The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association is a comprehensive guide to the

Association's 'International Phonetic Alphabet'. The aim of the International Phonetic

Alphabet is to provide a universally agreed system of notation for the sounds of languages,
and for over a century the Alphabet has been widely used by phoneticians and others
concerned with language. The Handbook presents the basics of phonetic analysis so that
the principles underlying the Alphabet can be readily understood, and exemplifies the use
of each of the phonetic symbols comprising the Alphabet. The application of the Alphabet
is then extensively demonstrated by the inclusion of over two dozen 'Illustrations' -
concise analyses of the sound systems of languages accompanied by a phonetic
transcription of a passage of speech. These Illustrations cover languages from all over the
world. The Handbook also includes a range of other useful information. The 'Extensions'
to the International Phonetic Alphabet cover speech sounds beyond the sound systems of
languages, such as those with paralinguistic functions and those encountered in
pathological speech. A full listing is given of internationally agreed computer codings for
phonetic symbols, including not only those of the International Phonetic Alphabet but also
those of other traditions. And there is extensive information on the history of the
International Phonetic Association and its current activities. The Handbook is an essential
reference work for all those involved in the analysis of speech.

The International Phonetic Association exists to promote the study of the science of
phonetics and the applications of that science. The Association can trace its history back to
1886, and since that time the most widely known aspect of its work has been the
International Phonetic Alphabet. The Handbook has been produced collaboratively by
leading phoneticians who have been on the Executive of the Association, and it
incorporates (for instance in the case of the Illustrations) material provided by numerous
members of the Association world wide.
Handbook of the International Phonetic Association

A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet

I CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP, United Kingdom

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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© The International Phonetic Association 1999
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521652360

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and

to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1999

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ISBN 0 521 65236 7 hardback

ISBN 0 521 63751 1 paperback

Transferred to digital printing 2 0 0 3

 CONTENTS
Foreword vii

The IPA Chart ix

PART 1: Introduction to the IPA

1 What is the International Phonetic Alphabet? 3

2 Phonetic description and the IPA Chart 3

2.1 Linguistically relevant information in speech 4
2.2 Segments 4
2.3 The consonant-vowel distinction 6
2.4 Consonants 7
2.5 Non-pulmonic consonants 9
2.6 Vowels 10
2.7 Suprasegmentals 13
2.8 Diacritics 15
2.9 Other symbols 17

3 Guide to IPA notation 18

3.1 Exemplification of the symbols 18
3.2 Languages used for exemplification 25

4 The phonemic principle 27

5 Broad and narrow transcriptions 28

6 IPA transcriptions for a language 30

7 Working with the IPA 31

7.1 Symbol names 31
7.2 Using the IPA in handwriting 31
73 Using the IPA in print 31
7.4 Using the IPA on computers 31
7.5 The IPA and braille 32

8 Going beyond the IPA 32

9 Some problematic issues 33

9.1 Segmentation 33
9.2 Aligning transcriptions and speech 35
9.3 Transcribing the speaker or the hearer? 36

10 The IPA and phonological theory 37

vi Contents

PART 2: Illustrations of the IPA

American English 41
Amharic 45
Arabic 51
Bulgarian 55
Cantonese 58
Catalan 61
Croatian 66
Czech 70
Dutch 74
French 78
Galician 82
German 86
Hausa 90
Hebrew 96
Hindi 100
Hungarian 104
Igbo 108
Irish 111
Japanese 117
Korean 120
Persian (Farsi) 124
Portuguese 126
Sindhi 131
Slovene 135
Swedish 140
Taba 143
Thai 147
Tukang Besi 151
Turkish 154

PART 3: Appendices

Appendix 1 The Principles of the International Phonetic Association 159

Appendix 2 Computer coding of IPA symbols 161

Appendix 3 Extensions to the IPA 186

Appendix 4 About the International Phonetic Association 194

The History of the Association 194
Statutes and By-laws 197
How to find out more about the Association 199
How to join the Association 199

Appendix 5 Reference charts 200

 Foreword

The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association is a resource containing concise

information on the International Phonetic Alphabet and guidance on how to use it - a kind
of 'user's manual'. It replaces the Principles of the International Phonetic Association,
which has been out of print for some time and which had not been revised since 1949. But
although the Handbook replaces some of the functions of the old Principles, it is a
completely new work with wider objectives.
The old Principles contained a short tutorial on phonetic description, examples of the
use of phonetic symbols, and a large number of 'specimens' consisting of very brief
comments on the phonetics of a language and a transcription of the 'North Wind and the
Sun' text translated into the language. Additionally, there was some information about the
Association, and, printed on the inside covers, a brief history of it.
The new Handbook broadly speaking retains these components. It is divided into three
parts: part 1 contains an introduction to phonetic description and exemplification of the
use of the symbols; part 2 consists of 'Illustrations' of the use of the International Phonetic
Alphabet for different languages (these Illustrations are ones which have appeared in the
Journal of the International Phonetic Association since 1989); and part 3 contains
appendices with a variety of reference material.
Beyond the basic similarity of structure, the Handbook is very different from the old
Principles. Most superficially, perhaps, it reflects the changes which have been made in
that most tangible and widely known product of the Association's work, the IPA Chart.
Discussion and exemplification is based on the most recent (1996) edition of the chart.
More substantively, the Handbook acknowledges the fact that over the past half century
the advance of techniques for acoustic analysis means that many readers will be familiar
with, and quite possibly working with, speech as an acoustic signal. This means it now
seems appropriate to use an acoustic display such as a spectrogram not only as a way of
presenting one facet of speech, but also to discuss problems which arise in the relation
between a segmentally based system of notation and the physical speech event. The
Handbook will also contain practical information to do with the use of the IPA on
computers, such as the computer codes for phonetic symbols.
The most fundamental differences between the old Principles and the new Handbook
perhaps arise from the expectation that the readership of the new work will be much less
homogeneous than that envisaged for the old one. The new Handbook is intended to be a
reference work not only for language teachers and phoneticians interested in the sounds of
different languages, but also for speech technologists, speech pathologists, theoretical
phonologists, and others.
This breadth of readership is to be encouraged, given the goal that the International
Phonetic Alphabet (hereafter 'the IPA') should be a standard for the representation of
speech. But it poses particular challenges for the writing of the 'tutorial' sections of the
Handbook. The challenges are further increased by the vertical spread of readers from
those who are experienced phoneticians to those who know nothing about phonetics. The
viii Foreword

breadth of readership has led perhaps to a more equivocal tone in the presentation of the
premises behind the IPA than in the Principles. For instance, the way in which the IPA
developed historically was closely bound up with a 'strictly segmented' phonemic view,
and in section 10 the fact that there are alternatives in phonological theory is
acknowledged. The vertical spread of readers poses the recurring question of how much or
how little to say. The lower bound is presumably what a novice needs to pick up in order
to have some idea of the principles governing the organization of the chart. The upper
bound is the practical goal of a compact booklet, readily affordable by students, and
concise enough to be easily digested by non-specialist readers.
The resulting text in part 1 is more discursive than that of the old Principles. It should
be borne in mind, however, that it does not attempt the job either of a phonetics textbook,
or of a critique of the IPA. Nowadays there are many good phonetics textbooks available,
and it would be expected that students of phonetics would read one or more of these in
conjunction with the Handbook. The purpose of the Handbook is not to provide a
comprehensive or balanced education in phonetics, but to provide a concise summary of
information needed for getting to grips with the IPA. Likewise, whilst a full-scale critique
of the assumptions on which the IPA is founded is perhaps due, the practically-oriented
Handbook is not the place for it. The IPA is a working tool for many, and whilst it may be
possible to improve that tool, the role of the Handbook is that of an instruction manual for
the tool which is currently available.
The creation of the Handbook has been in every sense a collaborative effort. The text
in part 1 is largely the responsibility of Francis Nolan, and the exemplification of the use
of sounds was provided by Peter Ladefoged and Ian Maddieson. Ian Maddieson, and
Martin Barry, as successive editors of the Journal of the International Phonetic
Association, have been responsible for overseeing and collating the rich and ever growing
stock of Illustrations. Martin Ball was instrumental in formulating the Extensions to the
IPA (appendix 3), and Mike MacMahon wrote appendix 4 on the history of the
Association. John Esling is responsible for appendix 2 on the computer coding of symbols,
and for most of the work involved in the final stages of preparing the Handbook including
the final editing of the Illustrations. And, of course, particular thanks are due to the authors
of the Illustrations, and to the large number of members of the International Phonetic
Association who responded with suggestions and corrections when a draft of parts of the
Handbook was published in the Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
 THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (revised to 1993, updated 1996)
CONSONANTS (PULMONIC)

Velar

Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.

CONSONANTS (NON-PULMONIC)

Clicks Voiced implosives Ejectives

o Bilabial D Bilabial
?
Examples: u
1 Dental Ci Dental/alveolar
P' Bilabial

! (Post)alveolar T Palatal t' Dental/alveolar Y tO

* Palatoalveolar C) Velar k' Velar

I Alveolar lateral G Uvular s' Alveolar fricative Open-mid

A+O
OTHER SYMBOLS

Voiceless labial-velar fricative \p £p Alveolo-palatal fricatives

airy
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one
to the right represents a rounded vowel.
w Voiced labial-velar approximant X Alveolar lateral flap

l| Voiced labial-palatal approximant J] Simultaneous J and X SUPRASEGMENTALS

i
H Voiceless epiglottal fricative
Affricates and double articulations Primary stress
X Voiced epiglottal fricative can be represented by two symbols , Secondary stress

T Epiglottal plosive
joined by a tie bar if necessary. .founs'tijsn
I Long CI
DIACRITICS Diacritics may be placed above a symbol with a descender, e.g. 11 T
Half-long CT

Voiceless n d Breathy voiced U d Dental t Q

Extra-short C

s t
o I Minor (foot) group
Voiced Creaky voiced D d Apical L Li
V II Major (intonation) group
h
th dh
V
Linguolabial t Li Laminal L CI
Aspirated . Syllable break li.aekt
• D O
More rounded 0 w Labialized
f-W
L
/1W
Li Nasalized C
Linking (absence of a break)
>
3 w

Less rounded 0 J Palatalized V u) Nasal release d

c
c

Advanced
V Y Velarized t Q 1 H1 TONES AND WORD ACCENTS
LEVEL CONTOUR
+ Lateral release vi
1 it
e S Extra
Sor A
" —1
Rising
__ Retracted Pharyngealized t ?
d Y No audible release Li
eor l high

Centralized e - Velarized or pharyngealized e 1 High e N Falling

e H Mid e •1
High
X
£ Raised C (J = voiced alveolar fricative)
rising

-1 Low e A
V Low

e
Mid-centralized v / rising
Syllabic n Lowered C ( LJ = voiced bilabial approximant)
e J Extra
low e 1
Rising-
falling
Non-syllabic e H
Advanced Tongue Root t
k
Downstep ? Global rise

"^ Rhoticity & a- 1-

Retracted Tongue Root €
k
t Upstep \ Global fall
 PARTI

Introduction to the IPA

1 What is the International Phonetic Alphabet?
The aim of the International Phonetic Association is to promote the study of the science of
phonetics and the various practical applications of that science. For both these it is
desirable to have a consistent way of representing the sounds of language in written form.
From its foundation in 1886 the Association has been concerned to develop a set of
symbols which would be convenient to use, but comprehensive enough to cope with the
wide variety of sounds found in the languages of the world; and to encourage the use of
this notation as widely as possible among those concerned with language. The system is
generally known as the International Phonetic Alphabet. Both the Association and its
Alphabet are widely referred to by the abbreviation IPA, and here the Alphabet will
generally be abbreviated to 'the IPA'. The IPA is based on the Roman alphabet, which has
the advantage of being widely familiar, but also includes letters and additional symbols
from a variety of other sources. These additions are necessary because the variety of
sounds in languages is much greater than the number of letters in the Roman alphabet. The
use of sequences of phonetic symbols to represent speech is known as transcription.
The IPA can be used for many purposes. For instance, it can be used as a way to show
pronunciation in a dictionary, to record a language in linguistic fieldwork, to form the
basis of a writing system for a language, or to annotate acoustic and other displays in the
analysis of speech. For all these tasks it is necessary to have a generally agreed set of
symbols for designating sounds unambiguously, and the IPA aims to fulfil this role. The
purpose of this Handbook is to provide a practical guide to the IPA and to the conventions
associated with it.
Phonetics, like any science, develops over time. New facts emerge, new theories are
created, and new solutions to old problems are invented. The notational system of any
science reflects facts and theories, and so it is natural that from time to time the Alphabet
should be modified to accommodate innovations. The Alphabet presented in this
Handbook is the version revised by a Convention of the International Phonetic
Association held in Kiel in 1989, subject to a subsequent set of minor modifications and
corrections approved by the Council of the Association. Despite these and earlier changes,
the Alphabet today shows striking continuity with the Association's Alphabet as it was at
the end of the nineteenth century. The development of the IPA has, throughout the history
of the Association, been guided by a set of 'Principles', and these are listed in appendix 1.

2 Phonetic description and the IPA Chart

Behind the system of notation known as the IPA lie a number of theoretical assumptions
about speech and how it can best be analyzed. These include the following:
— Some aspects of speech are linguistically relevant, whilst others (such as personal voice
quality) are not.
— Speech can be represented partly as a sequence of discrete sounds or 'segments'.
— Segments can usefully be divided into two major categories, consonants and vowels.
— The phonetic description of consonants and vowels can be made with reference to how
4 Handbook of the IPA

they are produced and to their auditory characteristics.

— In addition to the segments, a number of 'suprasegmental' aspects of speech, such as
stress and tone, need to be represented independently of the segments.
The IPA is summarized in the 'IPA Chart', which is reproduced in its entirety after the
foreword, and section by section in appendix 5; readers are encouraged to photocopy and
enlarge the Chart for ease of reference. The structure of the Chart reflects the assumptions
above. The following subsections provide a brief introduction to phonetic description in
the context of these underlying assumptions, while referring to the relevant parts of the
Chart. This introduction can only deal with a few important points, and readers who need
a more thorough treatment of phonetic description should consult phonetics textbooks.
In introducing the IPA, it is necessary to refer to examples from languages. As far as
possible, languages are used with which many readers may be acquainted, but of course
this is not possible for many sounds. Variation also provides a problem: all languages have
different accents and other varieties of pronunciation. When a sound is exemplified by a
word in a particular language, this should be taken to mean that the sound can often be
heard in that word, not that it will always occur in pronunciations of the word.
In the case of English, reference is made here mainly to two varieties, General
American and Standard Southern British. These varieties are widely heard, in the United
States and Britain respectively, in formal areas of broadcasting such as newscasts. General
American is regarded as a variety which transcends regional divides. Standard Southern
British (where 'Standard' should not be taken as implying a value judgment of
'correctness') is the modern equivalent of what has been called 'Received Pronunciation'
('RP'). It is an accent of the south east of England which operates as a prestige norm there
and (to varying degrees) in other parts of the British Isles and beyond. Where necessary,
reference will be made specifically to one of these varieties, but normally the term
'English' will be used, indicating that the sound occurs in both General American and
Standard Southern British. In most cases, of course, the sound will also occur in many
other varieties of English.

2.1 Linguistically relevant information in speech

Although phonetics as a science is interested in all aspects of speech, the focus of phonetic
notation is on the linguistically relevant aspects. For instance, the IPA provides symbols to
transcribe the distinct phonetic events corresponding to the English spelling refuse
(['refjus] meaning 'rubbish' and [n'fjuz] meaning 'to decline'), but the IPA does not
provide symbols to indicate information such as 'spoken rapidly by a deep, hoarse, male
voice'. Whilst in practice the distinction between what is linguistically relevant and what
is not may not always be clear-cut, the principle of representing only what is linguistically
relevant has guided the provision of symbols in the IPA. The need to go further, however,
is now recognized by the 'Extensions to the IPA' presented in appendix 3.

2.2 Segments
Observation of the movements of the speech organs reveals that they are in almost
 Introduction to the IP A 5

continuous motion. Similarly the acoustic speech signal does not switch between
successive steady states, but at many points changes gradually and at others consists of
rapid transient events. Neither the movements of the speech organs nor the acoustic signal
offers a clear division of speech into successive phonetic units. This may be surprising to
those whose view of speech is influenced mainly by alphabetic writing, but it emerges
clearly from (for instance) x-ray films and acoustic displays.
For example, the movements and the acoustic signal corresponding to the English
word worry will show continuous change. Figure 1 presents a spectrogram of this word.
Spectrograms are a way of making visible the patterns of energy in the acoustic signal.
Time runs from left to right, and the dark bands reflect the changing resonances of the
vocal tract as the word is pronounced. In the case of the word worry, the pattern ebbs and
flows constantly, and there are no boundaries between successive sounds. Nonetheless the
word can be segmented as [w^ji] - that is, as [w] + [B] + [i] + [i]. This segmentation is
undoubtedly influenced by knowledge of where linguistically significant changes in sound
can be made. A speaker could progress through the word making changes: in a British
pronunciation, for instance, [wRii] worry, [Iraii] hurry, [haeii] Harry, [haeti] Hatty, [haetg]
hatter. There are thus four points at which the phonetic event can be changed significantly,
and this is reflected in the analysis into four segments. Languages may vary in the points
at which they allow changes to be made, and so segmentation may have to be tentative in
a first transcription of an unknown language (see section 9). Nonetheless there is a great
deal in common between languages in the way they organize sound, and so many initial
guesses about the segmentation of an unfamiliar language are likely to be right.

0,1 0.2 03 0.4 0,5 0.6 0.7 time(s)

w B J i
Figure 1 Spectrogram of the word worry, spoken in a Southern British accent.
6 Handbook of the IP A

Phonetic analysis is based on the crucial premise that it is possible to describe speech
in terms of a sequence of segments, and on the further crucial assumption that each
segment can be characterized by an articulatory target. * Articulation' is the technical term
for the activity of the vocal organs in making a speech sound. The description of the target
is static, but this does not imply that the articulation itself is necessarily held static. So, for
example, [J] (as in the word worry above) is described as having a narrowing made by the
tongue-tip near the back of the alveolar ridge (the flattish area behind the upper front
teeth). The tongue-tip actually makes a continuous movement to and from that target, as
reflected in the dipping pattern of higher resonances on the spectrogram in figure 1
between 0.4 and 0.5 s. In other sounds, a target will be held for a fixed amount of time.
The important point is that the use of segments and associated 'target' descriptions allows
for a very economical analysis of the complex and continuously varying events of speech.

2.3 The consonant-vowel distinction

Broadly, speech involves successive narrowing and opening of the vocal tract, the passage
through which the air flows during speech. This can be seen clearly in an example such as
banana ([bo'naeng] or [bo'nans]), in which the vocal tract is closed three times (first by the
lips and then twice by the tongue), each closure being followed by an opening of the vocal
tract. The successive openings are the basis of syllables, and the word banana consists
therefore of three syllables. The open part of the cycle is regarded as the centre, or
nucleus, of the syllable.
Sounds like [b] and [n] which involve a closed, or nearly closed, vocal tract, are
consonants. Sounds like [s] and [a] which involve an open vocal tract are vowels. More
precisely, any sounds in which the flow of air out of the mouth is impeded at least enough
to cause a disturbance of the airflow are consonants. So a sound such as [s], in which the
'hissing' that can be heard results from the airflow being made turbulent, is as much a
consonant as [b]. Conversely any sounds in which the air flows out of the mouth
unimpeded are vowels. The distinction between consonant and vowel is fundamental to
the way segments are described in the framework underpinning the IPA.
It follows from the definitions of 'consonant' and 'vowel', and from the origin of the
syllable in the repeated opening and narrowing of the vocal tract, that vowels are well
suited to playing the role of syllable nuclei, and consonants are well suited to defining the
margins of syllables. The relationship between syllables and type of sound is not,
however, totally straightforward. For one thing, a sound which is a consonant may
nonetheless act as a syllable centre. So in a common pronunciation of the English word
button as [bAtn] there are two syllables, but the nucleus of the second is a consonant, as
judged from the way it is produced. Conversely in the word [jet] yet, the first sound, if
prolonged, is very similar to the vowel of [hid] heed, and does not involve a narrowing
extreme enough to produce friction. However because |j] plays the same role in the
syllable as sounds which are by definition consonants (e.g. [b] in [bet] bet), it is often
included in the class of consonants and described accordingly.
On the IPA Chart, there are separate sections for vowels and for consonants, reflecting
 Introduction to the IP A 1

different techniques for describing them. The different techniques arise from the more
closed articulation of consonants and the more open articulation of vowels.

2.4 Consonants
Because consonants involve a narrowing or 'stricture' at an identifiable place in the vocal
tract, phoneticians have traditionally classified a consonant in terms of its 'place of
articulation'. The [t] of ten, for instance, requires an airtight seal between the upper rim of
the tongue and the upper gum or teeth. Phonetic description of place of articulation,
however, concentrates on a section or 'slice' through the mid-line of the vocal tract, the
mid-sagittal plane as it is known, and in this plane the seal is made between the tip or
blade of the tongue and the bony ridge behind the upper front teeth, the alveolar ridge. The
sound is therefore described as alveolar. Figure 2 shows a mid-sagittal section of the vocal
tract, with the different places of articulation labelled. As further examples, the [p] of pen
is bilabial (the closure is made by the upper and lower lips), and the [k] of Ken velar
(made by the back of the tongue against the soft palate or velum). Other places of
articulation are exemplified in section 3.

Figure 2 Mid-sagittal section of the vocal tract with labels for place of articulation

On the IP A Chart, symbols for the majority of consonants are to be found in the large
table at the top. Place of articulation is reflected in the organization of this consonant
table. Each column represents a place of articulation, reflected in the labels across the top
of the table from bilabial at the left to glottal (consonants made by the vocal cords or vocal
folds) at the right. The terms 'bilabial' and 'labiodental' indicate that the consonant is
made by the lower lip against the upper lip and the upper front teeth respectively;
8 Handbook of the 1PA

otherwise it is normally assumed that the sound at a named place of articulation is made
by the articulator lying opposite the place of articulation (so alveolars are made with the
tip of the tongue or the blade (which lies just behind the tip)). The exception to this is the
term 'retroflex'. In retroflex sounds, the tip of the tongue is curled back from its normal
position to a point behind the alveolar ridge. Usually alveolar [J] shares some degree of
this curling back of the tongue tip, which distinguishes it from other alveolars. Note that
except in the case of fricatives only one symbol is provided for dental / alveolar /
postalveolar; if necessary, these three places can be distinguished by the use of extra
marks or 'diacritics' to form composite symbols, as discussed in section 2.8. For example,
the dental / alveolar / postalveolar nasals can be represented as [n n n] respectively.
The rows of the consonant table, labelled at the left side by terms such as plosive,
nasal, trill, and so on, reflect another major descriptive dimension for consonants, namely
'manner of articulation'. Manner of articulation covers a number of distinct factors to do
with the articulation of a sound. One is the degree of stricture (narrowing) of the vocal
tract involved. If the articulation of the plosive [t] is modified so that the tongue tip or
blade forms a narrow groove running from front to back along the alveolar ridge, instead
of an airtight closure, air can escape. The airflow is turbulent, and this creates sound of a
hissing kind known in phonetics as frication. Such a sound is*called a fricative. In this case
the resultant sound would be [s] as in sin. Other fricatives include [f] (as mfin) and [J] (as
in shin). If even less narrowing is made in the vocal tract, an approximant will result, in
which the airflow is not turbulent and no frication is audible. Approximants are
exemplified by the sound [j] at the start of yet, and the first sound in red in most varieties
of English ([J], [4], or [u] according to the variety).
'Manner of articulation' also includes important factors such as whether the velum (the
soft part of the palate at the back of the mouth) is raised or lowered. If it is lowered, as for
the sounds [m] and [n] in man, the resonances of the nasal cavity will contribute to the
sounds. Consonants where this happens are called nasals. Laterals (lateral approximants
such as English [1] in let and lateral fricatives such as Welsh [1] in llan 'church (place-
name element)' are sounds where air escapes not in the mid-line of the vocal tract but at
the side. Trills are sounds like [r] in Spanish perro 'dog' in which the air is repeatedly
interrupted by an articulator (in this case the tongue tip) vibrating in an airstream. A very
short contact, similar in duration to one cycle of the vibration of a trill, is called a tap, such
as the [r] in Spanish pero 'but'.
A further important factor in the description of consonants is not shown in the column
or row labels. This is whether the consonant is voiced or voiceless. In voiced consonants
the vocal cords are producing acoustic energy by vibrating as air passes between them,
and in voiceless ones they are not. A symbol on the left of a cell in the table is for a
voiceless consonant, e.g. [p] and [?], and one on the right is for a voiced consonant, e.g.
[b] (the voiced counterpart of [p]) and [m]. Voicing distinctions are actually more fine-
grained than implied by this two-way distinction, so it may be necessary to add to the
notation allowed by the two basic symbols. For instance, the symbolization [ba pa p ha]
implies consonants in which the vocal cords are, respectively, vibrating during the plosive
 Introduction to the IPA 9

closure, vibrating only from the release of the closure, and vibrating only from a time well
after the release (giving what is often known as an 'aspirated' plosive). Where a cell
contains only one symbol, it indicates (with one exception) a voiced consonant and is
placed on the right. The exception is the glottal plosive [?] (as the vocal cords are closed,
they are unable simultaneously to vibrate).
It should be clear that the consonant table is more than a list of symbols; it embodies a
classificatory system for consonants. It allows the user to ask a question such as 'how
should I symbolize a voiced sound involving complete closure at the uvula?' (The answer
is [G].) Or conversely, 'what sort of a sound is [j]?' (The answer is one which is voiced,
and in which frication can be heard resulting from a narrowing between the tongue front
and the hard palate.)
Not all cells or halves of cells in the consonant table contain symbols. The gaps are of
three kinds. Shaded cells occur where the intersection of a manner and a place of
articulation define a sound which is thought not to be possible, either by definition (a nasal
requires an oral occlusion combined with lowering of the velum, and so a pharyngeal or
glottal nasal is ruled out), or because the sound is impossible or too difficult to produce,
such as a velar trill or a bilabial lateral fricative. Unless phoneticians are mistaken in their
view of the latter category of sound, no symbols will be needed for any of the shaded
cells. An unshaded gap, such as the velar lateral fricative, may indicate that the sound in
question can be produced, but has not been found in languages. It is always possible that a
language will be discovered which requires the gap to be filled in. A case of this kind is
the velar lateral approximant [L], which only became generally known among phoneticians
in the 1970s when it was reported in Kanite, a language of Papua New Guinea. An
unshaded gap may also occur where a sound can be represented by using an existing
symbol but giving it a slightly different value, with or without an added mark separate
from the symbol. A symbol such as [0], shown on the chart in the position for a voiced
bilabial fricative, can also be used to represent a voiced bilabial approximant if needed. In
a similar way, no symbols are provided for voiceless nasals. A voiceless alveolar nasal can
be written by adding the voiceless mark [ o ] below the symbol [n] to form an appropriate
composite symbol [n]. Many of the gaps on the chart could be filled in this way by the use
of diacritics (sections 2.8 and 3). The formation of this kind of composite symbol is
discussed further in the section on diacritics below.

2.5 Non-pulmonic consonants

All the symbols in the main consonant table imply consonants produced using air from the
lungs ('pulmonic' consonants). Whilst some languages rely exclusively on air from the
lungs for sound production, many languages additionally use one or both of two other
'airstream mechanisms' to produce some of their consonants. Symbols for these sounds
are given in a separate box below and to the left of the main consonant table. These
sounds are exemplified in section 3.
The more common of the two non-pulmonic airstream mechanisms used in languages,
the 'glottalic', involves closing the glottis, and squeezing or expanding the air trapped
10 Handbook ofthe IPA

between the glottis and a consonant stricture further forward in the vocal tract. If the air is
squeezed, and therefore flows outwards - abruptly when a closure further forward is
released, or briefly but continuously through a fricative stricture - the sound is known as
an 'ejective'. Ejectives are symbolized by the appropriate voiceless consonant symbol
with the addition of an apostrophe, e.g. [p'], [s']. If instead the air between the glottis and
a closure further forward is expanded, reducing its pressure, air will flow into the mouth
abruptly at the release of the forward closure. Usually the closure phase of such sounds is
accompanied by vocal cord vibration, giving '(voiced) implosives' such as [6]. If it is
necessary to symbolize a voiceless version of such a sound, this can be done by adding a
diacritic: [6].
'Velaric' airstream sounds, usually known as 'clicks', again involve creating an
enclosed cavity in which the pressure of the air can be changed, but this time the back
closure is made not with the glottis but with the back of the tongue against the soft palate,
such that air is sucked into the mouth when the closure further forward is released. The
'tut-tut' or 'tsk-tsk' sound, used by many English speakers as an indication of disapproval,
is produced in this way, but only in isolation and not as part of ordinary words. Some
other languages use clicks as consonants. A separate set of symbols such as [^] is
provided for clicks. Since any click involves a velar or uvular closure, it is possible to
symbolize factors such as voicelessness, voicing, or nasality of the click by combining the
click symbol with the appropriate velar or uvular symbol: [k^ g=j= rj=t=], [q!].

2.6 Vowels
Vowels are sounds which occur at syllable centres, and which, because they involve a less
extreme narrowing of the vocal tract than consonants, cannot easily be described in terms
of a 'place of articulation' as consonants can. Instead, they are classified in terms of an
abstract 'vowel space', which is represented by the four-sided figure known as the 'Vowel
Quadrilateral' (see the Chart, middle right). This space bears a relation, though not an
exact one, to the position of the tongue in vowel production, as explained below.
Figure 3 shows a mid-sagittal section of the vocal tract with four superimposed
outlines of the tongue's shape. For the vowel labelled [i], which is rather like the vowel of
heed or French si 'if, the body of the tongue is displaced forwards and upwards in the
mouth, towards the hard palate. The diagram shows a more extreme version of this vowel
than normally found in English at least, made so that any further narrowing in the palatal
region would cause the airflow to become turbulent, resulting in a fricative. This extreme
vowel is taken as a fixed reference point for vowel description. Since the tongue is near
the roof of the mouth this vowel is described as 'close', and since the highest point of the
tongue is at the front of the area where vowel articulations are possible, it is described as
'front'.