Naming conventions of the International Phonetic Alphabet

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The International Phonetic Alphabet requires specific names for the symbols and diacritics used in the alphabet.

It is often desirable to distinguish an IPA symbol from the sound it is intended to represent, since there is not a one-to-one correspondence between symbol and sound in broad transcription. The symbol's names and phonetic descriptions are described in the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. The symbols also have nonce names in the Unicode standard. In some cases, the Unicode names and the IPA names do not agree. For example, IPA calls ɛ "epsilon", but Unicode calls it "small letter open E".

The letters

The traditional names of the Latin and Greek letters are used for unmodified symbols. 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.

Examples:

Note

1. The Latin "upsilon" is frequently called "horseshoe u" in order to distinguish it from the Greek upsilon. Historically, it derives from a Latin small capital U.

The IPA standard includes some small capital letters, such as ʀ, although it is common to refer to these symbols as simply "capital" or "cap" letters, because the IPA standard does not include any full-size capital letters.

Cursive-based letters

A few letters have the forms of cursive or script letters. Examples:

Note

1. The "looptail gee" is not strictly an IPA character, but is an acceptable alternative.
2. In form and origin, but not in name, this is the Greek upsilon.

Ligatures

Ligatures are called precisely that, although some have alternate names. Examples:

Rotated letters

Many letters are turned, or rotated 180 degrees. Examples:

The symbol ɔ can be described as a turned cee, but it is almost always referred to as open o, which described both its articulation and its shape. The symbol ʌ is often also called "caret" or "wedge" for its similarity to that diacritic.

A few letters are reversed (flipped on a vertical axis):

Notes:

1. The old Unicode name for this character is LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED EPSILON
2. This IPA symbol is often called by its Arabic name, ayin.
3. Other Unicode names for this character are: REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP, LATIN LETTER VOICED FRICATIVE, LATIN LETTER PHARYNGEAL GLOTTAL STOP

One letter is inverted (flipped on a horizontal axis): ʁ inverted ar. (ʍ could also be called an inverted double-u, but turned double-u is more common.)

Letters with extra lines, curls and serifs

When a horizontal stroke is added, it is called a bar: ħ barred aitch, ɵ barred o, ʢ reversed barred glottal stop or barred ayin, ɟ barred dotless jay or barred gelded jay (apparently never 'turned ef'), ǂ double-barred pipe, etc.

One letter instead has a slash through it: ø slashed o.

The implosives have hook tops: ɓ hook-top bee, as does ɦ hook-top aitch.

Such an extension at the bottom of a letter is called a tail. It may be specified as left or right depending on which direction it turns: ɳ right-tail en, ɻ right-tail turned ar, ɲ left-tail en (note that ŋ has a traditional name, eng or engma), ɱ left-tail em, ʐ tail zed (or just retroflex zed), etc.

When the tail loops over itself, it's called curly: ʝ curly-tail jay, ɕ curly-tail cee.

There are also a few unique modifications: ɬ belted el, ɞ closed reversed epsilon (there was once also a ɷ closed omega), ɰ right-leg turned em, ɺ turned long-leg ar (there was once also a long-leg ar), ǁ double pipe, and the obsolete ʗ stretched cee.

Several non-English letters have traditional names: ç cee cedilla, ð eth (also spelled edh), ŋ engma, ə schwa, ǃ exclamation mark, ǀ pipe.

Other symbols are unique to the IPA, and have developed their own quirky names: ɾ fish-hook ar, ɤ ram's horns, ʘ bull's eye, ʃ esh (apparently never 'stretched ess'), ʒ ezh (sometimes confused with yogh), ɧ hook-top heng.

The ʔ is usually called by the sound it represents, glottal stop. This is not normally a problem, because this symbol is seldom used to represent anything else. However, to specify the symbol itself, it is sometimes called a gelded question mark.

The diacritic marks

Traditionally named diacritics

é acute, ē macron, è grave, ê circumflex, ě caron, wedge, or háček, ë diaeresis or umlaut, ĕ breve, ẽ (superscript) tilde, plus variants such as ḛ subscript tilde, ɫ superimposed tilde, etc.

Non-traditionally named diacritics

d̼ seagull, e˞ hook, e̽ over-cross, d ̚ corner, d̪ bridge, d̺ inverted bridge, d̻ square, e̥ under-ring, e̊ over-ring, e̜ left half-ring, e̹ right half-ring, e̟ plus, e̠ under-bar, e̯ arch, d̬ subscript wedge, e̝ up tack, e̞ down tack, e̘ left tack, e̙ right tack, d͡z tie bar, ẹ under-dot, n̩ under-stroke.

Diacritics are alternately named after their function: The bridge is also called the dental sign, the under-stroke the syllabicity sign, etc.

External links

• Unicode-HTML codes for IPA symbols: Tables of symbol names and HTML codes at PennState.

References

• Pullum, Geoffrey K., and William A. Ladusaw. 1996. Phonetic symbol guide, 2nd edn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.