International Phonetic Alphabet
Type	Partially featural alphabet
Spoken languages	Used for phonetic and phonemic transcription of any language
Time period	1888 to the present
Parent systems	Romic alphabet  â†’ Phonotypic alphabet   â†’ International Phonetic Alphabet
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)^[I] is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language.International Phonetic Association (IPA), Handbook. The IPA is used by linguists, speech pathologists and therapists, foreign language teachers and students, singers, actors, lexicographers, and translators.MacMahon, Michael K. C. (1996). "Phonetic Notation", in P. T. Daniels and W. Bright (eds.): The World\'s Writing Systems. New York: Oxford University Press, 821–846. ISBN 0-19-507993-0. Wall, Joan (1989). International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers: A Manual for English and Foreign Language Diction. Pst. ISBN 1877761508. 

The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are distinctive in spoken language: phonemes, intonation, and the separation of words and syllables. To represent additional qualities of speech such as tooth-gnashing, lisping, and sounds made with a cleft palate, an extended set of symbols called the Extended IPA is used.

As of 2007, there are 107 distinct letters and 56 diacritics and suprasegmentals in the IPA proper. Occasionally symbols are added, removed, or modified by the International Phonetic Association.

History

Main article: History of the IPA

In 1886, a group of French and British language teachers, led by the French linguist Paul Passy, formed what would come to be known (from 1897 onwards) as the International Phonetic Association (in French, l’Association phonétique internationale).International Phonetic Association, Handbook, pp 194–196 The original alphabet was based on a spelling reform for English known as the Romic alphabet, but in order to make it usable for other languages, the values of the symbols were allowed to vary from language to language."Originally, the aim was to make available a set of phonetic symbols which would be given different articulatory values, if necessary, in different languages." (International Phonetic Association, Handbook, pp 195–196) For example, the sound /ʃ/ (sh in shoe) was originally represented with the letter in English, but with the letter in French. However, in 1888, the alphabet was revised so as to be uniform across languages, thus providing the base for all future revisions.Passy, Paul (1888). "Our revised alphabet". The Phonetic Teacher: 57–60. 

Since its creation, the organization of vowels and consonants in the IPA has remained largely the same. However, the alphabet itself has undergone a few revisions. The IPA Kiel Convention in 1989 made many changes to the earlier 1932 version. A minor revision took place in 1993, with the addition of four mid-central vowels and the removal of symbols for voiceless implosives,Pullum and Ladusaw, Phonetic Symbol Guide, pp 152 & 209 and the alphabet was last revised in May 2005, when a symbol for the labiodental flap was added.Nicolaidis, Katerina (September 2005). Approval of New IPA Sound: The Labiodental Flap. International Phonetic Association. Retrieved on 2006-09-17. Apart from the addition and removal of symbols, changes to the IPA have consisted largely in renaming symbols and categories, and modifying typefaces.

Extensions of the alphabet are relatively recent; the Extended IPA was created in 1990 and officially adopted by the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association in 1994.International Phonetic Association, Handbook, p. 186

Description

A diagram illustrating the International Phonetic Alphabet.

The general principle of the IPA is to provide one symbol for each distinctive sound (or speech segment).“From its earliest days…the International Phonetic Association has aimed to provide ‘a separate sign for each distinctive sound; that is, for each sound which, being used instead of another, in the same language, can change the meaning of a word’.� (International Phonetic Association, Handbook, p. 27) This means that the IPA does not use letter combinations unless the sound being represented can be regarded as a sequence of two or more sounds.^[III] The IPA also does not usually have separate letters for two sounds if no known language makes a distinction between them (a property known as "selectiveness"),^[IV] and it does not use letters that represent multiple sounds, the way represents the consonant cluster [ks] in English. Additionally, in the IPA no letters have sound values that are context-dependent, such as in English (and most other European languages).

The symbols of the IPA are 107 letters for consonants and vowels, 31 diacritics which further specify those sounds, and 19 suprasegmentals, which indicate such qualities as length, tone, stress, and intonation.^[II]

Letterforms

The symbols chosen for the IPA are meant to harmonize with the Latin alphabet.^[V] For this reason, most symbols are either Latin or Greek letters, or modifications thereof. However, there are symbols that are neither: for example, the symbol denoting the glottal stop, <Ê”>, has the form of a "gelded" question mark, and was originally an apostrophe.^[VI] Indeed, a very few symbols, such as that of the voiced pharyngeal fricative, <Ê•>, though modified to look Latin, were inspired by glyphs in other writing systems (in this case, the Arabic letter <ﻉ>‎, `ain).

Despite its preference for letters that harmonize with the Latin alphabet, the International Phonetic Association has occasionally admitted symbols that do not have this property. For example, prior to 1989, the IPA symbols for click consonants were <​ʘ>, <​ʇ>, <​ʗ>, <​ʖ>, which more closely resemble Latin letter forms. However, except for <ʘ>, none of these symbols was reflective of contemporary practice among Khoisanists (the main users of symbols for click consonants). As a result, they were replaced by the less Latin-like but more widespread symbols <ʘ​>, <ǀ>, <ǃ>, <ǂ>, and <​�> at the IPA Kiel Convention in 1989.Laver, Principles of Phonetics,pp 174–175

Although the IPA diacritics are fully featural, there is little systemicity in the letter forms. A retroflex articulation is consistently indicated with a right-swinging tail, as in <ɖ ʂ ɳ>, and implosion by a top hook, <ɓ ɗ ɠ>, but other pseudo-featural elements are due to haphazard derivation and coincidence. For example, all nasal consonants but uvular <ɴ> are based on the form : <m ɱ n ɲ ɳ ŋ>. However, the similarity between <m> and <n> is a historical accident, <ɲ> and <ŋ> are derived from ligatures of gn and ng, and <ɱ> is an ad hoc imitation of <ŋ>. In none of these is the form consistent with other letters that share these places of articulation.

Symbols and sounds

The International Phonetic Alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, using as few non-Latin forms as possible. The Association created the IPA so that the sound values of most consonants taken from the Latin alphabet would correspond to “international usage�. Hence, the letters <b>, <d>, <f>, (hard) <ɡ>, (hard) <h>, <k>, <l>, <m>, <n>, <p>, (voiceless) <s>, <t>, <v>, <w>, and <z> have the values used in English; and the vowels from the Latin alphabet (<a>, <e>, <i>, <o>, <u>) correspond to the sound values of Latin: [i] is like the vowel in machine, [u] is as in rule, etc. Other letters may differ from English, but are used with these values in other European languages, such as <j>, <r>, and <y>.

This inventory was extended by using capital or cursive forms, diacritics, and rotation. There are also several derived from the Greek alphabet (<β>, <ɣ>, <ɛ>, <θ>, <ɸ>, <χ>, and <ʋ>), though the sound values may differ. For example, <ʋ> is a vowel in Greek, but an only indirectly related consonant in the IPA.

The sound values of modified Latin letters can often be derived from those of the original letters."The new letters should be suggestive of the sounds they represent, by their resemblance to the old ones." (International Phonetic Association, Handbook, p. 196) For example, letters with a rightward-facing hook at the bottom represent retroflex consonants; and small capital letters usually represent uvular consonants. Apart from the fact that certain kinds of modification to the shape of a letter generally correspond to certain kinds of modification to the sound represented, there is no way to deduce the sound represented by a symbol from the shape of the symbol (unlike, for example, in Visible Speech).

Beyond the letters themselves, there are a variety of secondary symbols which aid in transcription. Diacritic marks can be combined with IPA letters to transcribe modified phonetic values or secondary articulations. There are also special symbols for suprasegmental features such as stress and tone that are often employed.

Usage

Further information: Phonetic transcription

A transcription of the French word ébauche ("sketch, unfinished work".)

Although the IPA offers over a hundred symbols for transcribing speech, it is not necessary to use all relevant symbols at the same time; it is possible to transcribe speech with various levels of accuracy. The most accurate kind of phonetic transcription, in which sounds are described in as much detail as the system allows, without any regard for the linguistic significance of the distinctions thus made, is known as narrow transcription. Anything else is termed broad transcription, though "broad" is obviously a relative term. Both kinds of transcriptions are generally enclosed in brackets, but broad transcriptions are sometimes enclosed in slashes instead of brackets.

Two phonetic transcriptions of the word "international," demonstrating two distinctly different pronunciations.

Broad transcription only distinguishes sounds which are considered different by speakers of a language. Sounds that may be pronounced differently between styles and dialects or depending on neighbouring sounds can be considered the "same" sound in the sense that they are allophones of the same phoneme. When a word is written as phonemes, it is usually enclosed in slashes. For example, the American pronunciation of the English word "little" may be transcribed broadly using the IPA as /lɪtl/. This broad transcription merely identifies the separate phonetically relevant components of the word, and does not indicate the variety of corresponding sounds. On the other hand, the narrow transcription (placed between square brackets) specifies the way each sound is pronounced. A more narrow transcription of "little" would be different depending on the way it is said: [lɪɾɫ], [lɪʔɫ], or [lɪ�ɫ] are just a few possibilities.

Neither broad nor narrow transcription using the IPA provides an absolute description; rather, they provide relative descriptions of phonetic sounds. This is especially true with respect to the IPA vowels: there exists no hard and fast mapping between IPA symbols and formant frequency ranges, and in fact one set of formant frequencies may correspond to two different IPA symbols, depending on the phonology of the language in question.

Use by linguists

Although IPA is popular for transcription by linguists, it is also common to use Americanist phonetic notation or IPA together with some nonstandard symbols, for reasons including reducing the error rate on reading handwritten transcriptions or (arguable) awkwardness of IPA in some situations. The exact practice may vary somewhat between languages and even individual researchers, so authors should include a chart or other explanation of their choices.Sally Thomason (January 2, 2008). Why I Don\'t Love the International Phonetic Alphabet. Language Log.

Use in dictionaries

Many British English dictionaries, such as the Oxford Advanced Learner\'s Dictionary and the Cambridge Advanced Learner\'s Dictionary, now use the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent the pronunciation of words.Phonetics. Cambridge Dictionaries Online (2002). Retrieved on 2007-03-11. However, most American (and some British) volumes use their own conventions supposed to be more intuitive for readers unfamiliar with the IPA. For example, the pronunciation-representation systems in many American dictionaries (such as Merriam-Webster) use "y" for IPA [j] and "sh" for IPA [ʃ], reflecting common representations of those sounds in written English.Merriam-Webster Online Pronunciation Symbols. Retrieved on 2007-06-04.
Agnes, Michael (1999). Webster\'s New World College Dictionary. New York, NY: Macmillan USA, xxiii. ISBN 0-02-863119-6. 
Pronunciation respelling for English has detailed comparisons. (In IPA, [y] represents the sound of the French u (as in tu), and [sh] represents the pair of sounds in grass hut.)

One of the benefits of using an alternative to the IPA is the ability to use a single symbol for a sound pronounced differently in different dialects. For example, the American Heritage Dictionary uses � for the vowel in cot (k�t) but ô for the one in caught (kôt).Pronunciation Key. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Bartleby.com (2000). Retrieved on 2006-09-19. American regional dialects without the caught-cot merger generally pronounce c�t like IPA [kʰɑt] (with an open central unrounded vowel) and côt like IPA [kʰɔt] (with an open back rounded vowel), whereas those with the merger pronounce the vowels � and ô the same way (for example, like IPA [ɒ] in the Boston dialect). Using one symbol for the vowel in cot (instead of having different symbols for different pronunciations of the o) enables the dictionary to provide meaningful pronunciations for speakers of most dialects of English.

The IPA is also not universal among dictionaries in other countries and languages. Mass-market Czech multilingual dictionaries, for instance, tend to use the IPA only for sounds not found in the Czech language.(Czech) Fronek, J. (2006). Velký anglicko-Ä�eský slovník (in Czech). Praha: Leda. ISBN 80-7335-022-X. â€œIn accordance with long-established Czech lexicographical tradition, a modified version of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is adopted in which letters of the Czech alphabet are employed.â€� 

Educational initiative

There is some interest in using native speakers to produce sound and video files of sufficient breadth to completely demonstrate all the speech sounds covered by the IPA. Such a project would encompass a large subset of the world\'s languages. This would aid linguistic and anthropologic research, as well as help teach language learning. Specifically, the development of a reference standard using the IPA (mirroring the idea of the Rosetta Stone) could be used in order to preserve intact examples of the sounds of human language. For education, the IPA can help standardize resources which prepare students and very young children (ages 6-36 months) for universal language acquisition through familiarization and subsequent imitation of the breadth of human speech sounds."Information Development News", Information Development, December 2004, pp. 233-238. doi:10.1177/0266666904049421.  Research by Flege, Mackay and Piske (2002) and Sebastián-Gallés, Echeverría and Bosch (2005) have shown that early exposure to extra phonetic sounds and uses improves later comprehension and pronunciation (accent).

Use in orthographies and capital variants

See also: Latin characters in Unicode

IPA symbols have been incorporated into the standard orthographies of various languages, notably in Subsaharan Africa but in other regions as well. These include for example: Hausa; Fula; Akan; Gbe languages; and Manding languages.

An example of capital letter forms for IPA symbols is Kabiyé of northern Togo, which has Ɔ � Ŋ Ɣ Ʃ (capital ɔ ɛ ŋ ɣ ʃ). Other IPA-paired capitals include �/Ƃ Ƈ Ɗ/Ƌ �/Ǝ Ɠ Ħ Ɯ � Ɵ Ʈ Ʊ Ʋ Ʒ.

The abovementioned and other capital forms are supported by Unicode, but appear in Latin ranges other than the IPA extensions.

Letters

The International Phonetic Alphabet divides its letter symbols into three categories: pulmonic consonants, non-pulmonic consonants, and vowels."Segments can usefully be divided into two major categories, consonants and vowels." (International Phonetic Association, Handbook, p. 3)International Phonetic Association, Handbook, p. 6. Each character is assigned a number, to prevent confusion between similar letters (such as ɵ and θ), for example in printing manuscripts. Different categories of sounds are assigned different ranges of numbers.

Pulmonic consonants

Main article: Consonant

A pulmonic consonant is a consonant made by obstructing the glottis (the space between the vocal cords) 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 the English language fall into this category.Fromkin, Victoria; Rodman, Robert [1974] (1998). An Introduction to Language, 6th edition, Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. ISBN 0-03-018682-X. 

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

• Asterisks (*) mark reported sounds that do not (yet) have official IPA symbols. See the respective articles for ad hoc symbols found in the literature.
• Daggers (†) mark IPA symbols that do not yet have official Unicode support. Since May 2005, this is the case of the labiodental flap, symbolized by a right-hook v: .Proposal Summary Form for adding new characters to ISO 15924. Accessed 11 April 2007. In the meantime, these will display properly if you have the Charis SIL, Doulos SIL, or DejaVu Sans fonts installed.
• In rows where some symbols appear in pairs (the obstruents), the symbol to the right represents a voiced consonant (except breathy-voiced [ɦ]). However, [Ê”] cannot be voiced, and the voicing of [Ê¡] is ambiguous.Ladefoged and Maddieson, 1996, Sounds of the World\'s Languages, §2.1. In the other rows (the sonorants), the single symbol represents a voiced consonant.
• Although there is a single symbol for the coronal places of articulation for all consonants but fricatives, when dealing with a particular language, the symbols are treated as specifically alveolar, post-alveolar, etc., as appropriate for that language.
• Shaded areas indicate articulations judged to be impossible.
• The symbols [Ê�, Ê•, Ê¢] represent either voiced fricatives or approximants.
• In many languages, such as English, [h] and [ɦ] are not actually glottal, fricatives, or approximants. Rather, they are bare phonation.Ladefoged and Maddieson, 1996, Sounds of the World\'s Languages, §9.3.
• It is primarily the shape of the tongue rather than its position that distinguishes the fricatives [ʃ Ê’], [É• Ê‘], and [Ê‚ Ê�].

Coarticulation

Coarticulated 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, because it is pronounced by rounding the lips and raising the back of the tongue. Other languages, such as French and Swedish, have different coarticulated consonants.

Note

• [ɧ] is described as a "simultaneous [ʃ] and [x]".Ladefoged, Peter; Ian Maddieson (1996). The sounds of the world\'s languages. Oxford: Blackwell, 329–330. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.  However, this analysis is disputed. (See voiceless palatal-velar fricative for discussion.)

Affricates and double articulation

Affricates and doubly articulated stops are represented by two symbols joined by a tie bar, either above or below the symbols. The six most common affricates are optionally represented by ligatures, though this is no longer official IPA usage, because a great number of ligatures would be required to represent all affricates this way. Alternatively, a superscript notation for a consonant release is sometimes used to transcribe affricates, for example tˢ for t͡s, paralleling kˣ ~ k͡x. The symbols for the palatal plosives, , are often used as a convenience for [t͡ʃ d͡ʒ] or similar affricates, even in official IPA publications, so they must be interpreted with care.

Note

• If your browser uses Arial Unicode MS to display IPA characters, the following incorrectly formed sequences may look better due to a bug in that font: tsÍ¡, tʃ͡, tÉ•Í¡, dzÍ¡, dÊ’Í¡, dÊ‘Í¡, tɬ͡, kpÍ¡, É¡bÍ¡, Å‹mÍ¡.

Non-pulmonic consonants

Non-pulmonic consonants are sounds whose airflow is not dependent on the lungs. These include clicks (found in the Khoisan languages of Africa) and implosives (found in languages such as Swahili).