Proper notation of PIE phonemes People here are confused between how phonemes are represented in attested languages versus protolanguages While it s true that for example a proto sound like p is a phoneme and that it may be represented as p when pronounced as such it s not true that these symbols are simply interchangeable with IPA notation The phoneme h2 CANNOT be represented in IPA notation as h2 whatsoever because h2 is not a valid IPA symbol Depending on the theories of the IEist in question regarding the pronunciation of h2 however the sound may be represented as some universally recognized IPA symbol such as x for example a velar fricative Mixing up these notations belies vast ignorance of the topic Less editing more reading 24 78 208 183