The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a standardized system of symbols for representing the sounds of spoken language. Developed and maintained by the International Phonetic Association, it provides a shared notation for phonetics, language teaching, and speech research. Its symbols describe pronunciation rather than ordinary spelling. Based largely on the Latin alphabet, with additional letters and marks, the IPA is a phonetic transcription standard, not a separate language or a character-encoding system. (internationalphoneticassociation.org)
Origins and development
The Association was founded in Paris in 1886 by Paul Passy and other linguists and language teachers involved in reforming modern-language instruction. Phonetic notation was intended to make pronunciation teaching more systematic. The first version of the international alphabet appeared in 1888. Its subsequent development reflected both advances in phonetic research and its expanding use beyond the classroom. (internationalphoneticassociation.org)
A major revision followed the 1989 Kiel Convention, where phoneticians reviewed the alphabet’s symbols and conventions. In 1999, Cambridge University Press published the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, combining explanations of the system with language-specific illustrations. The labiodental flap symbol [ⱱ] was added in 2005; changes in 2015 concerned wording and layout. Later chart dates do not necessarily indicate new symbols: the Association identifies its annually reissued charts as reflecting the 2015/2005 revision. (internationalphoneticassociation.org)
Sounds, spelling, and transcription
Unlike a conventional orthography, IPA notation is organized around speech sounds rather than a language’s spelling traditions. Letters borrowed from ordinary alphabets receive specified phonetic meanings. Unicode therefore treats IPA as an extended alphabet while reusing existing Latin and Greek characters wherever appropriate, rather than encoding an entirely separate duplicate alphabet. (unicode.org)
An important distinction separates phonetic description from phonology. A phoneme is a sound category that functions contrastively within a particular language; its contextual realizations are called allophones. Phonemic transcription, conventionally enclosed in slashes, records these contrastive categories. Phonetic transcription, enclosed in square brackets, records pronunciation and may include details that do not distinguish words. The choice of notation therefore depends on what the transcription is intended to represent. (assets.cambridge.org)
Phonetic transcriptions can be broad or narrow. Broad transcription omits finer detail, whereas narrow transcription includes more information about articulation. This difference is not identical to the phonemic–phonetic distinction: a phonetic transcription may itself be relatively broad. A transcription’s level of detail must consequently be interpreted alongside its purpose and conventions. (degruyterbrill.com)
Organization of the alphabet
The main consonant table arranges pulmonic consonants by place of articulation across columns and manner of articulation down rows. Places include bilabial, alveolar, palatal, velar, and glottal positions. Manners include plosives, nasals, fricatives, and approximants. Where two symbols occupy a cell, the left represents a voiceless sound and the right a voiced sound. Thus [p] and [b] are bilabial plosives distinguished by voicing. Shaded cells indicate articulations judged impossible. (internationalphoneticassociation.org)
A separate section represents non-pulmonic consonants: clicks, voiced implosives, and ejectives. Their production involves airstream mechanisms other than the ordinary outward airflow driven by the lungs. (internationalphoneticassociation.org)
The vowel diagram organizes symbols by tongue height and front–back position. Where symbols occur in pairs, the right-hand symbol represents a rounded vowel. For example, [i] represents a close front unrounded vowel, while [u] represents a close back rounded vowel. The diagram supplies an articulatory framework rather than a language-specific vowel inventory. (internationalphoneticassociation.org)
Diacritics and suprasegmentals
A diacritic modifies a base symbol to record an additional property. Examples include the superscript [ʰ] for aspiration, the tilde in [ã] for nasalization, and the small ring in [n̥] for voicelessness. Other marks indicate dental articulation, tongue advancement or retraction, syllabicity, secondary articulation, and the manner in which a consonant is released. Some marks can be placed above a letter when its descending shape would otherwise interfere with them. (internationalphoneticassociation.org)
Suprasegmental notation represents properties extending beyond an individual consonant or vowel. Primary stress is marked [ˈ] and secondary stress [ˌ], placed before the relevant syllable. The length mark [ː] indicates a long sound, and [.] marks a syllable boundary. Tone and intonation can be represented with pitch-level and contour notation. A tie bar, as in [t͡ʃ], can join symbols representing an affricate or double articulation. (internationalphoneticassociation.org)
Applications and digital representation
The IPA is used in linguistics, pronunciation teaching, speech science, and clinical phonetic description. Language-specific “Illustrations of the IPA” combine sound-system descriptions with transcribed passages and recordings, allowing readers to connect notation with actual speech. The related Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet, or extIPA, provide additional notation for sounds and phenomena beyond those covered by the core chart, including disordered speech. (internationalphoneticassociation.org)
Unicode supports IPA letters, modifier letters, and combining marks. These characters are distributed across several blocks, not confined to the block named “IPA Extensions.” Small-capital-looking forms can be distinct phonetic characters rather than uppercase versions of other letters: IPA itself does not use capitalization as an ordinary upper–lower case distinction. Digital representation therefore requires preserving character identity, not merely reproducing a visually similar letter shape. (unicode.org)