International Phonetic Alphabet

This article is about the International Phonetic Alphabet. For the English version, see IPA chart for English.

International Phonetic Alphabet
Type	Alphabet
Spoken languages	Reserved for phonetic transcription of any language
Time period	1888 to the present
Parent systems	Romic Alphabet Phonotypic Alphabet International Phonetic Alphabet
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system for writing down sounds. It was created by the International Phonetic Association in 1886, so that people could write down sounds of languages in a standard way. Linguists, language teachers, and translators use it to write words and phonemes.

Wikipedia also uses the IPA to show how certain words are meant to be spoken. Most symbols are letters in the Latin alphabet, or variations of it, for example the palatal approximant (the y in yesterday) is written with [j]. In IPA symbols can be written between slashes (broad transcription, e.g."little" can be written as /lɪtl/ ) or in square brackets ( narrow transcription, e.g. "little" can be written [lɪɾɫ] ). Narrow tranlsation is more precise than broad.

The IPA has symbols only for sounds that are used normally in spoken languages. The Extended IPA is used to write down other sounds.

The IPA is sometimes changed, and symbols are added or taken away. Right now there are 107 different letters in the IPA, and 52 diacritics which are used with the letters.

History

In 1886, a group of French and British language teachers formed the International Phonetic Association. These teachers used the Romic alphabet at first. They later changed the alphabet so that different languages would all write the same sounds with the same letters.

Use of the alphabet

The IPA is made to have one symbol for each sound. For example, the letter <x> in English normally is spoken as two sounds ([ks]), but could also mean [gz] or [z].

Letters

The International Phonetic Alphabet has letters for three types of sounds: pulmonic consonants, non-pulmonic consonants, and vowels.

Pulmonic consonants

Pulmonic consonants are made by obstructing air coming from the lungs. Most consonants (and all English consonants) are pulmonic. The symbols for these sounds are arranged in a table. The rows show how the sound is made, and the columns show where it is made.

Where the sound is made →	Labial		Coronal				Dorsal				Radical				Glottal
	Bi­la­bial	La­bio­dental	Den­tal	Al­veo­lar	Post­al­veo­lar	Re­tro­flex	Pa­la­tal	Ve­lar	Uvu­lar		Pha­ryn­geal		Epi­glot­tal
How the sound is made ↓
Nasal	m	ɱ	n			ɳ	ɲ	ŋ	ɴ
Plosive	p b	p̪ b̪	t d			ʈ ɖ	c ɟ	k ɡ	q ɢ				ʡ		ʔ
Fricative	ɸ β	f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ	ʂ ʐ	ç ʝ	x ɣ	χ	ʁ	ħ	ʕ	ʜ	ʢ	h ɦ
Approximant	β̞	ʋ	ɹ			ɻ	j	ɰ
Trill	ʙ		r			retroflex trill			ʀ				я*
Tap or Flap	ⱱ̟†	ⱱ†	ɾ			ɽ			ɢ̆				ʡ̯
Lateral Fricative			ɬ ɮ			*	*	*
Lateral Approx­imant			l			ɭ	ʎ	ʟ
Lateral Flap			ɺ			*	ʎ̯	ʟ̆

Other websites

• Homepage of the International Phonetic Association
  
• Interactive IPA Chart, for all languages