International Phonetic Alphabet

International Phonetic Alphabet
"IPA" in IPA ([aɪ pʰiː eɪ])
Script type	Alphabet – partially featural
Time period	since 1888
Languages	Used for phonetic and phonemic transcription of any language
Related scripts
Parent systems	Palaeotype alphabet, English Phonotypic Alphabet Romic alphabet International Phonetic Alphabet

The official chart of the IPA, revised in 2020

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, translators, and more use this system to show the pronunciation for words.

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 them. For example, the voiced palatal approximant (the y in yesterday) is written with [j]. In IPA symbols can be written between slashes (called a broad transcription, e.g."little" can be written as /lɪtl/ ) or in square brackets (called a narrow transcription, e.g. "little" can be written [lɪɾɫ], which is how specific groups say it). Narrow transcription is more precise than broad.

The IPA has symbols only for sounds that are used normally in spoken languages. The Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet (or extIPA) are used to write other sounds.

The IPA is sometimes changed, and symbols are added or taken away. Right now there are 107 different letters in the IPA. There are also 52 marks which are added to letters to change their sound. These marks are called "diacritics".

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 every sound. This means that every letter always makes the same one sound. This is different from English. In English, some letters make multiple sounds. For example, the letter <x> in English normally is spoken as two sounds ([ks]), but could also be spoken as [gz] or [z].

Letters

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

Pulmonic consonants

Pulmonic consonants are made by blocking 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 (the manner of articulation), and the columns show where it is made (the place of articulation).

IPA: Pulmonic consonants
Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal Manner ↓ Bi­labial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Post­alveolar Retro­flex Alveolo­palatal Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn­geal Epi­glottal Glottal Nasal m̥ m ɱ̊ ɱ n̼ n̪̊ n̪ n̥ n n̠̊ n̠ ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊˖ ɲ˖ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t̼ d̼ t̪ d̪ t d t̠ d̠ ʈ ɖ c̟ ɟ˖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ꞯ 𝼂 ʡ ʔ Sibilant affricate t̪s̪ d̪z̪ ts dz t̠ʃ d̠ʒ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɕ dʑ Non-sibilant affricate pɸ bβ p̪f b̪v t̼θ̼ d̼ð̼ t̪θ d̪ð tɹ̝̊ dɹ̝ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ dɻ˔ cç ɟʝ kx ɡɣ qχ ɢʁ ʡʜ ʡʢ ʔh Sibilant fricative s̪ z̪ s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̠ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ɻ̊˔ ɻ˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Approximant β̞ ʋ̥ ʋ θ̞ ð̞ ɹ̥ ɹ ɹ̠̊ ɹ̠ ɻ̊ ɻ j̊ j ɰ χ˕ ʁ̞ ħ̞ ʕ̞ ʔ̞ Tap/flap ⱱ̟̊ ⱱ̟ ⱱ̥ ⱱ ɾ̪̊ ɾ̪ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɡ̆ ɢ̆ ʡ̆ Trill ʙ̥ ʙ r̼̊ r̼ r̪̊ r̪ r̥ r r̠̊ r̠ ɽ̊r̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ Lateral affricate tɬ dɮ ʈꞎ ɖ𝼅 c𝼆̟ ɟʎ̝˖ c𝼆 ɟʎ̝ k𝼄 ɡʟ̝ Lateral fricative ɬ̪ ɮ̪ ɬ ɮ ꞎ 𝼅 𝼆̟ ʎ̝˖ 𝼆 ʎ̝ 𝼄 ʟ̝ ʟ̠˔ Lateral approximant l̪̊ l̪ l̥ l l̠̊ l̠ ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̟̊ ʎ̟ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ̥ ʟ ʟ̠̊ ʟ̠ Lateral tap/flap ɺ̥ ɺ 𝼈̊ 𝼈 ʎ̆ ʟ̆
IPA help full chart template Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced, to the left are voiceless. Gray areas are sounds which are impossible.

Non-pulmonic consonants

Non-pulmonic consonants are made without air coming from the lungs. There are three types of non-pulmonic consonants. Implosive consonants are made by taking air into the mouth. Ejective consonants are made by forcing the air out of the larynx instead of the lungs. Click consonants are made by creating an airtight pocket in the mouth and quickly releasing it.

IPA: Non-pulmonic consonants
BL LD D A PA RF P V U EG Ejective Stop pʼ t̪ʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ Sibilant affricate t̪s̪ʼ tsʼ t̠ʃʼ ʈʂʼ Non-sibilant affricate p̪fʼ t̪θʼ kxʼ qχʼ Sibilant fricative sʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ Non-sibilant fricative ɸʼ fʼ θʼ xʼ χʼ Lateral affricate tɬʼ c𝼆ʼ k𝼄ʼ Lateral fricative ɬʼ Click (top: velar; bottom: uvular) Tenuis kʘ qʘ kǀ qǀ kǃ qǃ k‼ q‼ kǂ qǂ Voiced ɡʘ ɢʘ ɡǀ ɢǀ ɡǃ ɢǃ ɡ‼ ɢ‼ ɡǂ ɢǂ Nasal ŋʘ ɴʘ ŋǀ ɴǀ ŋǃ ɴǃ ŋ‼ ɴ‼ ŋǂ ɴǂ ʞ   Tenuis lateral kǁ qǁ Voiced lateral ɡǁ ɢǁ Nasal lateral ŋǁ ɴǁ Implosive Voiced ɓ ɗ ᶑ ʄ ɠ ʛ Voiceless ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̊ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥
IPA help full chart template Gray areas are sounds which are impossible.

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.

IPA: Co-articulated consonants
Nasal n͡m Labial–alveolar ŋ͡m Labial–velar Stop t͡p d͡b Labial–alveolar k͡p ɡ͡b Labial–velar q͡p Labial–uvular q͡ʡ Uvular–epiglottal Fricative/approximant ɥ̊ ɥ Labial–palatal ʍ w Labial–velar ɧ Sj-sound (variable) Lateral approximant ɫ Velarized alveolar
IPA help full chart template

Vowels

Vowels are sounds made without blocking air at all.

IPA: Vowels
Front Central Back Close i y ɨ ʉ ɯ u Near-close ɪ ʏ ɯ̽ ʊ Close-mid e ø ɘ ɵ ɤ o Mid e̞ ø̞ ə ɤ̞ o̞ Open-mid ɛ œ ɜ ɞ ʌ ɔ Near-open æ ɐ Open a ɶ ä ɒ̈ ɑ ɒ
IPA help  audio full chart template Legend: unrounded • rounded

Other websites

• Homepage of the International Phonetic Association Archived 2010-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Interactive IPA Flash Charts
• Interactive IPA Chart, for all languages