Cymorth:IPA

For help installing IPA-compatible fonts, see Help:Special characters#IPA symbols.

For a basic introduction to using IPA written for English readers, see Help:IPA/Introduction.

Mae "WP:IPA" yn ailgyfeirio i'r erthygl hon. Am India-Pakistan affairs, gweler WP:ARBIPA.

The latest official IPA chart, revised in 2020

Here is a basic key to the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet. For the smaller set of symbols that is sufficient for English, see Help:IPA/English. Several rare IPA symbols are not included; these are found in the main IPA article or on the extensive IPA chart. For the Manual of Style guideline for pronunciation, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation.

For each IPA symbol, an English example is given where possible; here "RP" stands for Received Pronunciation. The foreign languages that are used to illustrate additional sounds are primarily the ones most likely to be familiar to English speakers: French, Standard German and Spanish. For symbols not covered by those, recourse is taken to the populous languages Standard Chinese, Hindustani, Arabic and Russian. For sounds still not covered, other well-analyzed languages are used, such as Swahili, Zulu and Turkish.

The left-hand column displays the individual symbols in square brackets ([a] [[:Media:PR-open front unrounded vowel.ogg|]]). Click on "listen" to hear the sound; click on the symbol itself for a dedicated article with a more complete description and examples from multiple languages. Consonant sounds are spoken once followed by a vowel and once between vowels.

If the characters do not display, you may need to install a supporting font. Free fonts with good IPA support include Gentium Plus (serif) and Andika (sans-serif).

Main symbols

The symbols are arranged by similarity to letters of the Latin alphabet. Symbols which do not resemble any Latin letter are placed at the end, the others section.

Symbol	Examples	Description
^ top A
[a] [[:Media:PR-open front unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	Modern RP cat, German Mann, French gare	The RP vowel is often transcribed with Nodyn:Angbr IPA for historical reasons. For many English speakers, the first part of the ow sound in cow.
[ä] [[:Media:Open central unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	Mandarin 他 tā, American English father, Spanish casa, French patte
[ɐ] [[:Media:Near-open central unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	RP cut, German Kaiserslautern	(In transcriptions of English, [ɐ] is usually written Nodyn:Angbr IPA.)
[ɑ] [[:Media:Open back unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	RP father, French pâte, Dutch bad
[ɑ̃] [[:Media:Fr-en.ogg|]]	French Caen, sans, temps	Nasalized [ɑ].
[ɒ] [[:Media:PR-open back rounded vowel.ogg|]]	Canadian English lot, Persian ف‍‍ارسی / fârsi	Like [ɑ], but with the lips slightly rounded.
[ʌ] [[:Media:PR-open-mid back unrounded vowel2.ogg|]]	American English cut	Like [ɔ], but without the lips being rounded. (When Nodyn:Angbr IPA is used for English, it may really be [ɐ] or [ɜ].)
[æ] [[:Media:Near-open front unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	GA cat
^ top B
[b] [[:Media:Voiced bilabial plosive.ogg|]]	English babble
[ɓ] [[:Media:Voiced bilabial implosive.ogg|]]	Swahili bwana	Like a [b] said with a gulp. See implosive consonants.
[β] [[:Media:Voiced bilabial fricative.ogg|]]	Spanish la Bamba, Kinyarwanda abana "children", Korean 무궁화 [muɡuŋβwa̠] mugunghwa	Like [b], but with the lips not quite closed.
[ʙ] [[:Media:Bilabial trill.ogg|]]	Nias simbi [siʙi] "lower jaw"	Sputtering.
^ top C
[c] [[:Media:Voiceless palatal plosive.ogg|]]	Turkish kebap "kebab", Czech stín "shadow", Greek και "and"	Between English tune (RP) and cute. Sometimes used instead for [tʃ] in languages like Hindi.
[ç] [[:Media:Voiceless palatal fricative.ogg|]]	German Ich	More of a [j]-coloration (more palatal) than [x]. Some English speakers have a similar sound in huge. This sound can be produced by whispering loudly the word "ye" as in "Hear ye!".
[ɕ] [[:Media:Voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant.ogg|]]	Mandarin 西安 Xi'an, Polish ściana	More [j]-like than [ʃ]; something like English she.
[ɔ] [[:Media:PR-open-mid back rounded vowel.ogg|]]	see under O
^ top D
[d] [[:Media:Voiced alveolar plosive.ogg|]]	English dad
[ɗ] [[:Media:Voiced alveolar implosive.ogg|]]	Swahili Dodoma	Like [d] said with a gulp.
[ɖ] [[:Media:Voiced retroflex stop.oga|]]	American English harder	Like [d] with the tongue curled or pulled back.
[ð] [[:Media:Voiced dental fricative.ogg|]]	English the, bathe
[dz] [[:Media:Voiced alveolar sibilant affricate.oga|]]	English adds, Italian zero
[dʒ] [[:Media:Voiced palato-alveolar affricate.ogg|]]	English judge
[dʑ] [[:Media:Voiced alveolo-palatal affricate.ogg|]]	Polish niedźwiedź "bear"	Like [dʒ], but with more of a [j]-sound.
[dʐ] [[:Media:Voiced retroflex affricate.ogg|]]	Polish dżem "jam"	Like [dʒ] with the tongue curled or pulled back.
^ top E
[e] [[:Media:Close-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	Scottish English day, Australian English bet, Spanish fe; French clé, German Klee	Similar to American English hey, before the y sets in.
[ɘ] [[:Media:Close-mid central unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	Australian English bird
[ə] [[:Media:Mid-central vowel.ogg|]]	English above, Hindi अब [əb] (ab) "now"
[ɚ] [[:Media:En-us-er.ogg|]]	American English runner
[ɛ] [[:Media:Open-mid front unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	British, Irish, North American English bet, New Zealand English bat
[ɛ̃] [[:Media:Fr-Un-fr FR-Paris.ogg|]]	French Saint-Étienne, vin, main	Nasalized [ɛ].
[ɜ] [[:Media:Open-mid central unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	RP bird (long)
[ɝ] [[:Media:En-us-er.ogg|]]	American English bird
^ top F
[f] [[:Media:Voiceless labio-dental fricative.ogg|]]	English fun
[ɟ] [[:Media:Voiced palatal plosive.ogg|]]	see under J
[ʄ] [[:Media:Voiced palatal implosive.ogg|]]	see under J
^ top G
[ɡ] [[:Media:Voiced velar plosive 02.ogg|]]	English gag	(Should look like . No different from a Latin "g")
[ɠ] [[:Media:Voiced velar implosive.ogg|]]	Swahili Uganda	Like [ɡ] said with a gulp.
[ɢ] [[:Media:Voiced uvular stop.oga|]]		Like [ɡ], but further back, in the throat. Found in Persian and some Arabic dialects for /q/, as in Muammar Gaddafi.
[ʒ] [[:Media:Voiced palato-alveolar sibilant.ogg|]]	see under Z	English beige.
^ top H
[h] [[:Media:Voiceless glottal fricative.ogg|]]	American English house
[ɦ] [[:Media:Voiced glottal fricative.ogg|]]	English ahead, when said quickly.
[ʰ]		The extra puff of air in English top [tʰɒp] compared to stop [stɒp], or to French or Spanish [t].
[ħ] [[:Media:Voiceless pharyngeal fricative.ogg|]]	Arabic Nodyn:Wikt-lang Muhammad	Far down in the throat, like [h], but stronger.
[ʜ]	Iraqi Arabic حَي [ʜaj] "alive"	Corresponds to /ħ/ (ح) in Standard Arabic.
[ɥ] [[:Media:LL-Q150 (fra)-WikiLucas00-IPA ɥ.wav|]]	see under Y
[ɮ] [[:Media:Voiced alveolar lateral fricative.ogg|]]	see under L
^ top I
[i] [[:Media:Close front unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	English sea, French ville, Spanish Valladolid
[ɪ] [[:Media:Near-close near-front unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	British, Irish, North American English sit, New Zealand English set
[ɨ] [[:Media:Close central unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	Russian ты "you"	Often used for unstressed English roses.
^ top J
[j] [[:Media:Palatal approximant.ogg|]]	English yes, hallelujah, German Junge
[ʲ]	In Russian Ленин [ˈlʲenʲɪn]	Indicates a sound is more [j]-like.
[ʝ] [[:Media:Voiced palatal fricative.ogg|]]	Spanish cayo (some dialects)	Like [j], but stronger.
[ɟ] [[:Media:Voiced palatal plosive.ogg|]]	Turkish gör "see", Czech díra "hole"	Between English dew (RP) and argue. Sometimes used instead for [dʒ] in languages like Hindi.
[ʄ] [[:Media:Voiced palatal implosive.ogg|]]	Swahili jambo	Like [ɟ] said with a gulp.
^ top K
[k] [[:Media:Voiceless velar plosive.ogg|]]	English kick, skip
^ top L
[l] [[:Media:Alveolar lateral approximant.ogg|]]	English leaf
[ɫ] [[:Media:Velarized alveolar lateral approximant.ogg|]]	English wool Russian малый [ˈmɑɫɨj] "small"	"Dark" el.
[ɬ] [[:Media:Voiceless alveolar lateral fricative.ogg|]]	Welsh llwyd [ɬʊɪd] "grey" Zulu hlala [ɬaːla] "sit"	By touching the roof of mouth with the tongue and giving a quick breath out. Found in Welsh placenames like Llangollen and Llanelli and Nelson Mandela's Xhosa name Rolihlahla.
[ɭ] [[:Media:Retroflex lateral approximant.ogg|]]		Like [l] with the tongue curled or pulled back.
[ɺ] [[:Media:Voiced alveolar lateral flap.wav|]]		A flapped [l], like [l] and [ɾ] said together.
[ɮ] [[:Media:Voiced alveolar lateral fricative.ogg|]]	Zulu dla "eat"	Rather like [l] and [ʒ], or [l] and [ð], said together.
[ʟ] [[:Media:Velar lateral approximant.ogg|]]
^ top M
[m] [[:Media:Bilabial nasal.ogg|]]	English mime
[ɱ] [[:Media:Labiodental nasal.ogg|]]	English symphony	Like [m], but the lips touch the teeth as they do in [f].
[ɯ] [[:Media:Close back unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	see under W
[ʍ] [[:Media:Voiceless labio-velar fricative.ogg|]]	see under W
^ top N
[n] [[:Media:Alveolar nasal.ogg|]]	English nun
[ŋ] [[:Media:Velar nasal.ogg|]]	English sing, Māori nga
[ɲ] [[:Media:Palatal nasal.ogg|]]	Spanish Peña, French champagne	Rather like English canyon (/nj/ said quickly).
[ɳ] [[:Media:Retroflex nasal.ogg|]]	Hindi वरुण [ʋəruɳ] Varuna	Like [n] with the tongue curled or pulled back.
[ɴ] [[:Media:Uvular nasal.ogg|]]	Castilian Spanish Don Juan [doɴˈχwan]	Like [ŋ], but further back, in the throat.
^ top O
[o] [[:Media:Close-mid back rounded vowel.ogg|]]	Modern RP, Australian and New Zealand English caught (long) Spanish no, French eau, German Boden	Somewhat reminiscent of American English no. The RP vowel is usually transcribed with Nodyn:Angbr IPA for historical reasons.
[ɔ] [[:Media:PR-open-mid back rounded vowel.ogg|]]	Modern RP, Australian and New Zealand English cot German Oldenburg, French Garonne	The RP vowel is usually transcribed with Nodyn:Angbr IPA for historical reasons.
[ɔ̃] [[:Media:Fr-on.ogg|]]	French Lyon, son	Nasalized [ɔ].
[ø] [[:Media:Close-mid front rounded vowel.ogg|]]	New Zealand English nurse, French feu, bœufs, German Goethe	Like [e], but with the lips rounded like [o].
[ɵ] [[:Media:Close-mid central rounded vowel.ogg|]]	Modern RP foot, Dutch hut, French je, Swedish dum	Halfway between [o] and [ø]. Similar to [ʊ] but with the tongue slightly more down and front. The RP vowel is typically transcribed with Nodyn:Angbr IPA, the Dutch vowel is often transcribed with Nodyn:Angbr IPA or Nodyn:Angbr IPA, whereas the French vowel is typically transcribed with Nodyn:Angbr IPA.
[œ] [[:Media:Open-mid front rounded vowel (2).ogg|]]	French bœuf, seul, German Göttingen	Like [ɛ], but with the lips rounded like [ɔ].
[œ̃] [[:Media:Fr-un-fr BE.ogg|]]	French brun, parfum	Nasalized [œ].
[ɶ] [[:Media:Open front rounded vowel.ogg|]]
[θ] [[:Media:Voiceless dental fricative.ogg|]]	see under Others
[ɸ] [[:Media:Voiceless bilabial fricative.ogg|]]	see under Others
^ top P
[p] [[:Media:Voiceless bilabial plosive.ogg|]]	English pip
^ top Q
[q] [[:Media:Voiceless uvular plosive.ogg|]]	Arabic Nodyn:Wikt-lang Qur’ān	Like [k], but further back, in the throat.
^ top R
[r] [[:Media:Alveolar trill.ogg|]]	Spanish perro, Scottish English borrow	"Rolled R". (Often used for other rhotics, such as English [ɹ], when there's no ambiguity.)
[ɾ] [[:Media:Alveolar tap.ogg|]]	Spanish pero, Tagalog daliri, Malay kabar, American English kitty/kiddie	"Tapped" R".
[ʀ] [[:Media:Uvular trill.ogg|]]	Dutch rood and German rot (some speakers)	A trill in the back of the throat. Found for /r/ in some conservative registers of French.
[ɽ] [[:Media:Retroflex flap.ogg|]]	Urdu ساڑی [saːɽiː] "saree"	Like flapped [ɾ], but with the tongue curled back.
[ɹ] [[:Media:Alveolar approximant.ogg|]]	most accents of English borrow
[ɻ] [[:Media:Retroflex Approximant2.oga|]]	Tamil புழு Puḻu "Worm", Mandarin 人民日报 Rénmín Rìbào "People's Daily", American English borrow, butter	Like [ɹ], but with the tongue curled or pulled back, as pronounced by many English speakers.
[ʁ] [[:Media:Voiced uvular fricative.ogg|]]	French Paris, German Riemann (some dialects)	Said back in the throat, but not trilled.
^ top S
[s] [[:Media:Voiceless alveolar sibilant.ogg|]]	English sass
[ʃ] [[:Media:Voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant.ogg|]]	English shoe
[ʂ] [[:Media:Voiceless retroflex sibilant.ogg|]]	Mandarin 少林 (Shàolín), Russian Пушкин (Pushkin)	Acoustically similar to [ʃ], but with the tongue curled or pulled back.
^ top T
[t] [[:Media:Voiceless alveolar plosive.ogg|]]	English tot, stop
[ʈ] [[:Media:Voiceless retroflex stop.oga|]]	Hindi टमाटर [ʈəmaːʈəɾ] (ṭamāṭar) "tomato"	Like [t], but with the tongue curled or pulled back.
[ts] [[:Media:Voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate.oga|]]	English cats, Russian царь tsar
[tʃ] [[:Media:Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate.ogg|]]	English church
[tɕ] [[:Media:Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate.ogg|]]	Mandarin 北京 Běijīng (listen), Polish ciebie "you"	Like [tʃ], but with more of a [j]-sound.
[tʂ] [[:Media:Voiceless retroflex affricate.ogg|]]	Mandarin 真正 zhēnzhèng, Polish czas	Like [tʃ] with the tongue curled or pulled back.
^ top U
[u] [[:Media:Close back rounded vowel.ogg|]]	American English food, French vous "you", German Schumacher
[ʊ] [[:Media:Near-close near-back rounded vowel.ogg|]]	American English foot, German Bundesrepublik
[ʉ] [[:Media:Close central rounded vowel.ogg|]]	Modern RP, Australian English food (long)	Like [ɨ], but with the lips rounded as for [u].
[ɥ] [[:Media:LL-Q150 (fra)-WikiLucas00-IPA ɥ.wav|]]	see under Y
[ɯ] [[:Media:Close back unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	see under W
^ top V
[v] [[:Media:Voiced labio-dental fricative.ogg|]]	English verve
[ʋ] [[:Media:Labiodental approximant.ogg|]]	Hindi वरुण [ʋəɾʊɳə] "Varuna"	Between [v] and [w]. Used by some Germans and Russians for v/w, and by some speakers of British English for r.
[ɤ] [[:Media:Close-mid back unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	see under Y
[ɣ] [[:Media:Voiced velar fricative.ogg|]]	see under Y
[ʌ] [[:Media:PR-open-mid back unrounded vowel2.ogg|]]	see under A
^ top W
[w] [[:Media:Voiced labio-velar approximant.ogg|]]	English wow
[ʷ]		Indicates a sound has lip rounding, as in English rain
[ʍ] [[:Media:Voiceless labio-velar fricative.ogg|]]	what (some dialects)	like [h] and [w] said together
[ɯ] [[:Media:Close back unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	Turkish kayık "caïque", Scottish Gaelic gaol	Like [u], but with the lips flat; something like [ʊ].
[ɰ] [[:Media:Voiced velar approximant.ogg|]]	Spanish agua	Like [w], but with the lips flat.
^ top X
[x] [[:Media:Voiceless velar fricative.ogg|]]	Scottish English loch, German Bach, Russian хлеб [xlʲep] "bread", Spanish joven	between [k] and [h]
[χ] [[:Media:Voiceless uvular fricative.ogg|]]	northern Standard Dutch Scheveningen, Castilian Spanish Don Juan [doɴˈχwan]	Like [x], but further back, in the throat. Some German and Arabic speakers have [χ] for [x].
^ top Y
[y] [[:Media:Close front rounded vowel.ogg|]]	French rue, German Bülow	Like [i], but with the lips rounded as for [u].
[ʏ] [[:Media:Near-close near-front rounded vowel.ogg|]]	Scottish English foot, German Düsseldorf	Like [ɪ], but with the lips rounded as for [ʊ].
[ɣ] [[:Media:Voiced velar fricative.ogg|]]	Arabic Nodyn:Wikt-lang ghālī and Swahili ghali "expensive", Spanish suegro	Sounds rather like French [ʁ] or between [ɡ] and [h].
[ɤ] [[:Media:Close-mid back unrounded vowel.ogg|]]	Mandarin 河南 Hénán, Scottish Gaelic taigh	Like [o] but without the lips rounded, something like a cross of [ʊ] and [ʌ].
[ʎ] [[:Media:Palatal lateral approximant.ogg|]]	Italian tagliatelle, Portuguese mulher	Like [l], but more [j]-like. Rather like English volume.
[ɥ] [[:Media:LL-Q150 (fra)-WikiLucas00-IPA ɥ.wav|]]	French lui	Like [j] and [w] said together.
^ top Z
[z] [[:Media:Voiced alveolar sibilant.ogg|]]	English zoo
[ʒ] [[:Media:Voiced palato-alveolar sibilant.ogg|]]	English vision, French journal
[ʑ] [[:Media:Voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant.ogg|]]	old-styled Russian позже [ˈpoʑːe] "later", Polish źle	More [j]-like than [ʒ], something like beigey.
[ʐ] [[:Media:Voiced retroflex sibilant.ogg|]]	Russian жир "fat"	Like [ʒ] with the tongue curled or pulled back.
[ɮ] [[:Media:Voiced alveolar lateral fricative.ogg|]]	see under L
^ top Others
[θ] [[:Media:Voiceless dental fricative.ogg|]]	English thigh, bath
[ɸ] [[:Media:Voiceless bilabial fricative.ogg|]]	Japanese 富士 [ɸɯdʑi] Fuji, Māori [ˌɸaːɾeːˈnuiː] wharenui	Like [p], but with the lips not quite touching
[ʔ] [[:Media:Glottal stop.ogg|]]	English uh-oh, Hawai‘i, German die Angst	The 'glottal stop', a catch in the breath. For some people, found in button [ˈbʌʔn̩], or between vowels across words: Deus ex machina [ˌdeɪəsˌʔɛksˈmɑːkɪnə]; in some nonstandard dialects, in a apple [əˈʔæpl̩].
[ʕ] [[:Media:Voiced pharyngeal fricative.ogg|]]	Arabic Nodyn:Wikt-lang ʻarabī "Arabic"	A light, voiced sound deep in the throat, articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx (back of the throat).
[ǀ] [[:Media:Dental click.ogg|]]	English tsk-tsk! or tut-tut!, Zulu icici "earring"	(The English click used for disapproval.) Several distinct sounds, written as digraphs, including [kǀ], [ɡǀ], [ŋǀ]. The Zimbabwean MP Ncube has this click in his name, as did Cetshwayo.
[ǁ] [[:Media:Alveolar lateral click.ogg|]]	English tchick! tchick!, Zulu ixoxo "frog"	(The English click used to urge on a horse.) Several distinct sounds, written as digraphs, including [kǁ], [ɡǁ], [ŋǁ]. Found in the name of the Xhosa.
[ǃ] [[:Media:Postalveolar click.ogg|]]	Zulu iqaqa "polecat"	(The English click used to imitate the trotting of a horse.) A hollow popping sound, like a cork pulled from a bottle. Several distinct sounds, written as digraphs, including [kǃ], [ɡǃ], [ŋǃ].
[ʘ] [[:Media:Clic bilabial sourd.ogg|]]	ǂ’Amkoe ʘoa "two"	Like a kissing sound.
[ǂ] [[:Media:Palatoalveolar click.ogg|]]	Khoekhoe ǂgā-amǃnâ [ǂàʔám̀ᵑǃã̀] "to put in the mouth"	Like an imitation of a chewing sound.

Marks added to letters

Several marks can be added above, below, before or after letters. These are here shown on a carrier letter such as the vowel a. A more complete list is given at International Phonetic Alphabet § Diacritics and prosodic notation.

Symbol	Example	Description
Signs above a letter
[ã]	French vin blanc [vɛ̃ blɑ̃] "white wine"	A nasal vowel, as with a Texas twang
[ä]	Portuguese vá [vä] "go"	A central vowel pronounced with the tongue position in the middle of the mouth; neither forward nor back
[ă]	English police [pə̆ˈliˑs]	An extra-short speech sound (usually a vowel)
Signs below a letter
[a̯]	English cow [kʰaʊ̯], koi [kʰɔɪ̯]	This vowel does not form a syllable of its own, but runs into the vowel next to it. (In English, the diacritic is generally left off: [kaʊ].)
[n̥]	English boy [b̥ɔɪ̯], doe [d̥oʊ̯] (see also)	Sounds like a loud whisper; [n̥] is like a whispered breath through the nose. [l̥] is found in Tibetan Lhasa.
[n̩]	English button	A consonant without a vowel (English [n̩] is often transcribed /ən/.)
[d̪]	Spanish dos, French deux	The tongue touches the teeth more than it does in English.
Signs next to a letter
[kʰ]	English come	Aspirated consonant, pronounced with a puff of air. Similarly [tʰ pʰ tsʰ tʃʰ tɕʰ].
[k’]	Zulu ukuza "come"	Ejective. Like a popped [k], pushed from the throat. Similarly [tʼ pʼ qʼ tʃʼ tsʼ tɬʼ].
[aː]	English shh! [ʃː]	Long. Often used with English vowels or diphthongs: Mayo /ˈmeːoː/ for [ˈmeɪ̯ɜʊ̯], etc.
[aˑ]	RP caught [ˈkʰoˑt]	Semi-long. (Although the vowel is different, this is also longer than cot [ˈkʰɔt].)
[ˈa]	pronunciation [pɹ̥əʊ̯ˌnɐnsiˈeɪʃn̩]	Main stress. The mark denotes the stress of the following syllable.
[ˌa]		Weaker stress. The mark denotes the stress of the following syllable.
[.]	English courtship [ˈkʰɔrt.ʃɪp]	Syllable break (this is often redundant and therefore left off)

Brackets

Two types of brackets are commonly used to enclose transcriptions in the IPA:

• /Slashes/ indicate sounds that are distinguished as the basic units of words in a language by native speakers; these are called phonemes. Changing the symbols between these slashes would either change the identity of the word or produce nonsense. For example, since there is no meaningful difference to a native speaker between the two sounds written with the letter L in the word lulls, they are considered the same phoneme, and so, using slashes, they are given the same symbol in IPA: /ˈlʌlz/. Similarly, Spanish la bamba is transcribed phonemically with two instances of the same b sound, /la ˈbamba/, despite the fact that they sound different to a speaker of English. Thus a reader who is not familiar with the language in question might not know how to interpret these transcriptions more narrowly.
• [Square brackets] indicate the narrower or more detailed phonetic qualities of a pronunciation, not taking into account the norms of the language to which it belongs; therefore, such transcriptions do not regard whether subtly different sounds in the pronunciation are actually noticeable or distinguishable to a native speaker of the language. Within square brackets is what a foreigner who does not know the structure of a language might hear as discrete units of sound. For instance, the English word lulls may be pronounced in a particular dialect more specifically as [ˈlɐɫz], with different L sounds at the beginning and end. This may be obvious to speakers of languages that differentiate between the sounds [l] and [ɫ]. Likewise, Spanish la bamba (pronounced without a pause) has two different B sounds to the ears of foreigners or linguists—[la ˈβamba]—though a native Spanish speaker might not be able to hear it. Omitting or adding such detail does not make a difference to the identity of the word, but helps to give a more precise pronunciation.
• Nodyn:// indicate diaphonemes. For example, some speakers pronounce dune as /djuːn/ with a distinct /j/, others /duːn/ as if spelled doon, and even others /dʒuːn/ like June. This is predictable where the historical pronunciation is /dj/ preceded by /uː/—the second group of speakers invariably drop the /j/, and the third group invariably turn it into /dʒ/—and it can be cumbersome to write down all three possibilities every time such a sequence is found. So the diaphonemic notation Nodyn:IPA // serves as a shorthand for "/dj/ for traditional speakers, /d/ for those who drop /j/ between historical /d/ and /uː/, and /dʒ/ for those who turn it into /dʒ/ in such a context".

A fourth kind of bracket is occasionally seen:

• |Pipes| (or occasionally other conventions) show that the enclosed sounds are theoretical constructs that are not actually heard. (This is part of morphophonology.) For instance, most phonologists argue that the -s at the ends of verbs, which surfaces as either /s/ in talks /tɔːks/ or as /z/ in lulls /lʌlz/, has a single underlying form. If they decide this form is an s, they would write it |s| to claim that phonemic /tɔːks/ and /lʌlz/ are essentially |tɔːks| and |lʌls| underneath. If they were to decide it was essentially the latter, |z|, they would transcribe these words |tɔːkz| and |lʌlz|.

Lastly,

• ⟨Angle brackets⟩ are used to set off orthography, as well as transliteration from non-Latin scripts. Thus ⟨lulls⟩, ⟨la bamba⟩, the letter ⟨a⟩. Angle brackets are not supported by all fonts, so a template {{angle bracket}} (shortcut {{angbr}}) is used to ensure maximal compatibility. (Comment there if you are having problems.)

Rendering issues

IPA typeface support is increasing, and is now included in several typefaces such as the Times New Roman versions that come with various recent computer operating systems. Diacritics are not always properly rendered, however. IPA typefaces that are freely available online include Gentium, several from the SIL (such as Charis SIL, and Doulos SIL), Dehuti, DejaVu Sans, and TITUS Cyberbit, which are all freely available; as well as commercial typefaces such as Brill, available from Brill Publishers, and Lucida Sans Unicode and Arial Unicode MS, shipping with various Microsoft products. These all include several ranges of characters in addition to the IPA. Modern Web browsers generally do not need any configuration to display these symbols, provided that a typeface capable of doing so is available to the operating system.

Particularly, the following symbols may be shown improperly depending on your font:

Symbol	IPA/Unicode values	Correct	Incorrect	Affected fonts	Test	Notes
ɧ	[[[:Nodyn:IPA symbol]] Sj-sound]			Helvetica on Apple devices	Nodyn:Collapse
ɪ	[[[:Nodyn:IPA symbol]] Nodyn:IPA symbol]			Some sans-serif fonts	Nodyn:Collapse	Largely fixed since explicitly proscribed in Unicode 10.0 (2017).
ɶ	[[[:Nodyn:IPA symbol]] Nodyn:IPA symbol]			Helvetica on Apple devices	Nodyn:Collapse	[1]
ʁ	[[[:Nodyn:IPA symbol]] Nodyn:IPA symbol]			San Francisco	Nodyn:Collapse
χ	[[[:Nodyn:IPA symbol]] Nodyn:IPA symbol]			Roboto	Nodyn:Collapse	Fixed in 2017.
				Trebuchet MS
ˈ	Primary stress			Tahoma	Nodyn:Collapse	The length marks denote elongation of the previous segment. The placeholder here just stands for a following character.
ˌ	Secondary stress
ː	Long
ˑ	Half-long

Registered users can specify their own font for IPA text by editing their user stylesheet. They can also edit their global stylesheet, which works across all Wikimedia projects. For instance, the following code would cause IPA to be displayed in the font Charis SIL:

.IPA {
	font-family: "Charis SIL";
}

Computer input using on-screen keyboard

Online IPA keyboard utilities are available and they cover a range of IPA symbols and diacritics:

• IPA i-charts (2018)
• IPA character picker
• TypeIt.org
• IPA Chart Keyboard

For iOS there are free IPA keyboard layouts, e.g. IPA Phonetic Keyboard.

See also

• Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet
• IPA charts for diphthongs in various languages
• Wikipedia:Manual of Style (pronunciation)#Entering IPA characters

External links

• Official interactive IPA chart with letter descriptions, audio, and input assist Nodyn:Spoken
• IPA pronunciation chart with audio Nodyn:Spoken
• MRI videos of production of the sounds of the IPA charts Nodyn:Spoken
• Ultrasound and MRI videos of production of the sounds of the IPA charts Nodyn:Spoken
• Getting JAWS 6.1 to recognize "exotic" Unicode symbols – for help on getting the screen reader JAWS to read IPA symbols
• IPA Reader – web-based IPA synthesizer using Amazon Polly
  • User:IagoQnsi/ipareader – user script using IPA Reader
• Wikipedia IPA Speaker – Chrome extension