# 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 **y**esterday) 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

t͡pd͡b
Labial–alveolar

k͡pɡ͡b
Labial–velar

q͡p
Labial–uvular

q͡ʡ
Uvular–epiglottal

Fricative/approximant

ɥ̊ɥ
Labial–palatal

ʍw
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