International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. It is intended as a notational standard for the phonemic and phonetic representation of all spoken languages.

Description

The general principle of the IPA is to provide a separate symbol for each speech segment, avoiding letter combinations (digraphs) such as sh and th in English orthography, and avoiding ambiguity such as that of c in English.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The IPA is what MacMahon (1996) has termed a "selective" phonetic alphabet. It aims to provide a separate symbol for every contrastive (that is, phonemic) sound occurring in human language. For instance, a flap and a tap are two different articulations, but since no language has (yet) been found to make a phonemic distinction between them, the IPA does not provide them with dedicated symbols. Instead, it provides a single symbol, {{IPA|?}}, that covers both. For non-contrastive (that is, phonetic or subphonemic) details of these sounds, the IPA relies on diacritics, which are optional. Thus there is a certain level of flexibility in representing a language with the IPA.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The letters chosen for the IPA are generally drawn from the Latin and Greek alphabets, or are modifications of Latin or Greek letters. There are also a few letters derived from Latin punctuation, such as the glottal stop {{IPA|?}} (originally an apostrophe, but later given the form of a "gelded" question mark to have the visual impact of the other consonants), and one, {{IPA|?}}, although Latin in form, was inspired by Arabic ?. In contrast, the old Latin-derived symbols for the clicks have been abandoned in favor of the iconic Khoisanist symbols, such as {{IPA|?}}.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The sound-values of the consonants from the Latin alphabet correspond, in most cases, to English usage: {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}.

Related Topics:
Consonant - Latin alphabet - English

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The vowels from the Latin alphabet ({{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}) correspond to the vowels of Spanish and are similar to Italian. {{IPA|}} is like the vowel in piece, {{IPA|}} like rule, etc.

Related Topics:
Vowel - Spanish - Italian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The other symbols from the Latin alphabet ({{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, {{IPA|}}, and {{IPA|}}) correspond to sounds these letters represent in other languages. {{IPA|}} has the sound value of English y in yoke (as German, Scandinavian, and Dutch j); whereas {{IPA|}} has the Scandinavian and Old English value of that letter (Finnish y, German y or ü, French u, Dutch u).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Letters that share a particular modification sometimes correspond to similar type of sound. For example, all the retroflex consonants have the same symbol as the equivalent alveolar consonant, with the addition of a rightward pointing hook at the bottom. Although there is some correspondence between modified letters, generally the IPA does not have a systematic "featural" relationship between graphic shape and articulation. For instance, there is not a consistent relationship between lowercase letters and their small capital counterparts, nor are all labial consonants linked through a common character design.

Related Topics:
Retroflex consonant - Alveolar consonant

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Related Topics:
Articulation - Suprasegmental feature

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The International Phonetic Association recommends that a phonetic transcription should be enclosed in square brackets (""). A transcription that specifically denotes only phonological contrasts may be enclosed in slashes ("/ /") instead. If you are in doubt, it is best to use brackets, for by setting off a transcription with slashes you are making a theoretical claim that every symbol within is phonemically contrastive for the language you are transcribing.

Related Topics:
Square brackets - Slash

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For phonetic transcriptions, there is flexibility in how closely you transcribe sounds. A transcription that gives only a basic idea of the sounds of a language in the broadest terms is called a "broad transcription"; in some cases this may be equivalent to a phonemic transcription (only without any theoretical claims). A close transcription, indicating precise details of the sounds, is called a "narrow transcription". These are not binary choices, but the ends of a continuum, with many possibilities in between. All are enclosed in brackets.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For example, in some dialects the English word pretzel in a narrow transcription would be {{IPA|}}, which notes several phonetic features that may not be evident even to a native speaker. An example of a broader transcription is {{IPA|}}, which only indicates some of the easier to hear features. A yet broader transcription would be {{IPA|}}. Here every symbol represents an unambiguous speech sound, but without making any claims as to their status in the language.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are also several possibilities in how to transcribe this word phonemically, but here the differences are not of precision, but of analysis. For example, pretzel could be {{IPA|/?pr?tsl/}} or {{IPA|/?prets?l/}}. The special symbol for English r is not used, for it is not meaningful to distinguish it from a rolled r. The differences in the letter e reflect claims as to what the essential difference is between the vowels of pretzel and pray; there are half a dozen ideas in the literature as to what this may be. The second transcription claims that there are two vowels in the word, even if they can't both be heard, while the first claims there is only one.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Occasionally a transcription will be enclosed in pipes ("| |"). This goes beyond phonology into morphological analysis. For example, the words cats and dogs could be transcribed phonetically as {{IPA|}} and {{IPA|}}, and phonemically as {{IPA|/kæts/}} and {{IPA|/d?gz/}}. Because /s/ and /z/ are separate phonemes in English (unlike Spanish, for example), they received separate symbols in the phonemic analysis. However, you probably recognize that underneath this, they represent the same plural ending. This can be indicated with the pipe notation. If you believe the plural ending is essentially an s, as English spelling would suggest, the words can be transcribed {{IPA||kæts|}} and {{IPA||d?gs|}}. If, as most linguists would probably suggest, it is essentially a z, these would be {{IPA||kætz|}} and {{IPA||d?gz|}}.

Related Topics:
Pipe - Morphological

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To avoid confusion with IPA symbols, it may be desirable to specify that the native orthography is being used, so that, for example, cats is not read as "chats". This is done with angle brackets or chevrons: {{Unicode|?cats?}}. It is also common to italicize such words, but the chevrons indicate specifically that they are in the original orthography, and not in English transliteration.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~