Skip to content
Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/international-phonetic-alphabet

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet

none


none

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) possesses a variety of obsolete and nonstandard symbols. Throughout the history of the IPA, characters representing phonetic values have been modified or completely replaced. An example is for standard . Several symbols indicating secondary articulation have been dropped altogether, with the idea that they should be indicated with diacritics. In addition, the rare voiceless implosive series has been dropped.

Other characters have been added in for specific phonemes which do not possess a specific symbol in the IPA. Those studying modern Chinese phonology have used to represent the sound of -i in Pinyin hanzi which has been variously described as , , or (see the sections Vowels and Syllabic consonants of the article Standard Chinese phonology, as well as syllabic fricatives). The term para-IPA is used to describe "symbols that are commonly used within IPA notation but that are not themselves part of the IPA alphabet."

There are also unsupported symbols from local traditions that find their way into publications that otherwise use the standard IPA. This is especially common with Americanist symbols, including affricates such as for . Extensions from the Americanist affricate convention of c = ts and č = include 𝼝 = and ɕ = t𝼞.

While the IPA does not itself have a set of capital letters (the ones that look like capitals are actually small capitals), many languages have adopted symbols from the IPA as part of their orthographies, and in such cases they have invented capital variants of these. This is especially common in Africa. An example is Kabiyé of northern Togo, which has . Other pseudo-IPA capitals supported by Unicode are (see case variants of IPA letters).

Capital letters are also used as cover symbols in phonotactic descriptions: = consonant, = vowel, = nasal, = sonorant or sibilant, etc. When these symbols are used for indeterminate sounds, extIPA recommends the use of a surrounding circle . The asterisk is the convention the IPA uses when it has no symbol for a phone or feature, but which is typically determinate (for example the creaky-voiced glottal approximant reported by Ladefoged & Maddieson); extIPA explicitly defines the symbol for this purpose. Both cases (indeterminate sounds and determinate but lacking a formal symbol) may be referred to as wildcard symbols. The table below includes a handful of other nonstandard wildcards.

This list does not include commonplace extensions of the IPA, such as doubling a symbol for a greater degree of a feature ( extra-long , extra stress, strongly aspirated , and extra-rhotic ), nor superscripting for a lesser degree of a feature ( slightly prenasalized , slightly affricated , and epenthetic schwa).

For historical charts including obsolete symbols and values, see History of the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Table

Symbol or
exemplarDescriptionMeaning in IPAStandard IPA
equivalentNotes
commasecondary stresstypewriter substitution
apostrophe
primary stress
glottal stop
[digit seven](7-number)
question mark
turned b with hookbilabial clickthe tenuis bilabial click, and basis of digraphs for other bilabial clicks; equivalent to IPA [].
small capital [f](f)voiceless bilabial fricativereplaced by in 1928.
Greek phia mistake, typewriter substitution or similarity of shape
double exclamation markretroflex clicktypewriter substitution
Greek psiUsed by Doke (1925). See Click letter
bunched-rProposed by Laver (1994).
voiced bilabial fricative trillProposed by Sinologists.
voiceless labio-alveolar affricateUsed by Blench (2008).
voiced bilabial trillused by Uralicists
small capital Greek psivoiceless bilabial trill
small capital [p](p)para-IPA, by analogy of for the voiced equivalent
voiceless labiodental plosiveProposed in 1911, rejected
Greek piProposed in 1911 and 1989, rejected
qp ligatureUsed by Bantuists; also used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
small capital [m](m)voiced labiodental nasalProposed in 1911, rejected
Greek mu
small capital [b](b)voiced labiodental plosive
Greek beta
lb ligatureProposed in 1989, rejected
db ligatureUsed by Bantuists; also used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
sharp svoiced bilabial fricativea mistake, typewriter substitution or similarity of shape
or \intintegral symbolvoiceless postalveolar fricative
[digit three](3)open-mid central unrounded vowel
voiced postalveolar fricative
d with strokevoiced dental fricative
thornvoiceless dental fricativeProposed by early 20th century American phoneticians for English dictionaries; also proposed in 1989, rejected.
turned deltalabialized voiced alveolar or dental fricativeintended for the voiced whistled sibilant (Doke's ) of Shona and related languages, withdrawn 1976
sigmalabialized voiceless alveolar or dental fricativeintended for the voiceless whistled sibilant (Doke's ) of Shona and related languages, withdrawn 1976
ezh with taillabialized voiced alveolo-palatal fricative/ʒ/}}, withdrawn 1976.
reversed esh with top looplabialized voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative/ʃ/}}, withdrawn 1976.
barred [digit two](2)voiced alveolar affricatewithdrawn 1976
inverted glottal stop with strokevoiceless alveolar affricate
[c with stroke](c)Used by Americanists
inverted Latin alphaopen back unrounded vowelused by Kurath (1939), where is instead used for the open central unrounded vowel
Greek alphaa mistake; homoglyphic in many sans-serif and italic fonts
turned Greek alphaopen back rounded vowel
reversed [a](a)near-open front unrounded vowelProposed in 1989, rejected
[[File:Latin small letter nv.svg16pxclass=skin-invertalt=nʋ]]nv ligatureclose front rounded vowel
barred horseshoe u with hookback sulcal vowel
[[File:W with left hook.svg16pxclass=skin-invert]][w](w) with left hookvoiced labial-velar fricative (labialized voiced velar fricative)or or
[[File:Latin small letter script G with ascender.svg16x16pxclass=skin-invert]]long-leg [g](g)voiced velar lateral approximant
letters with left-swinging top hookdental consonantsproposed in 1989, rejected
letters with left-swinging mid hookretroflex consonantsMalayalam transcriptions
hv ligaturevoiceless labial-velar approximantorappears only in the 1921 chart
voiceless alveolar lateral fricativeproposed in 1989, rejected
[[File:H turned H ligature.svg16x16pxclass=skin-invertalt=hɥ]][h](h)-turned h ligaturevoiceless labial-palatal approximantappears only in the 1921 chart
orsmall capital b with top bar or [Cyrillic be](b)voiced_bilabial_approximant voiced bilabial frictionless continuant approximantorproposed in 2011
small capital Cyrillic hard sign
reversed Greek betaused by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025
turned Greek betapara-IPA
small capital Greek deltavoiced_dental_approximant voiced dental frictionless continuant approximantproposed in 2011
orsmall capital d with top bar or reversed [Cyrillic be](b)
reversed ethused by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025
turned eth
proposed in 2010
small capital eth
partially-devoiced dental fricativeused by Uralicists; in the case of the fricative, the form used was actually struck all the way through as in , but was encoded into Unicode as a single letter with the tap
voiceless alveolar tap and flap
small capital reversed Greek sigmavoiced_laminal_alveolar_approximantvoiced alveolar frictionless continuant approximantproposed in 2011; in response, Recasens (2011) rejected the need for special symbols in favor of simply using the diacritic for lowering, while maintaining a distinction between the rhotic and frictionless continuant
reversed s
reversed [z](z)used by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025
reversed [z](z) with curlvoiced alveolo-palatal frictionless continuant approximantlast=Ballfirst=Martin J.title=Additional Phonetic Symbols for the Transcription of Typical and Atypical Speechjournal=Journal of Connected Speechvolume=1issue=1year=2025pp=106-119doi=10.3138/jcspeech.29303}}
reversed ezhvoiced pharyngeal fricativeit is based on the Arabic letter ar (ع) instead of letter ezh, used in Arabic and Ethiopic transcriptions
voiced postalveolar frictionless continuant approximantproposed in 2011; used by Ball et al. in 2020
reversed [z](z) with retroflex hookvoiced retroflex frictionless continuant approximantused by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025
capital inverted [J](j)voiced palatal frictionless continuant approximantlowering]], while maintaining a distinction between the semivowel and frictionless continuant
reversed curly-tail [j](j)used by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025
small capital Greek gammavoiced velar frictionless continuant approximantlowering]], while maintaining a distinction between the semivowel and frictionless continuant
inverted Latin gammaused by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025
small capital inverted [r](r) with hookvoiced uvular approximantproposed in 1989, rejected
Greek rhovoiced bilabial trillproposed by Heffner (1950) before was officially adopted
small capital Greek rhovoiceless uvular trillused by Uralicists
small capital reversed [r](r)appears sporadically in historical charts
voiced uvular approximantlast1=Ballfirst1=Martinlast2=Rahillyfirst2=Joantitle=The symbolization of central approximants in the IPAjournal=Journal of the International Phonetic Associationyear=2011volume=41number=2pp=231-237doi=10.1017/S0025100311000107}}
voiced epiglottal trillused by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
small capital turned [r](r)voiceless uvular fricative/replaced in 1928
voiced uvular approximantlast1=Ballfirst1=Martinlast2=Rahillyfirst2=Joanlast3=Lowryfirst3=Orlalast4=Bessellfirst4=Nicolalast5=Leefirst5=Alicetitle=Phonetics for Speech Pathologyedition=3rdseries=Communication Disorders and Clinical Linguisticspublisher=University of Toronto Pressyear=2020isbn=978-1781791790}} and AddPhon in 2025
inverted glottal stopalveolar lateral clickremoved 1989; see click letters, but in some African languages still use this symbol to avoid confusion with ⟨‖⟩ (major break)
voiced pharyngeal approximantproposed in 2011
turned glottal stopused by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025
orturned glottal stop with strokevoiced epiglottal approximantused by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
reversed [h](h) with hookvoiced glottal approximant
[[File:Opentail g with stroke through tail.svg8pxclass=skin-invert]]single-loop g with strokevoiced velar fricativereplaced double-loop g in 1900, then replaced by gamma around 1928-1930. the character ǥ may not have the single-loop shape in some fonts.
[[File:Latin small letter Ezh with tophook.svg16x16pxclass=skin-invert]]hooktop ezhproposed in 1989, rejected
[[File:Looptail g.svg8pxclass=skin-invert]]double-loop [g](g)used in the early alphabet from 1895 to 1900; replaced with in the 1900 chart
voiced velar plosivestandard Unicode Basic Latin/ASCII lower-case g (U+0067) may have a double-loop g glyph. The preferred IPA single-loop g (U+0261) is in the IPA Extensions Unicode block. For a time it was proposed that the double-loop g might be used for and the single-loop g for , but the distinction never caught on.
voiced postalveolar affricateused in Arabic transcriptions
curly-tail eshvoiceless alveolo-palatal fricativevariant, also for Russian *щ* (now ). removed 1989
voiceless laminal closed postalveolar sibilantlast=Kümmelfirst=Martin Joachimyear=2025title=The primary palatals in Proto-Iranic: Still palatal?url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/395593829pp=23-32}} transcribed by Catford with
turned gwithdrawn 1904
curly-tail ezhvoiced alveolo-palatal fricativevariant, removed 1989
voiced laminal closed postalveolar sibilantCatford]] with
turned ezhwithdrawn 1904
curly-tail n, d, t, lalveolo-palatal consonantsorused by some Sinologists; also used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
[r](r) with háčekvoiced alveolar fricative trilltitle=THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABETjournal=Le Maître Phonétiquevolume=27number=64year=1949page=11jstor=44749216}}
long-leg [r](r)withdrawn 1989]]; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
syllabic alveolar trilla mistake
orinverted [r](r)voiced alveolar or postalveolar rhotic fricativeorused by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025
orinverted [r](r) with retroflex hookvoiced retroflex rhotic fricative
[[File:Latin small letter Turned Y-Ezh ligature.svg16x16pxclass=skin-invertalt=ʎʒ]]turned [y](y)-ezh ligaturevoiced palatal lateral fricativeorused by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
[[File:Latin small capital letter L-Ezh ligature.svg16x16pxclass=skin-invertalt=ʟʒ]]small capital [l](l)-ezh ligaturevoiced velar lateral fricativeor
Cyrillic o with two dots insidenasal-ingressive velic trilla paralinguistic impression of a snort, due to the graphic resemblance to a pig snout.
small capital [d](d)voiced alveolar tap and flapused by Americanists
lenis alveolar plosiveused by Uralicists
small capital barred [b](b)partially-devoiced bilabial fricative
small capital [j](j)voiceless palatal approximant
small capital [ł](l)voiceless velarized alveolar lateral approximant
small capital Cyrillic elvoiceless velar lateral approximant
small capital reversed [n](n) or engmavoiceless velar nasal
Greek lambdavoiced palatal lateral approximanta mistake
voiced alveolar lateral affricateused by Americanists
barred lambdavoiceless alveolar lateral affricate
[l with stroke](l)voiceless alveolar lateral fricativeused by Americanists, also a typographic substitute
velarized voiced alveolar lateral approximantused by Baltic transcriptions
orp with middle strokevoiceless bilabial fricativeused by Americanists
orb with middle strokevoiced bilabial fricative
ord with middle strokevoiced dental fricative
s c z with háčekpostalveolar or retroflex consonants;used by Americanists, Uralicists,
j, g, ezh with háčekvoiced postalveolar or retroflex affricate;used by Americanists, Arabists, Uralicists respectively
curly-tail svoiceless alveolo-palatal fricativeused by Roos (1998, 2000)
[c](c) with retroflex hookvoiceless retroflex affricate
c l n s z dz with acute accentalveolo-palatal or palatal/postalveolar consonants;used by Slavicists
[x](x) with dotvoiceless uvular fricativeused by Americanists
[[File:IPA Unicode 0x0264 baby gamma.svgclass=skin-invert]]baby gammaclose-mid back unrounded vowelused from 1921 to 1989, replaced by ramshorn to avoid confusion with gamma; LATIN SMALL LETTER RAMS HORN (U+0264) now represents both glyphs
, , or[digit zero](0), slashed digit zero or uppercase [slashed o](o)null initialusually used in phonology to mean a spelling with no sound value. however, in Chinese and some Korean linguistics, some scholars use it for a weak glottal stop; the sound value of the first consonant of syllables started by a vowel.
hooktop p, t, ʈ, c, k, qvoiceless implosivesorbrief additions to the IPA, removed 1993; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
[turned t](t)dental clickremoved 1989; see click letters, but in some African languages still use this symbol to avoid confusion with ⟨⟩ (voiced alveolar lateral approximant) and/or ⟨⟩ (minor break)
stretched (or descended) [c](c)alveolar clickremoved 1989; see click letters
voiced retroflex flapsome assumed this symbol was made by combining ⟨ɾ⟩ with ⟨◌̢⟩ and thus was used as the symbol for voiced retroflex flap ([]); ⟨ɽ⟩ assumed as the symbol of voiced retroflex trill ([]).
[turned k](k)originally a palatal click, reinterpreted as a back-released velar clickUsed in the Anthropos phonetic alphabet for a 'velar' click. Adopted by Jones for a palatal click for the 1921 chart; later comments show he interpreted this sound as velar. A click with a forward velar release was later judged impossible, and the symbol was therefor retired from the IPA. For several years it was used in extIPA for a velodorsal stop, but this was changed to () when it was resurrected for the para-lexical back-released click.
(⨎)esh with two barsvoiced palatal implosiveold form of ⟨ʄ⟩.
fricated palatal clickoruncommon letter in Ekoka !Kung transcription
ouclose-mid back unrounded vowel or voiced velar fricativeora mistake
reversed [r](r) with fishhooksyllabic denti-alveolar approximant, , , orused by Sinologists, and by Japanologists specifically for the Miyako and Tarama languages.
turned iotaold form of , used by Sinologists, and by Japanologists specifically for the Miyako and Tarama languages.
squat reversed eshsyllabic retroflex approximant, , orused by Sinologists. See Chinese vowels
orreversed (baseline) eshold form of , used by Sinologists. See Chinese vowels
turned h with fishhooklabialized syllabic denti-alveolar approximantused by Sinologists
turned h with fishhook and taillabialized syllabic retroflex approximant
barred Latin alphaopen central unrounded vowelProposed by Charles-James N. Bailey in 1976
ao ligatureUsed by Leoni & Maturi (2002).
small capital [a](a)used by Sinologists; recommended to and rejected by the IPA multiple times
open back unrounded vowelEarly historical usage from the description of French in the pre-1900 founding alphabet charts
devoiced open back unrounded vowelused by Uralicists
small capital ædevoiced near-open front unrounded vowel
small capital [turned a](a)close-mid back unrounded vowelreplaced in 1928
uppercase [e](e)mid front unrounded vowelused by some Koreanists, where in many dialects there is no phonemic differentiation between (RR *e*; Hangul ㅔ) and (RR *ae*; Hangul ㅐ). In the Gyeongsang dialects, a parallel case historically existed with a lack of differentiation between (RR *eo*; Hangul ㅓ) and (RR *eu*; Hangul ㅡ), sometimes written with an uppercase reversed ; however, the exact phonetic value of this vowel varies in different reports (unlike , which is rather consistent), and the merger is disappearing in younger speakers, though still present in older speakers.
small capital [e](e)Proposed by Bloch & Trager (1942); used by Sinologists
close-mid front unrounded vowelEarly historical usage from the description of French in the pre-1900 founding alphabet charts
devoiced close-mid front unrounded vowelused by Uralicists
small capital [turned e](3)devoiced mid central vowel
barred [e](e)close-mid central unrounded vowelused by Teuthonista
closed Latin epsilonopen-mid central rounded vowelappears sporadically in historical charts
typographical error from 1993, fixed in 1996
Latin iotanear-close near-front unrounded vowellongstanding alternate symbol until 1989
dotless small ia mistake or typographic substitute; or used by Americanists.
close front unrounded vowelplaceholder for modified sound, by placing diacritic above (e.g. ).
dotless small jvoiced palatal approximantor
barred small capital inear-close central unrounded vowelused by some English phoneticians, including the Oxford English Dictionary; Americanist notation
barred Latin iotaused by Slavicists
[[File:Gentium schwi.svg18x18pxclass=skin-invert]] ()small capital i over schwai}} or and
barred [o](o)close-mid central rounded vowelvariant shape of in some early 20th century works.
( or )small capital omegamid back rounded vowelProposed by Bloch & Trager (1942).
[o](o) with cedillaUsed by Sinologists.
o with low ring insideused in the Swedish Dialect Alphabet
small capital [o](o)devoiced close-mid or open-mid back rounded vowelorused by Uralicists
small capital open odevoiced open-mid back rounded vowelor
orGreek or Latin omeganear-open back rounded vowelProposed by Bloch & Trager (1942); used by Sinologists.
near-close near-back unrounded vowelorUsed by Wells (1982), by analogy of the obsolete symbol.
Cyrillic straight U with strokeused in Mande studies
closed omeganear-close near-back rounded vowellongstanding alternate symbol until 1989
small capital [u](u)Americanist notation; also the shape of in the original 1900 chart
devoiced close back rounded vowelused by Uralicists
barred Latin upsilonnear-close central rounded vowelused by some English phoneticians, including the Oxford English Dictionary
barred small capital [u](u)Americanist notation
[[File:Gentium schwu.svg18x18pxclass=skin-invert]] ()small capital Latin upsilon over schwau}} or and
barred yclose central compressed vowelpara-IPA, by analogy of central being transcribed as ; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
orsmall capital barred ynear-close central compressed vowelpara-IPA, by analogy of central being transcribed as
barred jvoiced post-palatal approximantorused by Ball et al. (2011, 2020, 2025)
barred turned hcompressed post-palatal approximantused by Ball et al. (2011, 2025); in the Unicode pipeline
barred [w](w)protruded post-palatal approximantused by Ball et al. (2020, 2025); in the Unicode pipeline
uppercase letterssmall capsoften mistaken by typing
uppercase [h](h)long vowel (chōonpu)used by Japanologists to represent a phonemic long vowel, such as
uppercase [r](r)
uppercase [q](q)long consonant (sokuon)used by Japanologists; typically marks gemination, but may also be realized as a glottal stop in certain contexts
uppercase [x](x)voiceless uvular fricativea mistake
uppercase [y](y)voiced labial–palatal approximant
n with long right legmoraic nasal (hatsuon), , , etc.Intended for the moraic nasal of Japanese; withdrawn 1976. Now often written by Japanologists as an uppercase (common wildcard for nasal consonants).
v with curllabiodental flaphistorically used before was officially adopted by the IPA in 2005
w with hookbilabial flaporpara-IPA, by analogy of for the labiodental equivalent. In literature, this sound has often been transcribed as , also by analogy of the labiodental formerly being transcribed as ; see bilabial flap for further examples and explanation
glottalic (preglottalized) labial-velar approximant, , , orpara-IPA, by analogy of the right-swinging top hook for implosives. Used in several African alphabets; see w with hook and y with hook for examples
y with hookglottalic (preglottalized) palatal approximant, , , or
[l](l) with fishhookalveolar lateral flaphistorical alternate used in transcriptions before the official adoption of by the IPA; also in the Anthropos phonetic alphabet
turned [r](r) with long leg and retroflex hookretroflex lateral flappara-IPA, by analogy of retroflex being transcribed as ; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025
esh and ezh with retroflex hooklaminal retroflex fricativesorused by Laver (1994) for Polish and Russian ; described as retroflex palato-alveolar by Diehl (1995), which may be impossible to pronounce according to Ladefoged
, , etc.apostropheno audible release, , etc.removed
palatalization, , etc.common in X-SAMPA
, , *etc.*right single quotation markfortis consonants, , *etc.*used by some Koreanists for fortis sounds, where the distinction with lenis is not one of voicing.
, , *etc.*uppercase letters
, , *etc.*asterisk
syntactic gemination triggerused in some Italian dictionaries at the end of words which trigger syntactic gemination. Not typically transcribed as simple gemination ; see syntactic gemination for further details
, , *etc.*turned comma aboveweak (sometimes normal) aspiration(sometimes )First symbol may be left single quotation mark (U+2018) or modifier letter apostrophe (U+02BC); second symbol may be single high-reversed-9 quotation mark (U+201B) or modifier letter reversed comma (U+02BD)
ligaturesaffricatesAffricate ligaturesformerly acceptable variants
ligatures with palatal hookpalatalized affricateshistorical, para-IPA
ligatures with retroflex hookretroflex affricates
or
*etc.*primepalatalization*etc.*traditional Irish phonology transcription
*etc.*combining apostrophetraditional Russian phonology transcription
, , etc.superscript digitspitch accentsorused in Swedish and Norwegian
tonal accentsor or similar, or Chao tone lettersused by Sinologists in China and Taiwan
, , , etc.macronlong vowel, , , etc.a mistake
, , , etc.colon
palatal_hook palatal hookpalatalizationTypically used in the transcription of Slavic languages such as Russian. Superseded 1989
retroflex_hook retroflex hookretroflexionused on consonants when no precomposed character exists
r-colored vowelsSuperseded 1989; MODIFIER LETTER RHOTIC HOOK (U+02DE) is now preferred
[[File:LATIN SMALL LETTER SCHWA WITH FISHHOOK.svg10pxclass=skin-invert]]schwa with fishhook schwa with right hookUsed by Kenyon until 1935; in the Unicode pipeline
modifier letters plus and minusadvanced, retractedused to avoid a descender or another diacritic; the minus may have serifs to distinguish it from a hyphen. Withdrawn 1989
modifier letters left- and right-tackused to avoid a descender or another diacritic. retired in 1912. sometimes seen today with their modern values of advanced and retracted tongue root.
modifier letters up- and down-tackraised, loweredused to avoid a descender or another diacritic; withdrawn 1989
superscript v with hooklabialization (compressed)indicates labiodentalization in VoQS; used in some language studies e.g. Swedish and Japanese
combining Latin beta aboveused to avoid implication of a diphthong
combining left–right arrow below and aboveextIPA, but intended for spread lips rather than compression
combining turned w belowmay also be used to indicate voiceless labialization , instead of compression
combining double arch below and aboveadded to Unicode in 2025 with this as its intended usage, but not IPA
combining inverted double arch below and abovelabialization (protruded)withdrawn 1989
combining [w](w) below and aboveused in some sources, but the rounded version (double arch) is the standard
ogoneknasalizationused by Americanists; sometimes seen to avoid clash with tone ascender diacritics
loweredwithdrawn 1989
underdotraised
retroflex consonantsearly historical charts
whisperednever IPA, but picked up by VoQS
overdotpalatalizationwithdrawn 1976
()open cornerrelease/burstlisted in the 1999 *Handbook* as IPA number 490 and AFII code E218, but never adopted into Unicode
boxunreleasedused where IPA would get confused with the corners used to indicate change of pitch in the Japanese pitch accent system
Modifier h with hookbreathy voice or voiced aspirationEquivalent in the IPA
Modifier glottal stopcreaky voice or glottalization
Combining homotheticnareal fricativeformer extIPA, replaced in 2024
Combining double tildevelopharyngeal release()
Modifier high, mid and low macron behindhigh, mid and low-level tone or intonation
or
replaced 1989
Modifier high and low equals sign behindextra-high and extra-low level tone or intonation
or
Modifier high, mid and low grave behindfalling or high falling, mid falling and low-falling tone or intonation
or
Modifier high and low acute behindhigh rising and low rising tone or intonation
or
Modifier high and low caron behindhigh dipping and low dipping (falling-rising) tone or intonation
or
Modifier high and low circumflex behindpeaking (rising-falling) tone or intonation
or
Modifier high and low tilde behind"wavy" tone or intonationremoved
Modifier high, mid and low dot behindatonic syllable with high, mid, and low pitch; respectively
Acute accent, circumflex, grave accent, brevestress symbols:ˈˈ◌, ˈ◌, ˌ◌, ◌some English phoneticians and phonologists use acute and grave accents as primary and secondary stress symbols. Some linguists use the circumflex as weakened primary stress in compound words and the breve as no stress. these symbols are also written on the English spellings not just other IPA symbols.
Vertical line below or abovemoraicused by Japanologists. In the standard IPA, these symbols represents syllabic sounds, but Japanologists use them for phonetic variants (except for nasal vowels) of the moraic N ([]).
Macron, acute accent, caron, grave accentChinese tonesor or similar, depending on dialect and analysis, or Chao tone lettersused by Sinologists with the values the symbols have in Hanyu Pinyin. the standard IPA values of these diacritics are: mid, high, rising, and low tone.
combining acute and grave belowlower-pitched rising / falling tone contourfor languages that distinguish multiple rising or falling tones

References

References

  1. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24171-para-ipa-mod-letters.pdf L2/24-171: Miscellaneous historical and para-IPA modifier letters]
  2. {{SOWL. 76-77
  3. {{SOWL. 313-314
  4. Larry Mattes & Donald Omark (1984) ''Speech and language assessment for the bilingual handicapped''. College-Hill Press, San Diego.
  5. Doke, Clement M.. (1925). "An outline of the phonetics of the language of the ʗhũ̬꞉ Bushman of the North-West Kalahari". Bantu Studies.
  6. Laver, John. (1994). "Principles of Phonetics". Cambridge University Press.
  7. Sedláček, Kamil. (1967). "The Law of Phonetic Change in Initial Clusters in Common Sino-Tibetan". Monumenta Serica.
  8. (2002). "普通语音学纲要 [= Outline of general phonetics]". 商务印书馆.
  9. (2008). "Phonology of the Rigwe language".
  10. Olson, Kenneth S.. (2022-05-05). "The Nonexistence of the Plain Bilabial Trill Phoneme". Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America.
  11. (2023). "A multifaceted approach to understanding unexpected sound change: The bilabial trills of Vanuatu's Malekula Island". Diachronica.
  12. Passy, Paul. (1911). "desizjɔ̃ ɔfisjɛl". Le Maître Phonétique.
  13. Weeks, Raymond. (1906). "ə fonɛtik ælfəbɛt fɔr iŋgliʃ". Le Maître Phonétique.
  14. (1904). "Report of a Joint Committee representing the National Educational Association, the American Philological Association, and the Modern Language Association of America: on the subject of a phonetic English alphabet". Joint Committee on a Phonetic English Alphabet.
  15. International Phonetic Association. (1949). "The principles of the International Phonetic Association: being a description of the International Phonetic Alphabet and the manner of using it, illustrated by texts in 51 languages".
  16. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2012/12266r-two-phonetic.pdf L2/12-266R: Proposal for Two Phonetic Characters]
  17. Henton, Caroline. (1988). "5. Individual Symbols and Diacritics". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  18. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21156-legacy-malayalam.pdf L2/21-155: Unicode request for legacy Malayalam]
  19. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2025/25077-w-palatal-hook.pdf L2/25-077: Unicode request for w with palatal hook]
  20. (2010). "The phonetic status of the (inter)dental approximant". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  21. Ball, Martin J.. (2025). "Additional Phonetic Symbols for the Transcription of Typical and Atypical Speech". Journal of Connected Speech.
  22. (2013). "[[Phonetic Symbol Guide]]". [[University of Chicago Press]].
  23. Recasens, Daniel. (2011). "Response to Martin Ball & Joan Rahilly, ‘The Symbolization of Central Approximants in the IPA’, JIPA 41 (2011), 231-237". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  24. (2013). "[[Phonetic Symbol Guide]]". [[University of Chicago Press]].
  25. Association Phonétique Internationale. (1900). "Exposé des Principes de L'Association Phonétique Internationale". Le Maître Phonétique.
  26. Association Phonétique Internationale. (1908). "Exposé des Principes de L'Association Phonétique Internationale". Le Maître Phonétique.
  27. Association Phonétique Internationale. (1921). "L'Ecriture phonétique internationale : exposé populaire avec application au français et à plusieurs autres langues".
  28. (2011). "The symbolization of central approximants in the IPA". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  29. Association Phonétique Internationale. (1928). "desizjɔ̃ ofisjɛl". Le Maître Phonétique.
  30. (2020). "Phonetics for Speech Pathology". University of Toronto Press.
  31. (1912). "The Principles of the International Phonetic Association".
  32. Kümmel, Martin Joachim. (2025). "The primary palatals in Proto-Iranic: Still palatal?".
  33. Catford, J. C.. (1977). "Mountain of Tongues: The Languages of the Caucasus". Annual Review of Anthropology.
  34. (1949). "THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET". Le Maître Phonétique.
  35. "SpecGram—"Double-Dot Wide O / Nasal-Ingressive Voiceless Velar Trill"—by J–––– J––––––—Reviewed by Jonathan van der Meer".
  36. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS]
  37. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03190r-add-phon-syms.pdf L2/03-190: Proposal to Encode Additional Phonetic Symbols in the UCS]
  38. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21041-add-para-ipa-ltr.pdf L2/21-041: Unicode request for additional para-IPA letters]
  39. "Romanization game #2 - Page 26 - The CBB".
  40. "Romanization game #2 - Page 31 - The CBB".
  41. (2013). "[[Phonetic Symbol Guide]]". [[University of Chicago Press]].
  42. Wells, John C.. (2008-02-27). "An impossible sound".
  43. (2018). "Revisions to the extIPA chart". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  44. (December 2014). "Revisiting Mandarin 'apical vowels': An articulatory and acoustic study". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  45. (June 2003). "Standard Chinese (Beijing)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  46. (April 2017). "Nuosu Yi (Illustrations of the IPA)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  47. Wells, John. (2007-03-15). "Chinese apical vowels".
  48. Bailey, Charles-James N.. (1976). "Some additions to the phonetic alphabet". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  49. (2002). "Manuale di fonetica". Carocci editore.
  50. Park, Jongdeok (박종덕). (2004). "/ㅡ/와 /ㅓ/의 합류 시기 및 원인 -경상도 방언을 대상으로-". Korean Language Research Circle (한말연구학회).
  51. Kim, Bo Mi (김보미). (2016). "부산 지역어 단모음 /ㅡ/와 /ㅓ/의 세대 간 차이". [[Pukyong National University]].
  52. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf L2/04-132: Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS]
  53. For example in [[:File:Table of phonetic symbols in Wilhelm Viëtor, Wie ist die Aussprache des Deutschen zu lehren?, 1906, page 14.png. Wilhelm Viëtor, ''Wie ist die Aussprache des Deutschen zu lehren?'', 1906]].
  54. (2004). "描写中国语言使用的国际音标及附加符号". Minzu Yuwen (民族语文).
  55. {{Accents of English
  56. (2020). "Quantifying written ambiguities in tone languages: A comparative study of Elip, Mbelime, and Eastern Dan". Language Documentation & Conservation.
  57. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24049-ipa-support-letter.pdf L2/24-049: Unicode support for historical and para-IPA letters]
  58. Vance, Timothy J.. (2008). "The Sounds of Japanese". [[Cambridge University Press]].
  59. (1999). "The phonetic status of the labial flap". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  60. [https://help.keyman.com/keyboard/sil_ipa/1.8.7/sil_ipa "IPA (SIL) Keyboard Help"], help.keyman.com
  61. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20125-lig-and-old-ipa-tails.pdf L2/20-125: Unicode request for a ligature, expected IPA retroflex letters and similar hooks & tails.]
  62. Constable, Peter. (2004). "Revised Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Retroflex Hook in the UCS".
  63. (2016). "A Diachronic Investigation of the Vowels and Fricatives in Korean: An Acoustic Comparison of the Seoul and South Kyungsang Dialects". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
  64. Pullum, Geoffrey K.. (1996). "Phonetic Symbol Guide". University of Chicago Press.
  65. Kenyon, John. (1929). "The International Phonetic Alphabet". American Speech.
  66. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2025/25155-schwa-with-right-hook.pdf L2/25-155: Unicode request for schwa with right hook]
  67. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2019/19075r-n5036-scots-phonetics.pdf L2/19-075R: Proposal to add six phonetic characters for Scots to the UCS]
  68. [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24080-ipa-diacritics-above.pdf L2/24-080: Unicode request for IPA diacritics above and one below]
  69. Trager, George L., and Henry Lee Smith Jr. 1951. ''An Outline of English Structure''. ''Studies in Linguistics: Occasional Papers 3''. Norman, Okla.: Battenburg Press.
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report