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IPA number

Numbering system for alphabetical symbols


Numbering system for alphabetical symbols

IPA numbers are a legacy system of coding the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet. They were the organizational basis for XSAMPA and the IPA Extensions block of Unicode.

Following the Kiel Convention in 1989, most letters, diacritics and other symbols of the IPA were assigned a 3-digit numerical code, with updates through 2005. The purpose was to identify IPA symbols explicitly in an era of competing computer encodings, and thus to prevent confusion between similar characters (such as and , and , and , and or and ) in such situations as the printing of manuscripts. The system never saw much if any use and is now defunct, having been superseded by Unicode.

The semantic and graphic categories of the symbols are assigned different ranges of numbers: The 100 series are IPA consonants, the 200s retired and non-IPA consonants, the 300s vowels, the 400s diacritics, the 500s suprasegmentals, the 600s extIPA, the 700s capital letters and the 900s delimiters.

100: IPA consonants

Current IPA consonants, and those retired after the Kiel convention, are assigned numbers in the 100 range. The tie-bars used to create affricate consonants are assigned numbers in the 400 and 500 ranges.

BilabialLabiodentalAlveolarRetroflexPalatalVelarUvularPharyngealGlottalPlosiveNasalTrillTap or FlapFricativeLateral fricativeApproximantLateral approximant
p b
101 102t d
103 104ʈ ɖ
105 106c ɟ
107 108k ɡ g
109 110 210q ɢ
111 112ʡ
173ʔ
113
m
114ɱ
115n
116ɳ
117ɲ
118ŋ
119ɴ
120
ʙ
121r
122ʀ
123ʜ ʢ
172 174
184ɾ
124ɽ
125
ɸ β
126 127f v
128 129θ ð
130 131s z
132 133ʃ ʒ
134 135ʂ ʐ
136 137ç ʝ
138 139x ɣ
140 141χ ʁ
142 143ħ ʕ
144 145h ɦ
146 147
ɬ ɮ
148 149
ʋ
150ɹ
151ɻ
152j
153ɰ
154
l
155ɭ
156ʎ
157ʟ
158
ImplosivesClicksOther symbols
ƥ ɓ
159 160ʘ
176
ƭ ɗ
161 162ǀ
177
ƈ ʄ
163 164ǃ
178
ƙ ɠ
165 166ǂ
179
ʠ ʛ
167 168ǁ
180
ʍ w
169 170ɧ
175
ɥ
171ɺ
181
ɕ ʑ
182 183◌͡◌ ◌͜◌
433 509

200: retired and non-IPA consonants

The 200 range is mostly retired IPA consonants, though it includes several letters of the Americanist Phonetic Alphabet that are sometimes used alongside the IPA. A few superscript IPA letters, including a single vowel, have also been assigned numbers in this range. Symbols official until retirement by Kiel in 1989 are numbered upwards from 201; those already retired, or not IPA at all, are numbered downwards from 299.

In addition, there is the pre-composed character , the loop-tail (see the main consonant chart above), and the implicit IPA letter .

Old click lettersSuperscript lettersMisc.Palatalized lettersLigature affricatesNAPA letters
ʇ
201ʗ
202ʖ
203ʞ
291
ˢ
207ᶿ
217
218ˣ
292
ɼ
206ƞ
293ɫ
209
219ƻ
290ƾ
NA
ʆ
204ʓ
205ƫ
208
NA
NA
NA
ʦ
211ʣ
212ʧ
213ʤ
214ʨ
215ʥ
216
ƛ
294λ
295ž
296š
297ǰ
298č
299

300: IPA vowels

Vowel letters that were official after Kiel were numbered upward from 301. , which was once needed to create with a diacritic, two letters retired at Kiel, , and the three non-rhotic vowels added in the 1993 and 1996 updates to the IPA, , were numbered downward from 399. Pre-composed , present at Kiel, was assigned a number, but later and were not.

FrontCentralBackCloseNear-closeMid-closeMidMid-openNear-openOpen
i ı y
301 394 309ɨ ʉ
317 318ɯ u
316 308
ɪ ɩ ʏ
319 399 320ʊ ɷ
321 398
e ø
302 310ɘ ɵ
397 323ɤ o
315 307
ə ɚ
322 327
ɛ œ
303 311ɜ ɝ ɞ ʚ
326 NA 395 396ʌ ɔ
314 306
æ
325ɐ
324
a ɶ
304 312ɑ ɒ
305 313

400: non-tone diacritics

Retired and non-IPA
,
491
◌˗
494
◌̢
489

500: suprasegmentals

Indicators of tone, stress, intonation and other elements of prosody. Combinations of tone diacritics or letters that were illustrated on the IPA Chart in 1999 are assigned individual numbers, leaving 3 tone diacritics and many, many compound tone letters without assigned numbers.

◌̑
595
◌ː
503
507
LevelContourRetired and non-IPA
◌̋
512˥
519◌̌
524
◌́
513˦
520◌̂
525
◌̄
514˧
521◌᷄
526
◌̀
515˨
522◌᷅
527
◌̏
516˩
523◌᷈
528
◌᷇
NA
517◌᷆
NA
518◌᷉
NA
ˇ◌
596ˆ◌
597◌̖
598

600: extIPA

The symbols of the Extensions to the IPA were numbered sequentially to 683. Several are redundant with other ranges. (The capital Latin letters are not shown here; see the 700 range.) A few letters that were apparently added to extIPA after 1999, such as , were not given numbers either, though they predate , which was added to the regular IPA in 2005 and did receive a number. The symbols added in the 2015 expansion of extIPA were apparently never assigned numbers either.

LettersConnected
speechInline symbols
ʭ
601ʩ
602ʪ
603
611*
612Œ
627
(.)
631(‥)
632(...)
633
*f*
634*ff*
635*p*
636
\
659
661
662

Number 611 is the "balloon" used to encircle unidentified segments.

Misc.
diacriticsVoicing
diacritics
◌͆
651◌͍
652
◌ᶹ
673◌͢◌
674
◌̬᪽
665◌̬᫃
666
ˬ◌
663 = 403◌ˬ
664 = 403

700: capital letters

The capitals of the basic Latin alphabet, A–Z, are assigned the numbers 701 to 726 in order.

C 703, F 706, J 710, L 712, V 722 and W 723 are redundant with their extIPA numbers 624, 622, 626, 625, 621, 623, respectively.

900: transcription delimiters

Brackets and other punctuation that mark linguistic transcription

phoneticphonemicsilent (mouthing) /
indistinguishablesound obscuredprosodic
[ ]
901 902
/
903
( )
906 907
⸨ ⸩
908 909
{ }
910 911

References

References

  1. Steven Moran & Michael Cysouw (2018) ''The Unicode cookbook for linguists'', p. 44–45
  2. (1999). "The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association". Cambridge University Press.
  3. The labels "silent (mouthing)" and "indistinguishable" appear on p. 175 and p. 191, respectively, of the IPA ''Handbook''.
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