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 = tš include 𝼝 = tʂ 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 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| exemplar | Description | Meaning in IPA | Standard IPA | ||||||||||||||||
| equivalent | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||
| comma | secondary stress | typewriter substitution | |||||||||||||||||
| apostrophe | |||||||||||||||||||
| primary stress | |||||||||||||||||||
| glottal stop | |||||||||||||||||||
| [digit seven](7-number) | |||||||||||||||||||
| question mark | |||||||||||||||||||
| turned b with hook | bilabial click | the tenuis bilabial click, and basis of digraphs for other bilabial clicks; equivalent to IPA []. | |||||||||||||||||
| small capital [f](f) | voiceless bilabial fricative | replaced by in 1928. | |||||||||||||||||
| Greek phi | a mistake, typewriter substitution or similarity of shape | ||||||||||||||||||
| double exclamation mark | retroflex click | typewriter substitution | |||||||||||||||||
| Greek psi | Used by Doke (1925). See Click letter | ||||||||||||||||||
| bunched-r | Proposed by Laver (1994). | ||||||||||||||||||
| voiced bilabial fricative trill | Proposed by Sinologists. | ||||||||||||||||||
| voiceless labio-alveolar affricate | Used by Blench (2008). | ||||||||||||||||||
| voiced bilabial trill | used by Uralicists | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital Greek psi | voiceless bilabial trill | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital [p](p) | para-IPA, by analogy of for the voiced equivalent | ||||||||||||||||||
| voiceless labiodental plosive | Proposed in 1911, rejected | ||||||||||||||||||
| Greek pi | Proposed in 1911 and 1989, rejected | ||||||||||||||||||
| qp ligature | Used by Bantuists; also used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital [m](m) | voiced labiodental nasal | Proposed in 1911, rejected | |||||||||||||||||
| Greek mu | |||||||||||||||||||
| small capital [b](b) | voiced labiodental plosive | ||||||||||||||||||
| Greek beta | |||||||||||||||||||
| lb ligature | Proposed in 1989, rejected | ||||||||||||||||||
| db ligature | Used by Bantuists; also used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| sharp s | voiced bilabial fricative | a mistake, typewriter substitution or similarity of shape | |||||||||||||||||
| or \int | integral symbol | voiceless postalveolar fricative | |||||||||||||||||
| [digit three](3) | open-mid central unrounded vowel | ||||||||||||||||||
| voiced postalveolar fricative | |||||||||||||||||||
| d with stroke | voiced dental fricative | ||||||||||||||||||
| thorn | voiceless dental fricative | Proposed by early 20th century American phoneticians for English dictionaries; also proposed in 1989, rejected. | |||||||||||||||||
| turned delta | labialized voiced alveolar or dental fricative | intended for the voiced whistled sibilant (Doke's ) of Shona and related languages, withdrawn 1976 | |||||||||||||||||
| sigma | labialized voiceless alveolar or dental fricative | intended for the voiceless whistled sibilant (Doke's ) of Shona and related languages, withdrawn 1976 | |||||||||||||||||
| ezh with tail | labialized voiced alveolo-palatal fricative | /ʒ/}}, withdrawn 1976. | |||||||||||||||||
| reversed esh with top loop | labialized voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative | /ʃ/}}, withdrawn 1976. | |||||||||||||||||
| barred [digit two](2) | voiced alveolar affricate | withdrawn 1976 | |||||||||||||||||
| inverted glottal stop with stroke | voiceless alveolar affricate | ||||||||||||||||||
| [c with stroke](c) | Used by Americanists | ||||||||||||||||||
| inverted Latin alpha | open back unrounded vowel | used by Kurath (1939), where is instead used for the open central unrounded vowel | |||||||||||||||||
| Greek alpha | a mistake; homoglyphic in many sans-serif and italic fonts | ||||||||||||||||||
| turned Greek alpha | open back rounded vowel | ||||||||||||||||||
| reversed [a](a) | near-open front unrounded vowel | Proposed in 1989, rejected | |||||||||||||||||
| [[File:Latin small letter nv.svg | 16px | class=skin-invert | alt=nʋ]] | nv ligature | close front rounded vowel | ||||||||||||||
| barred horseshoe u with hook | back sulcal vowel | ||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:W with left hook.svg | 16px | class=skin-invert]] | [w](w) with left hook | voiced labial-velar fricative (labialized voiced velar fricative) | or or | ||||||||||||||
| [[File:Latin small letter script G with ascender.svg | 16x16px | class=skin-invert]] | long-leg [g](g) | voiced velar lateral approximant | |||||||||||||||
| letters with left-swinging top hook | dental consonants | proposed in 1989, rejected | |||||||||||||||||
| letters with left-swinging mid hook | retroflex consonants | Malayalam transcriptions | |||||||||||||||||
| hv ligature | voiceless labial-velar approximant | or | appears only in the 1921 chart | ||||||||||||||||
| voiceless alveolar lateral fricative | proposed in 1989, rejected | ||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:H turned H ligature.svg | 16x16px | class=skin-invert | alt=hɥ]] | [h](h)-turned h ligature | voiceless labial-palatal approximant | appears only in the 1921 chart | |||||||||||||
| or | small capital b with top bar or [Cyrillic be](b) | voiced_bilabial_approximant voiced bilabial frictionless continuant approximant | or | proposed in 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| small capital Cyrillic hard sign | |||||||||||||||||||
| reversed Greek beta | used by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| turned Greek beta | para-IPA | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital Greek delta | voiced_dental_approximant voiced dental frictionless continuant approximant | proposed in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||
| or | small capital d with top bar or reversed [Cyrillic be](b) | ||||||||||||||||||
| reversed eth | used by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| turned eth | |||||||||||||||||||
| proposed in 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||
| small capital eth | |||||||||||||||||||
| partially-devoiced dental fricative | used 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 sigma | voiced_laminal_alveolar_approximantvoiced alveolar frictionless continuant approximant | proposed 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 curl | voiced alveolo-palatal frictionless continuant approximant | last=Ball | first=Martin J. | title=Additional Phonetic Symbols for the Transcription of Typical and Atypical Speech | journal=Journal of Connected Speech | volume=1 | issue=1 | year=2025 | pp=106-119 | doi=10.3138/jcspeech.29303}} | |||||||||
| reversed ezh | voiced pharyngeal fricative | it is based on the Arabic letter ar (ع) instead of letter ezh, used in Arabic and Ethiopic transcriptions | |||||||||||||||||
| voiced postalveolar frictionless continuant approximant | proposed in 2011; used by Ball et al. in 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||
| reversed [z](z) with retroflex hook | voiced retroflex frictionless continuant approximant | used by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
| capital inverted [J](j) | voiced palatal frictionless continuant approximant | lowering]], 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 gamma | voiced velar frictionless continuant approximant | lowering]], while maintaining a distinction between the semivowel and frictionless continuant | |||||||||||||||||
| inverted Latin gamma | used by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital inverted [r](r) with hook | voiced uvular approximant | proposed in 1989, rejected | |||||||||||||||||
| Greek rho | voiced bilabial trill | proposed by Heffner (1950) before was officially adopted | |||||||||||||||||
| small capital Greek rho | voiceless uvular trill | used by Uralicists | |||||||||||||||||
| small capital reversed [r](r) | appears sporadically in historical charts | ||||||||||||||||||
| voiced uvular approximant | last1=Ball | first1=Martin | last2=Rahilly | first2=Joan | title=The symbolization of central approximants in the IPA | journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association | year=2011 | volume=41 | number=2 | pp=231-237 | doi=10.1017/S0025100311000107}} | ||||||||
| voiced epiglottal trill | used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital turned [r](r) | voiceless uvular fricative | / | replaced in 1928 | ||||||||||||||||
| voiced uvular approximant | last1=Ball | first1=Martin | last2=Rahilly | first2=Joan | last3=Lowry | first3=Orla | last4=Bessell | first4=Nicola | last5=Lee | first5=Alice | title=Phonetics for Speech Pathology | edition=3rd | series=Communication Disorders and Clinical Linguistics | publisher=University of Toronto Press | year=2020 | isbn=978-1781791790}} and AddPhon in 2025 | |||
| inverted glottal stop | alveolar lateral click | removed 1989; see click letters, but in some African languages still use this symbol to avoid confusion with ⟨‖⟩ (major break) | |||||||||||||||||
| voiced pharyngeal approximant | proposed in 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||
| turned glottal stop | used by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | turned glottal stop with stroke | voiced epiglottal approximant | used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||
| reversed [h](h) with hook | voiced glottal approximant | ||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:Opentail g with stroke through tail.svg | 8px | class=skin-invert]] | single-loop g with stroke | voiced velar fricative | replaced 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.svg | 16x16px | class=skin-invert]] | hooktop ezh | proposed in 1989, rejected | |||||||||||||||
| [[File:Looptail g.svg | 8px | class=skin-invert]] | double-loop [g](g) | used in the early alphabet from 1895 to 1900; replaced with in the 1900 chart | |||||||||||||||
| voiced velar plosive | standard 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 affricate | used in Arabic transcriptions | ||||||||||||||||||
| curly-tail esh | voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative | variant, also for Russian *щ* (now ). removed 1989 | |||||||||||||||||
| voiceless laminal closed postalveolar sibilant | last=Kümmel | first=Martin Joachim | year=2025 | title=The primary palatals in Proto-Iranic: Still palatal? | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/395593829 | pp=23-32}} transcribed by Catford with | |||||||||||||
| turned g | withdrawn 1904 | ||||||||||||||||||
| curly-tail ezh | voiced alveolo-palatal fricative | variant, removed 1989 | |||||||||||||||||
| voiced laminal closed postalveolar sibilant | Catford]] with | ||||||||||||||||||
| turned ezh | withdrawn 1904 | ||||||||||||||||||
| curly-tail n, d, t, l | alveolo-palatal consonants | or | used by some Sinologists; also used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||
| [r](r) with háček | voiced alveolar fricative trill | title=THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET | journal=Le Maître Phonétique | volume=27 | number=64 | year=1949 | page=11 | jstor=44749216}} | |||||||||||
| long-leg [r](r) | withdrawn 1989]]; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| syllabic alveolar trill | a mistake | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | inverted [r](r) | voiced alveolar or postalveolar rhotic fricative | or | used by Ball et al. in 2020 and AddPhon in 2025 | |||||||||||||||
| or | inverted [r](r) with retroflex hook | voiced retroflex rhotic fricative | |||||||||||||||||
| [[File:Latin small letter Turned Y-Ezh ligature.svg | 16x16px | class=skin-invert | alt=ʎʒ]] | turned [y](y)-ezh ligature | voiced palatal lateral fricative | or | used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||
| [[File:Latin small capital letter L-Ezh ligature.svg | 16x16px | class=skin-invert | alt=ʟʒ]] | small capital [l](l)-ezh ligature | voiced velar lateral fricative | or | |||||||||||||
| Ꙫ | Cyrillic o with two dots inside | nasal-ingressive velic trill | a paralinguistic impression of a snort, due to the graphic resemblance to a pig snout. | ||||||||||||||||
| small capital [d](d) | voiced alveolar tap and flap | used by Americanists | |||||||||||||||||
| lenis alveolar plosive | used 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 el | voiceless velar lateral approximant | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital reversed [n](n) or engma | voiceless velar nasal | ||||||||||||||||||
| Greek lambda | voiced palatal lateral approximant | a mistake | |||||||||||||||||
| voiced alveolar lateral affricate | used by Americanists | ||||||||||||||||||
| barred lambda | voiceless alveolar lateral affricate | ||||||||||||||||||
| [l with stroke](l) | voiceless alveolar lateral fricative | used by Americanists, also a typographic substitute | |||||||||||||||||
| velarized voiced alveolar lateral approximant | used by Baltic transcriptions | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | p with middle stroke | voiceless bilabial fricative | used by Americanists | ||||||||||||||||
| or | b with middle stroke | voiced bilabial fricative | |||||||||||||||||
| or | d with middle stroke | voiced dental fricative | |||||||||||||||||
| s c z with háček | postalveolar or retroflex consonants | ; | used by Americanists, Uralicists, | ||||||||||||||||
| j, g, ezh with háček | voiced postalveolar or retroflex affricate | ; | used by Americanists, Arabists, Uralicists respectively | ||||||||||||||||
| curly-tail s | voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative | used by Roos (1998, 2000) | |||||||||||||||||
| [c](c) with retroflex hook | voiceless retroflex affricate | ||||||||||||||||||
| c l n s z dz with acute accent | alveolo-palatal or palatal/postalveolar consonants | ; | used by Slavicists | ||||||||||||||||
| [x](x) with dot | voiceless uvular fricative | used by Americanists | |||||||||||||||||
| [[File:IPA Unicode 0x0264 baby gamma.svg | class=skin-invert]] | baby gamma | close-mid back unrounded vowel | used 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 initial | usually 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, q | voiceless implosives | or | brief additions to the IPA, removed 1993; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | ||||||||||||||||
| [turned t](t) | dental click | removed 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 click | removed 1989; see click letters | |||||||||||||||||
| voiced retroflex flap | some 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 click | Used 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 bars | voiced palatal implosive | old form of ⟨ʄ⟩. | ||||||||||||||||
| fricated palatal click | or | uncommon letter in Ekoka !Kung transcription | |||||||||||||||||
| ou | close-mid back unrounded vowel or voiced velar fricative | or | a mistake | ||||||||||||||||
| reversed [r](r) with fishhook | syllabic denti-alveolar approximant | , , , or | used by Sinologists, and by Japanologists specifically for the Miyako and Tarama languages. | ||||||||||||||||
| turned iota | old form of , used by Sinologists, and by Japanologists specifically for the Miyako and Tarama languages. | ||||||||||||||||||
| squat reversed esh | syllabic retroflex approximant | , , or | used by Sinologists. See Chinese vowels | ||||||||||||||||
| or | reversed (baseline) esh | old form of , used by Sinologists. See Chinese vowels | |||||||||||||||||
| turned h with fishhook | labialized syllabic denti-alveolar approximant | used by Sinologists | |||||||||||||||||
| turned h with fishhook and tail | labialized syllabic retroflex approximant | ||||||||||||||||||
| barred Latin alpha | open central unrounded vowel | Proposed by Charles-James N. Bailey in 1976 | |||||||||||||||||
| ao ligature | Used by Leoni & Maturi (2002). | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital [a](a) | used by Sinologists; recommended to and rejected by the IPA multiple times | ||||||||||||||||||
| open back unrounded vowel | Early historical usage from the description of French in the pre-1900 founding alphabet charts | ||||||||||||||||||
| devoiced open back unrounded vowel | used by Uralicists | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital æ | devoiced near-open front unrounded vowel | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital [turned a](a) | close-mid back unrounded vowel | replaced in 1928 | |||||||||||||||||
| uppercase [e](e) | mid front unrounded vowel | used 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 vowel | Early historical usage from the description of French in the pre-1900 founding alphabet charts | ||||||||||||||||||
| devoiced close-mid front unrounded vowel | used by Uralicists | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital [turned e](3) | devoiced mid central vowel | ||||||||||||||||||
| barred [e](e) | close-mid central unrounded vowel | used by Teuthonista | |||||||||||||||||
| closed Latin epsilon | open-mid central rounded vowel | appears sporadically in historical charts | |||||||||||||||||
| typographical error from 1993, fixed in 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Latin iota | near-close near-front unrounded vowel | longstanding alternate symbol until 1989 | |||||||||||||||||
| dotless small i | a mistake or typographic substitute; or used by Americanists. | ||||||||||||||||||
| close front unrounded vowel | placeholder for modified sound, by placing diacritic above (e.g. ). | ||||||||||||||||||
| dotless small j | voiced palatal approximant | or | |||||||||||||||||
| barred small capital i | near-close central unrounded vowel | used by some English phoneticians, including the Oxford English Dictionary; Americanist notation | |||||||||||||||||
| barred Latin iota | used by Slavicists | ||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:Gentium schwi.svg | 18x18px | class=skin-invert]] () | small capital i over schwa | i}} or and | |||||||||||||||
| barred [o](o) | close-mid central rounded vowel | variant shape of in some early 20th century works. | |||||||||||||||||
| ( or ) | small capital omega | mid back rounded vowel | Proposed by Bloch & Trager (1942). | ||||||||||||||||
| [o](o) with cedilla | Used by Sinologists. | ||||||||||||||||||
| o with low ring inside | used in the Swedish Dialect Alphabet | ||||||||||||||||||
| small capital [o](o) | devoiced close-mid or open-mid back rounded vowel | or | used by Uralicists | ||||||||||||||||
| small capital open o | devoiced open-mid back rounded vowel | or | |||||||||||||||||
| or | Greek or Latin omega | near-open back rounded vowel | Proposed by Bloch & Trager (1942); used by Sinologists. | ||||||||||||||||
| near-close near-back unrounded vowel | or | Used by Wells (1982), by analogy of the obsolete symbol. | |||||||||||||||||
| Cyrillic straight U with stroke | used in Mande studies | ||||||||||||||||||
| closed omega | near-close near-back rounded vowel | longstanding alternate symbol until 1989 | |||||||||||||||||
| small capital [u](u) | Americanist notation; also the shape of in the original 1900 chart | ||||||||||||||||||
| devoiced close back rounded vowel | used by Uralicists | ||||||||||||||||||
| barred Latin upsilon | near-close central rounded vowel | used by some English phoneticians, including the Oxford English Dictionary | |||||||||||||||||
| barred small capital [u](u) | Americanist notation | ||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:Gentium schwu.svg | 18x18px | class=skin-invert]] () | small capital Latin upsilon over schwa | u}} or and | |||||||||||||||
| barred y | close central compressed vowel | para-IPA, by analogy of central being transcribed as ; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
| or | small capital barred y | near-close central compressed vowel | para-IPA, by analogy of central being transcribed as | ||||||||||||||||
| barred j | voiced post-palatal approximant | or | used by Ball et al. (2011, 2020, 2025) | ||||||||||||||||
| barred turned h | compressed post-palatal approximant | used by Ball et al. (2011, 2025); in the Unicode pipeline | |||||||||||||||||
| barred [w](w) | protruded post-palatal approximant | used by Ball et al. (2020, 2025); in the Unicode pipeline | |||||||||||||||||
| uppercase letters | small caps | often 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 fricative | a mistake | |||||||||||||||||
| uppercase [y](y) | voiced labial–palatal approximant | ||||||||||||||||||
| n with long right leg | moraic 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 curl | labiodental flap | historically used before was officially adopted by the IPA in 2005 | |||||||||||||||||
| w with hook | bilabial flap | or | para-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 | , , , or | para-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 hook | glottalic (preglottalized) palatal approximant | , , , or | |||||||||||||||||
| [l](l) with fishhook | alveolar lateral flap | historical 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 hook | retroflex lateral flap | para-IPA, by analogy of retroflex being transcribed as ; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||
| esh and ezh with retroflex hook | laminal retroflex fricatives | or | used 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. | apostrophe | no audible release | , , etc. | removed | |||||||||||||||
| palatalization | , , etc. | common in X-SAMPA | |||||||||||||||||
| , , *etc.* | right single quotation mark | fortis 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 trigger | used 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 above | weak (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) | |||||||||||||||
| ligatures | affricatesAffricate ligatures | formerly acceptable variants | |||||||||||||||||
| ligatures with palatal hook | palatalized affricates | historical, para-IPA | |||||||||||||||||
| ligatures with retroflex hook | retroflex affricates | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | |||||||||||||||||||
| *etc.* | prime | palatalization | *etc.* | traditional Irish phonology transcription | |||||||||||||||
| *etc.* | combining apostrophe | traditional Russian phonology transcription | |||||||||||||||||
| , , etc. | superscript digits | pitch accents | or | used in Swedish and Norwegian | |||||||||||||||
| tonal accents | or or similar, or Chao tone letters | used by Sinologists in China and Taiwan | |||||||||||||||||
| , , , etc. | macron | long vowel | , , , etc. | a mistake | |||||||||||||||
| , , , etc. | colon | ||||||||||||||||||
| palatal_hook palatal hook | palatalization | Typically used in the transcription of Slavic languages such as Russian. Superseded 1989 | |||||||||||||||||
| retroflex_hook retroflex hook | retroflexion | used on consonants when no precomposed character exists | |||||||||||||||||
| r-colored vowels | Superseded 1989; MODIFIER LETTER RHOTIC HOOK (U+02DE) is now preferred | ||||||||||||||||||
| [[File:LATIN SMALL LETTER SCHWA WITH FISHHOOK.svg | 10px | class=skin-invert]] | schwa with fishhook schwa with right hook | Used by Kenyon until 1935; in the Unicode pipeline | |||||||||||||||
| modifier letters plus and minus | advanced, retracted | used 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-tack | used 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-tack | raised, lowered | used to avoid a descender or another diacritic; withdrawn 1989 | |||||||||||||||||
| superscript v with hook | labialization (compressed) | indicates labiodentalization in VoQS; used in some language studies e.g. Swedish and Japanese | |||||||||||||||||
| combining Latin beta above | used to avoid implication of a diphthong | ||||||||||||||||||
| combining left–right arrow below and above | extIPA, but intended for spread lips rather than compression | ||||||||||||||||||
| combining turned w below | may also be used to indicate voiceless labialization , instead of compression | ||||||||||||||||||
| combining double arch below and above | added to Unicode in 2025 with this as its intended usage, but not IPA | ||||||||||||||||||
| combining inverted double arch below and above | labialization (protruded) | withdrawn 1989 | |||||||||||||||||
| combining [w](w) below and above | used in some sources, but the rounded version (double arch) is the standard | ||||||||||||||||||
| ogonek | nasalization | used by Americanists; sometimes seen to avoid clash with tone ascender diacritics | |||||||||||||||||
| lowered | withdrawn 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||
| underdot | raised | ||||||||||||||||||
| retroflex consonants | early historical charts | ||||||||||||||||||
| whispered | never IPA, but picked up by VoQS | ||||||||||||||||||
| overdot | palatalization | withdrawn 1976 | |||||||||||||||||
| () | open corner | release/burst | listed in the 1999 *Handbook* as IPA number 490 and AFII code E218, but never adopted into Unicode | ||||||||||||||||
| box | unreleased | used where IPA would get confused with the corners used to indicate change of pitch in the Japanese pitch accent system | |||||||||||||||||
| Modifier h with hook | breathy voice or voiced aspiration | Equivalent in the IPA | |||||||||||||||||
| Modifier glottal stop | creaky voice or glottalization | ||||||||||||||||||
| Combining homothetic | nareal fricative | former extIPA, replaced in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||
| Combining double tilde | velopharyngeal release | () | |||||||||||||||||
| Modifier high, mid and low macron behind | high, mid and low-level tone or intonation | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | |||||||||||||||||||
| replaced 1989 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Modifier high and low equals sign behind | extra-high and extra-low level tone or intonation | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | |||||||||||||||||||
| Modifier high, mid and low grave behind | falling or high falling, mid falling and low-falling tone or intonation | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | |||||||||||||||||||
| Modifier high and low acute behind | high rising and low rising tone or intonation | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | |||||||||||||||||||
| Modifier high and low caron behind | high dipping and low dipping (falling-rising) tone or intonation | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | |||||||||||||||||||
| Modifier high and low circumflex behind | peaking (rising-falling) tone or intonation | ||||||||||||||||||
| or | |||||||||||||||||||
| Modifier high and low tilde behind | "wavy" tone or intonation | removed | |||||||||||||||||
| Modifier high, mid and low dot behind | atonic syllable with high, mid, and low pitch; respectively | ||||||||||||||||||
| Acute accent, circumflex, grave accent, breve | stress 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 above | moraic | used 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 accent | Chinese tones | or or similar, depending on dialect and analysis, or Chao tone letters | used 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 below | lower-pitched rising / falling tone contour | for languages that distinguish multiple rising or falling tones |
References
References
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24171-para-ipa-mod-letters.pdf L2/24-171: Miscellaneous historical and para-IPA modifier letters]
- {{SOWL. 76-77
- {{SOWL. 313-314
- Larry Mattes & Donald Omark (1984) ''Speech and language assessment for the bilingual handicapped''. College-Hill Press, San Diego.
- Doke, Clement M.. (1925). "An outline of the phonetics of the language of the ʗhũ̬꞉ Bushman of the North-West Kalahari". Bantu Studies.
- Laver, John. (1994). "Principles of Phonetics". Cambridge University Press.
- Sedláček, Kamil. (1967). "The Law of Phonetic Change in Initial Clusters in Common Sino-Tibetan". Monumenta Serica.
- (2002). "普通语音学纲要 [= Outline of general phonetics]". 商务印书馆.
- (2008). "Phonology of the Rigwe language".
- Olson, Kenneth S.. (2022-05-05). "The Nonexistence of the Plain Bilabial Trill Phoneme". Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America.
- (2023). "A multifaceted approach to understanding unexpected sound change: The bilabial trills of Vanuatu's Malekula Island". Diachronica.
- Passy, Paul. (1911). "desizjɔ̃ ɔfisjɛl". Le Maître Phonétique.
- Weeks, Raymond. (1906). "ə fonɛtik ælfəbɛt fɔr iŋgliʃ". Le Maître Phonétique.
- (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.
- 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".
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2012/12266r-two-phonetic.pdf L2/12-266R: Proposal for Two Phonetic Characters]
- Henton, Caroline. (1988). "5. Individual Symbols and Diacritics". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21156-legacy-malayalam.pdf L2/21-155: Unicode request for legacy Malayalam]
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2025/25077-w-palatal-hook.pdf L2/25-077: Unicode request for w with palatal hook]
- (2010). "The phonetic status of the (inter)dental approximant". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- Ball, Martin J.. (2025). "Additional Phonetic Symbols for the Transcription of Typical and Atypical Speech". Journal of Connected Speech.
- (2013). "[[Phonetic Symbol Guide]]". [[University of Chicago Press]].
- 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.
- (2013). "[[Phonetic Symbol Guide]]". [[University of Chicago Press]].
- Association Phonétique Internationale. (1900). "Exposé des Principes de L'Association Phonétique Internationale". Le Maître Phonétique.
- Association Phonétique Internationale. (1908). "Exposé des Principes de L'Association Phonétique Internationale". Le Maître Phonétique.
- Association Phonétique Internationale. (1921). "L'Ecriture phonétique internationale : exposé populaire avec application au français et à plusieurs autres langues".
- (2011). "The symbolization of central approximants in the IPA". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- Association Phonétique Internationale. (1928). "desizjɔ̃ ofisjɛl". Le Maître Phonétique.
- (2020). "Phonetics for Speech Pathology". University of Toronto Press.
- (1912). "The Principles of the International Phonetic Association".
- Kümmel, Martin Joachim. (2025). "The primary palatals in Proto-Iranic: Still palatal?".
- Catford, J. C.. (1977). "Mountain of Tongues: The Languages of the Caucasus". Annual Review of Anthropology.
- (1949). "THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET". Le Maître Phonétique.
- "SpecGram—"Double-Dot Wide O / Nasal-Ingressive Voiceless Velar Trill"—by J–––– J––––––—Reviewed by Jonathan van der Meer".
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS]
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03190r-add-phon-syms.pdf L2/03-190: Proposal to Encode Additional Phonetic Symbols in the UCS]
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21041-add-para-ipa-ltr.pdf L2/21-041: Unicode request for additional para-IPA letters]
- "Romanization game #2 - Page 26 - The CBB".
- "Romanization game #2 - Page 31 - The CBB".
- (2013). "[[Phonetic Symbol Guide]]". [[University of Chicago Press]].
- Wells, John C.. (2008-02-27). "An impossible sound".
- (2018). "Revisions to the extIPA chart". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- (December 2014). "Revisiting Mandarin 'apical vowels': An articulatory and acoustic study". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- (June 2003). "Standard Chinese (Beijing)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- (April 2017). "Nuosu Yi (Illustrations of the IPA)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- Wells, John. (2007-03-15). "Chinese apical vowels".
- Bailey, Charles-James N.. (1976). "Some additions to the phonetic alphabet". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- (2002). "Manuale di fonetica". Carocci editore.
- Park, Jongdeok (박종덕). (2004). "/ㅡ/와 /ㅓ/의 합류 시기 및 원인 -경상도 방언을 대상으로-". Korean Language Research Circle (한말연구학회).
- Kim, Bo Mi (김보미). (2016). "부산 지역어 단모음 /ㅡ/와 /ㅓ/의 세대 간 차이". [[Pukyong National University]].
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf L2/04-132: Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS]
- 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]].
- (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).
- {{Accents of English
- (2020). "Quantifying written ambiguities in tone languages: A comparative study of Elip, Mbelime, and Eastern Dan". Language Documentation & Conservation.
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24049-ipa-support-letter.pdf L2/24-049: Unicode support for historical and para-IPA letters]
- Vance, Timothy J.. (2008). "The Sounds of Japanese". [[Cambridge University Press]].
- (1999). "The phonetic status of the labial flap". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- [https://help.keyman.com/keyboard/sil_ipa/1.8.7/sil_ipa "IPA (SIL) Keyboard Help"], help.keyman.com
- [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.]
- Constable, Peter. (2004). "Revised Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Retroflex Hook in the UCS".
- (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.
- Pullum, Geoffrey K.. (1996). "Phonetic Symbol Guide". University of Chicago Press.
- Kenyon, John. (1929). "The International Phonetic Alphabet". American Speech.
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2025/25155-schwa-with-right-hook.pdf L2/25-155: Unicode request for schwa with right hook]
- [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]
- [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24080-ipa-diacritics-above.pdf L2/24-080: Unicode request for IPA diacritics above and one below]
- Trager, George L., and Henry Lee Smith Jr. 1951. ''An Outline of English Structure''. ''Studies in Linguistics: Occasional Papers 3''. Norman, Okla.: Battenburg Press.
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.
Ask Mako anything about Obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up freeThis 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