroflex implosive, ⟨ᶑ  ⟩, is not "explicitly IPA approved", but the IPA has endorsed the inclusion of ⟨ᶑ  ⟩ and voiceless ⟨𝼉⟩ into Unicode.^{[citation needed]}
• The ejective diacritic is placed at the right-hand margin of the consonant, rather than immediately after the letter for the stop: ⟨t͜ʃʼ⟩, ⟨kʷʼ⟩.

Affricates

Affricates and co-articulated stops are represented by two letters in sequence. For clarity, this digraph may be joined by a tie bar, which may appear either above or below the letters with no difference in meaning. Affricates are optionally represented by ligatures – e.g. ⟨ʧ, ʤ  ⟩ – though this is no longer official IPA usage. Alternatively, a superscript notation for a consonant release is sometimes used to transcribe affricates, for example ⟨tˢ⟩ for [t͜s], although in precise notation this would indicate a fricative release rather than an affricate.

Because in a true affricate the plosive element and the fricative element are homorganic, and the place of articulation of an affricate is most audible in the fricative element, the letter for the former will not always be precisely transcribed where such precision would be redundant.

Co-articulated consonants

Co-articulated consonants are sounds that involve two simultaneous places of articulation (are pronounced using two parts of the vocal tract). In English, the [w] in "went" is a coarticulated consonant, being pronounced by rounding the lips and raising the back of the tongue. Similar sounds are [ʍ] and [ɥ]. In some languages, plosives can be double-articulated, for example in the name of Laurent Gbagbo.

Notes

• [ɧ], the Swedish sj-sound, is described by the IPA as a "simultaneous [ʃ] and [x]", but it is unlikely such a simultaneous fricative actually exists in any language.
• Multiple tie bars can be used: ⟨a͡b͡c⟩ or ⟨a͜b͜c⟩. For instance, a pre-voiced velar affricate may be transcribed as ⟨g͡k͡x⟩.
• If a diacritic needs to be placed on or under a tie bar, the combining grapheme joiner (U+034F) needs to be used, as in [b͜͏̰də̀bdʊ̀] 'chewed' (Margi). Font support is spotty, however.

With the implosives, authors may not bother to redundantly mark both letters as implosive, but instead write them as less-cluttered ⟨ɡ͡ɓ⟩ and even ⟨k͜ƥ⟩.

Vowels

Main article: Vowel

See also: Cardinal vowels, Vowel diagram, and IPA vowel chart with audio

The IPA defines a vowel as a sound which occurs at a syllable center. Below is a chart depicting the vowels of the IPA. The IPA maps the vowels according to the position of the tongue.

The vertical axis of the chart is mapped by vowel height. Vowels pronounced with the tongue lowered are at the bottom, and vowels pronounced with the tongue raised are at the top. For example, [ɑ] (the first vowel in father) is at the bottom because the tongue is lowered in this position. [i] (the vowel in "meet") is at the top because the sound is said with the tongue raised to the roof of the mouth.

In a similar fashion, the horizontal axis of the chart is determined by vowel backness. Vowels with the tongue moved towards the front of the mouth (such as [ɛ], the vowel in "met") are to the left in the chart, while those in which it is moved to the back (such as [ʌ], the vowel in "but") are placed to the right in the chart.

In places where vowels are paired, the right represents a rounded vowel (in which the lips are rounded) while the left is its unrounded counterpart.

Diphthongs

Diphthongs may be written as simple sequences of letters, but for clarity they are commonly specified with a non-syllabic diacritic, as in ⟨ui̯⟩ or ⟨u̯i⟩, or with a superscript for the on- or off-glide, as in ⟨uⁱ⟩ or ⟨ᵘi⟩. Sometimes a tie bar is used: ⟨u͜i⟩, especially when it is difficult to tell if the diphthong is characterized by an on-glide or an off-glide, or when it is variable.

Notes

• ⟨a⟩ officially represents a front vowel, but there is little if any distinction between front and central open vowels (see Vowel § Acoustics), and ⟨a⟩ is frequently used for an open central vowel. If disambiguation is required, the retraction diacritic or the centralized diacritic may be added to indicate an open central vowel, as in ⟨a̠⟩ or ⟨ä⟩.

Diacritics and prosodic notation

Diacritics are special marks added to letters. They show small changes in how a sound is spoken. They help make pronunciation clear.

When a letter is made smaller and placed above or below another letter, it changes that sound. For example, adding a small mark can show a breathy voice or a glottal stop.

Suprasegmentals

These symbols describe how sounds are put together in a word or sentence. They show things like stress, pitch, and rhythm. They show how the voice rises and falls and where the emphasis is.

Stress

Stress marks show which part of a word is said more strongly. The main stress is shown before the stressed syllable. Sometimes a mark can be doubled for extra emphasis.

Boundary markers

Boundary markers show where words or parts of words begin and end. There are symbols for small breaks between syllables and larger breaks between words or thoughts.

Pitch and tone

Pitch and tone show how high or low the voice is. Marks can be placed above or below letters to show high, low, rising, or falling pitches. Different symbols help show how the voice changes when speaking.

Comparative degree

Diacritics can sometimes be doubled to show a stronger or more intense sound, like extra stress or a longer length of sound.

Brackets and transcription delimiters

There are two main types of brackets used to write IPA sounds.

Some other ways to show sounds exist, but they are less common.

Examples from books show how different brackets can be used to compare sounds:

In some English accents, the sound /l/, usually written as ⟨l⟩ or ⟨ll⟩, can be said in two ways.

The changes /f/ – /v/ when making plurals in some nouns, like knife /naɪf/ – knives /naɪvz/, can be shown with special symbols.

Ambiguous letters

The letters in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) can sometimes be used in different ways, depending on the language. This is because the IPA focuses on sounds that matter in each language.

Some letters can mean more than one thing. For example, certain symbols might stand for sounds made with a soft vibration or a smooth glide. Writers should always explain what each symbol means when they use it.

Superscript letters

Main article: Unicode subscripts and superscripts § Superscript IPA

See also: Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet § Superscript variants

Superscript IPA letters help show small details about sounds. They can describe tiny changes in sounds, how sounds change into each other, or very light extra sounds. For example, they can show how one sound affects a nearby sound.

These superscript letters can also have special marks added, just like regular letters. This helps keep the writing clear and easy to read.

Obsolete and nonstandard symbols

Main articles: Obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet, Click letter, and Sinological extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet

Some letters and marks in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) have been replaced over time. These include duplicates and symbols that people chose not to use anymore. While these older symbols are not used today, you might still see them in some books.

The IPA sometimes had two options for one symbol but picked one to keep. For example, the vowel symbol ⟨ɷ⟩ was replaced by ⟨ʊ⟩. Some symbols for sounds made by mixing two speech actions were also retired. Now, these are shown with special marks instead.

Books sometimes use symbols that are not part of the standard IPA. This can include special symbols for certain sounds, letters for tones in Chinese, or numbers to show tone levels. These choices can help compare sounds across languages or fit the symbols into typewriters when IPA letters are not available.

Extensions

Main article: Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet

The Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet for Disordered Speech, often called "extIPA", are special symbols. They are used to write sounds that happen when someone speaks in an unusual way. These symbols were created by language experts in 1989 and shared in 1990. They were updated in 1994. These symbols can also show sounds like hissing or clinking teeth, and some regular speech sounds that the main IPA does not have symbols for.

There are also special symbols called Voice Quality Symbols. These help show extra ways air moves when we speak and other small details in how we shape our sounds.

Associated notation

Capital letters and special symbols add more meaning to the International Phonetic Alphabet. These symbols help describe sounds and patterns in speech that the basic alphabet alone cannot show.

Associated symbols

There are special symbols used with IPA to show things like old words, unclear grammar, or where words begin and end. For example:

• ⟨*⟩ shows a word that scholars think existed in the past but cannot be proven.
• ⟨?⟩ marks a word that might not follow normal grammar rules.
• ⟨#⟩ marks the start or end of a word.

Capital letters

Big capital letters are not regular IPA symbols, but they are often used for two main reasons:

1. To stand for groups of sounds, like all consonants or all vowels.
2. To show special voice qualities in speech.

For example, ⟨C⟩ can mean any consonant, and ⟨V⟩ can mean any vowel. These capital letters help experts describe sounds in a simple way when the exact sound isn’t known or when talking about groups of sounds.

Segments without letters

The empty spaces on the IPA chart can be filled in when needed.

The missing retroflex letters, like ⟨ᶑ ꞎ 𝼅 𝼈 𝼊  ⟩, are part of the alphabet. The IPA supports adding them to Unicode. We find the retroflex implosive ⟨ᶑ  ⟩, the voiceless retroflex lateral fricative ⟨ꞎ  ⟩, the retroflex lateral flap ⟨𝼈  ⟩ and the retroflex click ⟨𝼊  ⟩ in writing. The first is also in the IPA Handbook, and the lateral fricatives are offered by the extIPA.

The epiglottal trill is covered by the trilled epiglottal "fricatives" ⟨ʜ ʢ⟩. Some descriptions of English use special letters for near-close central vowels, ⟨ᵻ ᵿ⟩. These are reduced vowels and fit with the IPA reduced vowels ⟨ə ɐ⟩. Simple points in vowel space can be written with diacritics: ⟨ɪ̈ ʊ̈⟩ or ⟨ɨ̞ ʉ̞⟩. Diacritics can fill most of the rest of the chart. If a sound cannot be written down, an asterisk ⟨*⟩ can be used, either as a letter or as a mark added to a letter (as in ⟨k*⟩ for the Korean "fortis" velar).

Consonants

We can show consonant sounds not in the main set by adding marks to letters with similar sounds. The Spanish bilabial and dental sounds are often written as lowered fricatives, [β̞] and [ð̞]. Voiced lateral fricatives can be shown as raised lateral approximants, [ɭ˔ ʎ̝ ʟ̝], and the extIPA also offers ⟨𝼅⟩ for the first of these. Some languages such as Banda use a bilabial flap as the main sound instead of a labiodental flap. It has been suggested to write this with the labiodental flap letter and the advanced mark, [ⱱ̟]. Labiodental plosives are now [p̪ b̪] (bilabial plosives with the dentalization mark) instead of the old letters ⟨ȹ ȸ⟩. Other taps can be written as extra-short plosives or laterals, e.g. [ɢ̆ ʟ̆]. A retroflex trill can be shown as a retracted [r̠].

Vowels

Vowels can also be handled by using marks for raising, lowering, fronting, backing, centering, and mid-centering. For example, the unrounded form of [ʊ] can be written as mid-centered [ɯ̽], and the rounded form of [æ] as raised [ɶ̝] or lowered [œ̞]. True mid vowels are lowered [e̞ ø̞ ɘ̞ ɵ̞ ɤ̞ o̞] or raised [ɛ̝ œ̝ ɜ̝ ɞ̝ ʌ̝ ɔ̝], while centralized [ɪ̈ ʊ̈] and [ä] (or, less commonly, [ɑ̈]) can be used for near-close and open central vowels.

The only vowels that cannot be shown this way are vowels with unusual roundedness. To write these clearly, special marks are needed. Options include ⟨ʏʷ⟩ or ⟨ɪʷ⟩ for one type and ⟨uᵝ⟩ (or VoQS ⟨ɯᶹ⟩) for another. However, these ways of writing may suggest the sounds are diphthongs. This works for a language like Swedish where they are diphthongs but may be wrong for languages such as Japanese where they are not. The extIPA 'spread' mark ⟨◌͍⟩ is sometimes used for compressed ⟨u͍⟩, ⟨o͍⟩, ⟨ɔ͍⟩, ⟨ɒ͍⟩.

Symbol names

Main article: Naming conventions of the International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) uses special symbols to show sounds when we speak. These symbols can have different names in different places. For example, one book might name a symbol one way, but a computer might name it another way.

Usually, the names of normal letters, like those in the English or Greek alphabets, are used for IPA symbols. For symbols that look unusual, they might be named by how they look or the sound they make. There are also special names for symbols with extra marks, like calling one “e-with an accent”.

extraordinary language tool

Computer support

Unicode

Main article: Phonetic symbols in Unicode § IPA

Unicode has almost all IPA symbols. The main groups come from IPA Extensions, Spacing Modifier Letters, and Combining Diacritical Marks. Other groups also help support the IPA.

IPA numbers

Main article: IPA number

After the Kiel Convention in 1989, most IPA symbols got proncipal numbers to avoid mix-ups when printing. These numbers were not used much and are now replaced by Unicode.

Typefaces

Many fonts can show IPA symbols, but showing the small marks correctly is still hard. Web browsers usually show IPA symbols without extra setup if the right font is installed.

Free fonts

Fonts like Gentium, Charis SIL, Doulos SIL, and Andika from SIL International work well with IPA symbols. They also support older tone symbols and can show certain vowel sounds differently when italicized. Some special symbols are missing, though.

Basic Latin Noto fonts made by Google also support many IPA symbols, but they miss some less common ones.

DejaVu is another free font chosen by the IPA. It was last updated in 2016 and does not include the newest symbols.

Proprietary system fonts

Calibri, used in Microsoft Office, and Times New Roman work well with IPA symbols but are not as full as some free fonts. Other Microsoft fonts like Arial do not work as well.

Apple fonts like Geneva, Lucida Grande, and Hiragino only have basic IPA support.

Notable commercial fonts

Brill includes all IPA symbols added to Unicode by 2020 and works well with small marks and tone symbols. It is a paid‑paid font but free for non‑commercial use.

ASCII and keyboard transliterations

Further information: Comparison of ASCII encodings of the International Phonetic Alphabet

Some systems change IPA symbols into ASCII letters. Examples are SAMPA and X-SAMPA. These help people type IPA symbols when regular keyboards do not have them.

IETF language tags

IETF language tags have a special tag called fonipa for text written in IPA. For example, an IPA version of English can be labeled as en-fonipa. If the IPA text is not tied to a specific language, und-fonipa can be used.

Computer input using on-screen keyboard

There are online tools to help type IPA symbols, but none include every symbol. Examples include the IPA 2018 i-charts from the IPA, IPA character picker by Richard Ishida, Type IPA phonetic symbols at TypeIt.org, and an IPA Chart keyboard by Weston Ruter. In April 2019, Google's Gboard for Android added an IPA keyboard. For iOS, there are several free keyboard options, like the IPA Phonetic Keyboard.