International Phonetic Alphabet Totally Explained

Everything about Ipa totally explained

   The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) 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. The IPA is used by linguists, speech pathologists and therapists, foreign language teachers and students, singers, actors, lexicographers, and translators.
   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. 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. For example, the sound /ʃ/ (sh in shoe) was originally represented with the letter in English, but with the letter in French.
   Since its creation, the IPA has undergone a number of revisions. After some additions and extensions in 1900 and 1932, the IPA remained unchanged until the IPA Kiel Convention in 1989. A minor revision took place in 1993, with the addition of four mid-central vowels The alphabet was last revised in May 2005, with the addition of a symbol for the labiodental flap. Apart from the addition and removal of symbols, changes to the IPA have consisted largely in renaming symbols and categories, and modifying typefaces.

Description

speech segment). This means that it doesn't use letter combinations to represent single sounds, or single letters to represent multiple sounds (the way represents [ks] or [gz] in English). There are no letters that have context-dependent sound values (as <c> does in English and other European languages), and finally, the IPA doesn't usually have separate letters for two sounds if no known language makes a distinction between them (a property known as "selectiveness"
Although the IPA diacritics are fully featural, there's 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 : . However, the similarity between and 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. 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's 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

. Although the IPA offers over a hundred symbols for transcribing speech, it isn't necessary to use all relevant symbols at the same time; it's possible to transcribe speech with various levels of precision. The most precise 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,

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. 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. (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 ŏ for the vowel in cot (kŏt)

but ô for the one in caught (kôt)

. Some American speakers pronounce the vowels ŏ and ô the same way (for example, like IPA [ɒ] in the Boston dialect); for those speakers who maintain the distinction, depending on the accent, the vowel in cot may vary from [ɑ] to [a], while the vowel in caught may vary from [ɔ] to [ɑ], or may even be a diphthong. 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.

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. 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

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 Ɛ Ŋ Ɣ Ʃ (capital ɔ ɛ ŋ ɣ ʃ). Other IPA-paired capitals include Ɓ/Ƃ Ƈ Ɗ/Ƌ Ə/Ǝ Ɠ Ħ Ɯ Ɲ 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. 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

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.
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. Place of articulation → Bilabial Manner of articulation ↓Nasal Plosive Fricative Approximant Trill Tap or Flap Lateral Fricative Lateral Approximant Lateral Flap


Labial		Coronal				Dorsal				Radical				Glottal
Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular		Pharyngeal		Epiglottal
Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular		Pharyngeal		Epiglottal
m	ɱ	n			ɳ	ɲ	ŋ	ɴ
p b	p̪ b̪	t d			ʈ ɖ	c ɟ	k ɡ	q ɢ				ʡ		ʔ
ɸ β	f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ	ʂ ʐ	ç ʝ	x ɣ	χ	ʁ	ħ	ʕ	ʜ	ʢ	h ɦ
β̞	ʋ	ɹ			ɻ	j	ɰ		ʁ		ʕ		ʢ	h ɦ
ʙ		r			*			ʀ				я*
̟^†	^†	ɾ			ɽ							ʡ̯
		ɬ ɮ			*	*	*
		l			ɭ	ʎ	ʟ
		ɺ			*	ʎ̯	ʟ̆

Notes

Asterisks (*) next to symbols mark reported sounds that don't (yet) have official IPA symbols. See the respective articles for ad hoc symbols found in the literature.
Daggers (†) mark IPA symbols that have recently been added to Unicode. As of Unicode 5.1.0, this is the case of the labiodental flap, symbolized by a right-hook v: . In the meantime, these will display properly if you've 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, [ʔ] can't be voiced, and the voicing of [ʡ] is ambiguous. In the other rows (the sonorants), the single symbol represents a voiced consonant.
Although there's 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 [ʁ,ʕ, ʢ] represent either voiced fricatives or approximants.
In many languages, such as English, [h] and [ɦ] are not actually glottal, fricatives, or approximants. Rather, they're bare phonation.
It is primarily the shape of the tongue rather than its position that distinguishes the fricatives [ʃʒ], [ɕʑ], and [ʂʐ].

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's pronounced by rounding the lips and raising the back of the tongue. Other languages, such as French and Swedish, have different coarticulated consonants.


ʍ	Voiceless labialized velar approximant
w	Voiced labialized velar approximant
ɥ	Voiced labialized palatal approximant
ɕ	Voiceless palatalized postalveolar (alveolo-palatal) fricative
ʑ	Voiced palatalized postalveolar (alveolo-palatal) fricative
ɧ	Voiceless "palatal-velar" fricative

Note

[ɧ] is described as a "simultaneous [ʃ] and [x]". 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, In such approaches, the click letter represents both articulations, there's no velar-uvular distinction, and the accompanying letter represents the manner of the click: [ǂ,^ɡǂ, ^ŋǂ] etc.

Symbols for the voiceless implosives [ƥ,ƭ, ƈ, ƙ, ʠ] are no longer supported by the IPA, though they remain in Unicode. Instead, the IPA uses the voiced equivalent with a voiceless diacritic: [ɓ̥,ʛ̥], etc.

Although not confirmed from any language, and therefore not explicitly recognized by the IPA, a retroflex implosive, [ᶑ], is supported in the Unicode Phonetic Extensions Supplement, added in version 4.1 of the Unicode Standard, or can be created as a composite [ɗ̡].

The ejective symbol often stands in for a superscript glottal stop in glottalized but pulmonic sonorants, such as [mˀ], [lˀ], [wˀ], [aˀ]. These may also be transcribed as creaky [m̰], [l̰], [w̰], [a̰].

Vowels

] 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] (said as the "a" in "palm") is at the bottom because the tongue is lowered in this position. However, [i] (said as 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's 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.

Notes

[a] officially represents a front vowel, but there's little distinction between front and central open vowels, and [a] is frequently used for an open central vowel. Sub-diacritics (markings normally placed below a letter or symbol) may be placed above a symbol having a descender (informally called a tail), for example ŋ̊. Although most of these symbols indicate distinctions that are phonemic at the word level, symbols also exist for intonation on a level greater than that of the word. Extensions to the IPA were first published in 1990, and modified over the next few years before its official publication in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association in 1994 allowed it to be officially adopted by the ICPLA. While its original purpose was to transcribe disordered speech, linguists have used it to designate a number of unique sounds within standard communication, such as hushing, gnashing teeth, and smacking lips. The Extensions to the IPA have also been used to record certain peculiarities in an individual's voice, such as nasalized voicing.

Consonants without letters

Consonant sounds are created by adding diacritics to letters with similar sound values. The Spanish bilabial approximant is commonly written as a lowered fricative, [β̞]. Similarly, voiced lateral fricatives would be written as raised lateral approximants, [ɭ˔ʎ̝ ʟ̝]. A few languages such as Banda have a bilabial flap as the preferred allophone of what is elsewhere a labiodental flap. It has been suggested that this be written with the labiodental flap symbol and the advanced diacritic, [ѵ̟].
Similarly, a labiodental trill would be written [ʙ̪] (bilabial trill and the dental sign), and labiodental stops [p̪b̪] rather than with the ad hoc symbols sometimes found in the literature. Other taps can be written as extra-short plosives or laterals, for example [ɟ̆ɢ̆ ʟ̆], though in some cases the diacritic would need to be written below the letter. A retroflex trill can be written as a retracted [r̠], just as retroflex fricatives sometimes are. The remaining consonants, the uvular laterals (ʟ̠ etc.) and the palatal trill, while not strictly impossible, are very difficult to pronounce and are unlikely to occur even as allophones in the world's languages.

Vowels without letters

The vowels are similarly manageable by using diacritics for raising, lowering, fronting, backing, centering, and mid-centering. For example, the unrounded equivalent of [ʊ] can be transcribed as mid-centered [ɯ̽], and the rounded equivalent of [æ] as raised [ɶ̝]. True mid vowels are lowered [e̞ø̞ ɘ̞ ɵ̞ ɤ̞ o̞], while centered [ɪ̈ʊ̈] and [ä] are near-close and open central vowels, respectively. The only known vowels that can't be represented in this scheme are the compressed vowels, which would require a dedicated diacritic, such as [ʏ̫].

Symbol names

An IPA symbol is often distinguished from the sound it's intended to represent since there isn't a one-to-one correspondence between symbol and sound in broad transcription. While the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association states that no official names exist for symbols, it admits the presence of one or two common names for each character that are commonly used. The symbols also have nonce names in the Unicode standard. In some cases, the Unicode names and the IPA names don't agree. For example, IPA calls ɛ "epsilon", but Unicode calls it "small letter open E".
The traditional names of the Latin and Greek letters are usually used for unmodified symbols. Letters which are not directly derived from these alphabets, such as [[Voiced pharyngeal fricative, may have a variety of names, sometimes based on the appearance of the symbol, and sometimes based on the sound that it represents. In Unicode, some of the symbols of Greek origin have Latin forms for use in IPA; the others use the symbols from the Greek section.
For diacritics, there are two methods of naming. For traditional diacritics, the IPA uses the name of the symbol from a certain language, for example, é is acute, based on the name of the symbol in English and French. In non-traditional diacritics, the IPA often names a symbol according to an object it resembles, as d̪ is called bridge.

ASCII transliterations, IPA influence on other phonetic alphabets

Since the IPA uses symbols that are outside the ASCII character set, several systems have been developed that map the IPA symbols to ASCII characters. Notable systems include Kirshenbaum, SAMPA, and X-SAMPA. The usage of mapping systems in on-line text has to some extent been adopted in the context input methods, allowing convenient keying of IPA characters that would be otherwise unavailable on standard keyboard layouts.

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