Obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 ⟨ɷ⟩ for standard [ʊ]. 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 ⟨ƥ ƭ 𝼉 ƈ ƙ ʠ⟩ has been dropped.

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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 ⟨ɿ⟩ to represent the sound of -i in Pinyin hanzi which has been variously described as [ɨ], [ɹ̩], [z̩] or [ɯ] (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."[1]

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 ⟨ƛ⟩ for [t͡ɬ]. 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 ⟨Ɔ Ɛ Ŋ Ɣ⟩. Other pseudo-IPA capitals supported by Unicode are ⟨Ɓ/Ƃ Ƈ Ɗ/Ƌ Ə/Ǝ Ɠ Ħ Ɯ Ɲ Ɵ Ʃ (capital ʃ) Ʈ Ʊ Ʋ Ʒ⟩ (see case variants of IPA letters).

Capital letters are also used as cover symbols in phonotactic descriptions: ⟨C⟩ = consonant, ⟨V⟩ = vowel, ⟨N⟩ = nasal, ⟨S⟩ = 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);[2] 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 ([aːː] extra-long [a], [ˈˈa] extra stress, [kʰʰ] strongly aspirated [k], and [a˞˞] extra-rhotic [a]),[3] nor superscripting for a lesser degree of a feature ([ᵑɡ] slightly prenasalized [ɡ], [ᵗs] slightly affricated [s], and [ᵊ] epenthetic schwa).

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

Table

More information or ...
Obsolete and/or nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet
Symbol or
exemplar		 Description Meaning in IPA Standard IPA
equivalent		 Notes
, comma secondary stress ˌ typewriter substitution
'
apostrophe

 primary stress ˈ
glottal stop ʔ
7 digit seven
? question mark
ɋ turned b with tail bilabial click ʘ used by Mattes & Omark (1984);[4] see click letter
ꜰ small capital f voiceless bilabial fricative ɸ replaced in 1928
φ Greek phi a mistake, typewriter substitution or similarity of shape
‼︎ double exclamation mark retroflex click 𝼊 typewriter substitution
ψ Greek psi used by Doke (1925);[5] see click letter
bunched-r ɹ̈ proposed by Laver (1994)[6]
voiced bilabial fricative trill ʙ̝ used by Sinologists[7][8]
voiceless bilabial trill ʙ̥ used by Sinologists;[9] likely a reanalysis of the earlier described fricative trill
voiceless labial–alveolar sibilant affricate p͡s used by Blench (2008)[10]
voiced bilabial trill ʙ used by Uralicists[11]
ᴪ small capital Greek psi voiceless bilabial trill ʙ̥
ᴘ small capital p para-IPA, by analogy of ⟨ʙ⟩ for the voiced equivalent[12][13]
voiceless labiodental plosive p̪ Proposed in 1911, rejected[14]
π Greek pi Proposed in 1911,[14] 1949,[15] and 1989,[16] rejected
ȹ qp ligature Used by Bantuists; also used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
ᴍ small capital m voiced labiodental nasal ɱ Proposed in 1911, rejected[14]
μ Greek mu
ŋm (m̡) m with middle hook
ʙ small capital b voiced labiodental plosive b̪
β Greek beta
℔ lb ligature Proposed in 1989, rejected[16]
ȸ db ligature Used by Bantuists; also used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
nm m–n or n–m ligature fricated bilabial nasal m̾ Proposed in 1989, rejected[16]
nɱ m–ŋ or n–ɱ ligature voiced labial–velar nasal ŋ͡m
kp k–p ligature voiceless labial–velar plosive k͡p
ß sharp s voiced bilabial fricative β a mistake, typewriter substitution or similarity of shape
∫ or integral symbol voiceless postalveolar fricative ʃ
3 digit three open-mid central unrounded vowel ɜ
voiced postalveolar fricative ʒ
đ d with stroke voiced dental fricative ð
δ Greek delta used by Uralicists[11]
ϑ cursive Greek theta voiceless dental fricative θ
þ thorn Proposed by early 20th century American phoneticians for English dictionaries;[20] also proposed in 1989, rejected[16]
(ɋ) b with left hook voiced bilabial trill ʙ formerly used in the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages and its phonetic description,[21] now represented with ⟨br⟩
b with curl


proposed in 1931 (before ⟨ʙ⟩ was officially adopted), rejected[22]



𝼥 b with right mid hook
ᵬ b with top tilde
ƍ turned delta
labialized voiced alveolar or dental fricative zʷ, zᵝ, z̫, z͎, ðʷ intended for the voiced whistled sibilant of Bantu languages,[15] withdrawn 1976
ɀ z with swash tail used by Doke for Shona;[15] proposed to replace ⟨ƍ⟩ in 1931, rejected[22]
σ sigma labialized voiceless alveolar or dental fricative sʷ, sᶲ, s̫, s͎, θʷ intended for the voiceless whistled sibilant of Bantu languages,[15] withdrawn 1976
ȿ s with swash tail used by Doke for Shona;[15] proposed to replace ⟨σ⟩ in 1931, rejected[22]
ƺ ezh with tail labialized voiced alveolo-palatal or palato-alveolar fricative ʑʷ, ʒᶣ, ʒꟹ intended for w before front vowels in Twi;[15] may also be used for the lightly rounded English /ʒ/, withdrawn 1976
ƪ reversed esh with top loop labialized voiceless alveolo-palatal or palato-alveolar fricative ɕʷ, ʃᶣ, ʃꟹ intended for hw before front vowels in Twi;[15] may also be used for the lightly rounded English /ʃ/, withdrawn 1976
ƻ barred digit two voiced alveolar affricate d͡z introduced in 1947, withdrawn 1976
ƾ inverted glottal stop with stroke voiceless alveolar affricate t͡s
ȼ c with stroke Used by Americanists
(ɰ) h–m ligature voiceless bilabial nasal m̥ proposed in 1949, rejected[15]
(ꭋ) script r voiceless alveolar trill r̥
↊ (2) turned digit two voiceless pharyngeal fricative ħ
↋ (3) turned digit three voiced pharyngeal fricative ʕ
nʋ nv ligature (nwair) voiced labiodental nasal ɱ used in the Swedish Dialect Alphabet[23]
close front rounded vowel y proposed in 1989, rejected[16]
ᵿ˞ barred horseshoe u with hook back sulcal vowel
w with left hook voiced labial–velar fricative (labialized voiced velar fricative) w̝ or ʍ̬ or ɣʷ
long-leg g voiced velar lateral approximant ʟ
ɓ ɭ ɻ letters with left-swinging top hook dental consonants d̪ l̪ r̪
𝼥 𝼦 𝼧 𝼨 𝼩 𝼪 letters with left-swinging mid hook retroflex consonants ɖ ɭ ɳ ɻ ʂ ʈ Malayalam transcriptions;[24] briefly used in the 1921 chart, with ⟨r⟩ for [ɻ] instead of ⟨𝼨⟩
ƕ hv ligature (hwair) voiceless labial–velar approximant w̥ or ʍ̞ appears only in the 1921 chart
voiceless alveolar lateral fricative ɬ proposed in 1989, rejected[16]
hɥ h–turned h ligature voiceless labial–palatal approximant ɥ̊ appears only in the 1921 chart
ƃ or б small capital b with top bar or Cyrillic be voiced bilabial frictionless continuant β̞ or ʋ̟ proposed in 2011[25]
ъ small capital Cyrillic hard sign
β reversed Greek beta used by Ball et al. in 2020[26] and AddPhon in 2025[17]
β turned Greek beta para-IPA[27]
δ small capital Greek delta voiced dental frictionless continuant ð̞ proposed in 2011[25]
ƌ or б small capital d with top bar or reversed Cyrillic be
ð reversed eth used by Ball et al. in 2020[26] and AddPhon in 2025[17]
ð turned eth
proposed in 2010[28]

ᴆ small capital eth
partially-devoiced dental fricative ð̥ used by Uralicists; in the case of the fricative, the form used was actually struck all the way through the bowl, as in ⟨ᴅ⟩, but was encoded into Unicode as a single letter with the tap[11]
voiceless alveolar tap and flap ɾ̥
σ small capital reversed Greek sigma voiced alveolar frictionless continuant z̞ proposed in 2011;[25] 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 [ɹ] and frictionless continuant [z̞][29]
ƨ reversed s
z reversed z used by Ball et al. in 2020[26] and AddPhon in 2025[17]
ʑ reversed z with curl voiced alveolo-palatal frictionless continuant ʑ̞ used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
ƹ reversed ezh voiced pharyngeal fricative ʕ it is based on the Arabic letter ʿayn (ع) instead of letter ezh,[30] used in Arabic and Ethiopic transcriptions
voiced postalveolar frictionless continuant ʒ̞ proposed in 2011;[25] used by Ball et al. in 2020[26]
ᶎ reversed z with retroflex hook voiced retroflex frictionless continuant ʐ̞ used by Ball et al. in 2020[26] and AddPhon in 2025[17]
J capital inverted J voiced palatal frictionless continuant ʝ̞ proposed in 2011;[25] 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 semivowel [j] and frictionless continuant [ʝ̞][29] (called a spirant approximant by Martínez Celdrán 2004, who made the same transcription recommendation)[31]
ʝ reversed curly-tail j used by Ball et al. in 2020[26] and AddPhon in 2025[17]
ᴦ small capital Greek gamma voiced velar frictionless continuant ɣ̞ proposed in 2011;[25] 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 semivowel [ɰ] and frictionless continuant [ɣ̞][29] (called a spirant approximant by Martínez Celdrán 2004, who made the same transcription recommendation)[31]
ɣ inverted Latin gamma used by Ball et al. in 2020[26] and AddPhon in 2025[17]
ʁ̢ or ʁ̨ small capital inverted r with hook voiced uvular approximant ʁ̞ proposed in 1989, rejected[16]
ρ Greek rho voiced bilabial trill ʙ proposed by Heffner (1950) before ⟨ʙ⟩ was officially adopted[32]
ϱ cursive Greek rho voiced uvular trill ʀ used by Uralicists[11]
ᴩ small capital Greek rho voiceless uvular trill ʀ̥
ᴙ small capital reversed r appears sporadically in historical charts[33][34][35]
voiced epiglottal trill ʢ used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
voiced uvular approximant ʁ̞ proposed in 2011[25]
ᴚ small capital turned r proposed in 2011;[25] used by Ball et al. in 2020[26] and AddPhon in 2025[17]
voiceless uvular fricative χ / ꭓ replacement introduced in 1921, officially replaced in 1928[36]
ʖ inverted glottal stop alveolar lateral click ǁ removed 1989; see click letters, but some African languages still use this symbol to avoid confusion with ⟨‖⟩ (major break)
voiced pharyngeal approximant ʕ̞ proposed in 2011[25]
ʔ turned glottal stop used by Ball et al. in 2020[26] and AddPhon in 2025[17]
ʢ or ƾ turned glottal stop with stroke voiced epiglottal approximant ʢ̞ used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
ɦ reversed h with hook voiced glottal approximant ɦ̞
single-loop g with stroke voiced velar fricative ɣ replaced double-loop ⟨g⟩ in 1900, then replaced by gamma [ɣ] in 1931;[22] the character ⟨ǥ⟩ may not have the single-loop shape in some fonts
γ Greek gamma a mistake, typewriter substitution or similarity of shape
hooktop ezh proposed in 1989, rejected[16]
double-loop g used in the early alphabet from 1895 to 1900; replaced with [ǥ] in the 1900 chart
voiced velar plosive ɡ 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 [ɡ] and the single-loop g for [ɡ̟] (⟨ᶃ⟩),[15] but the distinction never caught on.
voiced postalveolar affricate d͡ʒ used in Arabic transcriptions[citation needed]
ʆ curly-tail esh voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative ɕ variant, also for Russian щ (now ⟨ɕ⟩). removed 1989
voiceless laminal closed postalveolar sibilant ʃ̻͆ occasional modern usage;[37][17] transcribed by Catford with ⟨ŝ⟩[38]
ᵷ turned g withdrawn 1904
ʓ curly-tail ezh voiced alveolo-palatal fricative ʑ variant, removed 1989
voiced laminal closed postalveolar sibilant ʒ̻͆ occasional modern usage;[37][17] transcribed by Catford with ⟨ẑ⟩[38]
ʒ turned ezh withdrawn 1904
ȵ, ȡ, ȶ, ȴ curly-tail n, d, t, l alveolo-palatal consonants n̠ʲ, d̠ʲ, t̠ʲ, l̠ʲ or ɲ̟, ɟ˖, c̟, ʎ̟ used by some Sinologists; also used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
ř r with caron voiced alveolar fricative trill r̝ Intended for ř in Czech and related languages; replaced in 1947[39]
ɼ long-leg r Introduced in 1947,[39] withdrawn 1989; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
syllabic alveolar trill r̩ a mistake
r or ɹ inverted r voiced alveolar or postalveolar rhotic fricative ɹ̝ or ɹ̝᫢ used by Ball et al. in 2020[26] and AddPhon in 2025[17]
ɹ̡ or 𝼕 inverted r with retroflex hook voiced retroflex rhotic fricative ɻ̝
ꜧ heng voiced alveolar lateral fricative ɮ replaced ⟨ɮ⟩ in 1938, with a compromise form ⟨⟩ used from 1947 until 1989. The letter has had a multitude of values in other phonetic transcription systems; see ⟨ꜧ⟩
ʎʒ turned y–ezh ligature voiced palatal lateral fricative ʎ̝ or 𝼆̬ used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
ʟʒ small capital l–ezh ligature voiced velar lateral fricative ʟ̝ or 𝼄̬
Ꙫ Cyrillic o with two dots inside nasal-ingressive velic trill 𝼀↓ a paralinguistic impression of a snort, due to the graphic resemblance to a pig snout.[40]
ђ Cyrillic dje voiced pharyngeal nasal used by Sinologists[9]
ᴅ small capital d voiced alveolar tap and flap ɾ used by Americanists
lenis alveolar plosive d̥ used by Uralicists[11]
ᴃ small capital barred b partially-devoiced bilabial fricative β̥
ᴊ small capital j voiceless palatal approximant j̊
ᴌ small capital ł voiceless velarized alveolar lateral approximant ɫ̥
ᴫ small capital Cyrillic el voiceless velar lateral approximant ʟ̥
ᴎ small capital reversed n or engma voiceless velar nasal ŋ̊
ᴤ voiced laryngeal spirant voiced glottal fricative ɦ
ᴥ Latin ain glottal stop ʔ
λ Greek lambda voiced palatal lateral approximant ʎ a mistake or typewriter substitution
voiced alveolar lateral affricate d͡ɮ used by Americanists
ƛ barred lambda voiceless alveolar lateral affricate t͡ɬ
ł l with stroke voiceless alveolar lateral fricative ɬ used by Americanists, also a typographic substitute
velarized voiced alveolar lateral approximant ɫ used in Baltic transcriptions
ᵽ or p p with middle stroke voiceless bilabial fricative ɸ used by Americanists[41]
ᵽ or b b with middle stroke voiced bilabial fricative β
ᵽ or d d with middle stroke voiced dental fricative ð
š č ž s c z with caron postalveolar or retroflex consonants ʃ t͡ʃ ʒ; ʂ ʈ͡ʂ ʐ used by Americanists, Uralicists, Semiticists, Slavicists[citation needed]
ǰ j with caron voiced postalveolar or retroflex affricate d͡ʒ or ɖ͡ʐ used by Americanists
ǧ g with caron used by Arabists
ǯ ezh with caron used by Uralicists
𝼞 curly-tail s voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative ɕ used by Roos (1998, 2000)[42]
𝼝 c with retroflex hook voiceless retroflex affricate ʈ͡ʂ
ć ĺ ń ś ź dź c l n s z dz with acute accent alveolo-palatal or palatal/postalveolar consonants t͡ɕ l̠ʲ n̠ʲ ɕ ʑ d͡ʑ; t͡ʃ ʎ ɲ ʃ ʒ d͡ʒ used by Slavicists
ẋ x with dot voiceless uvular fricative χ used by Americanists
baby gamma close-mid back unrounded vowel ɤ used from 1921 to 1989, replaced by ramshorn to avoid confusion with gamma; LATIN SMALL LETTER RAMS HORN (U+0264) now represents both glyphs
0, 0̷, or Ø digit zero, slashed digit zero or uppercase slashed o null onset or zero phone ∅ 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.
ƥ ƭ 𝼉 ƈ ƙ ʠ hooktop p, t, ʈ, c, k, q voiceless implosives ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̊ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥ or pʼ↓ tʼ↓ ʈʼ↓ cʼ↓ kʼ↓ qʼ↓ brief additions to the IPA, removed 1993; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
ʇ turned t dental click ǀ removed 1989; see click letters, but in some African languages still use this symbol to avoid confusion with ⟨l⟩ (voiced alveolar lateral approximant) and/or ⟨|⟩ (minor break)
ʗ stretched (or descended) c alveolar click ǃ removed 1989; see click letters
voiced retroflex flap ɽ some assumed this symbol was made by combining ⟨ɾ⟩ with ⟨◌̢⟩ and thus was used as the symbol for voiced retroflex flap ([ɽ]); ⟨ɽ⟩ assumed as the symbol of voiced retroflex trill ([ɽr]).[43][44]
ʞ turned 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.[45][46] For several years it was used in extIPA for a velodorsal stop, but this was changed to ⟨𝼃⟩ (⟨k⟩) when it was resurrected for the para-lexical back-released click.[47]
ᴋ or 𝼐 small capital reversed k wildcard for any consonant C suggested in 1949[15]
(ᴜ) small capital inverted u wildcard for any vowel V
𝼋 (⨎) esh with two bars voiced palatal implosive ʄ old form of ⟨ʄ⟩.
fricated palatal click ǂǂ or ǃ͡s uncommon letter in Ekoka !Kung transcription
ȣ ou ligature close-mid back unrounded vowel or voiced velar fricative ɤ or ɣ a mistake
ɿ reversed r with fishhook syllabic denti-alveolar approximant ɹ̪̍,[48] ɹ̟̍, z̪̍,[49] z̞̍,[50] or ◌͡ɯ[51] used by Sinologists, and by Japanologists specifically for the Miyako and Tarama languages.
℩ turned iota old form of ⟨ɿ⟩, used by Sinologists, and by Japanologists specifically for the Miyako and Tarama languages.
ʅ squat reversed esh syllabic retroflex approximant ɹ̠̍, ɻ̍,[49][48] ʐ̍, ʐ̞̍,[50] or ◌͡ɨ[51] used by Sinologists. See Chinese vowels
ʃ or ꭍ reversed (baseline) esh old form of ⟨ʅ⟩, used by Sinologists. See Chinese vowels
ʮ turned h with fishhook labialized syllabic denti-alveolar approximant ɹ̩ʷ, z̩ʷ, or ◌͡u used by Sinologists
ʯ turned h with fishhook and tail labialized syllabic retroflex approximant ɻ̍ʷ, ʐ̍ʷ, or ◌͡ʉ
ꭤ inverted Latin alpha open back unrounded vowel ɑ used by Kurath (1939),[52] where ⟨ɑ⟩ is instead used for the open central unrounded vowel
α Greek alpha a mistake; homoglyphic in many sans-serif and italic fonts
α turned Greek alpha open back rounded vowel ɒ
ꬰ barred Latin alpha open central unrounded vowel ä, ɑ̈, ɐ̞͑, a̠, ɑ̟ Proposed by Charles-James N. Bailey in 1976[53]
ꜵ ao ligature Used by Leoni & Maturi (2002).[54]
ᴀ small capital a used by Sinologists; recommended to and rejected by the IPA multiple times
open back unrounded vowel ɑ Early historical usage from the description of French in the pre-1900 founding alphabet charts
devoiced open back unrounded vowel ɑ̥ used by Uralicists[11]
ᴁ small capital æ devoiced near-open front unrounded vowel æ̥
a reversed a near-open front unrounded vowel æ Proposed in 1949[15] and 1989,[16] rejected; suggested as ⟨a⟩ and ⟨ɑ⟩ are commonly conflated graphically. Had the proposals been accepted, ⟨æ⟩ would have been re-identified as the value for [a], to allow for such conflations without issue; both ⟨a⟩ and ⟨ɑ⟩ would have represented [ɑ].
ᴀ small capital turned a close-mid back unrounded vowel ɤ replacement introduced in 1921, officially replaced in 1928
E uppercase e mid front unrounded vowel e̞, ɛ̝ Used by some Koreanists, where in many dialects there is no phonemic differentiation between /e/ (RR e; Hangul ㅔ) and /ɛ ~ æ/ (RR ae; Hangul ㅐ). In the Gyeongsang dialects, a parallel case historically existed with a lack of differentiation between /ʌ/ (RR eo; Hangul ㅓ) and /ɨ ~ ɯ/ (RR eu; Hangul ㅡ), sometimes written with an uppercase reversed ⟨Ǝ⟩;[55][56] however, the exact phonetic value of this vowel varies in different reports (unlike ⟨E⟩, which is rather consistent), and the merger is disappearing in younger speakers, though still present in older speakers.
ᴇ small capital e Proposed by Bloch & Trager (1942); used by Sinologists
close-mid front unrounded vowel e Early historical usage from the description of French in the pre-1900 founding alphabet charts
devoiced close-mid front unrounded vowel e̥ used by Uralicists[11]
ⱻ small capital turned e devoiced mid central vowel ə̥
ꬳ barred e close-mid central unrounded vowel ɘ used by Teuthonista
ε Greek epsilon open-mid front unrounded vowel ɛ a mistake, typewriter substitution or similarity of shape; homoglyphic in most fonts
ϵ lunate epsilon occasional usage as a typographic variant
϶ reversed lunate epsilon open-mid central unrounded vowel ɜ
ʚ closed Latin epsilon open-mid central rounded vowel ɞ appears sporadically in historical charts (1907, 1921, 1926); considered a typographical error when reinstituted 1993, fixed in 1996
ꞓ turned c with bar proposed by Catford in 1990[57]
ɩ Latin iota near-close front unrounded vowel ɪ̟, i̞, e̝ repurposed by Sinologists
near-close near-front unrounded vowel ɪ longstanding alternate symbol until 1989
ı dotless small i a mistake or typographic substitute; occasionally used by Americanists
close front unrounded vowel i placeholder for modified sound, by placing diacritic above (e.g. /ı̽/, /ȷ̊/).
ȷ dotless small j voiced palatal approximant j
ᵻ barred small capital i near-close central unrounded vowel (schwi) ɪ̈, ɨ̞, ɘ̝, ɪ̠ an analogous combination of ⟨ɪ⟩ and ⟨ɨ⟩, two vowels of which it lies between; used by some English phoneticians and dictionaries (such as the Oxford English Dictionary, where it may be more broadly described as any obscure vowel between [i] or [ɪ] and [ə], and called schwi);[58][59] Americanist notation[60]
ᵼ barred Latin iota used by Slavicists[60]
(ɪ
ə)		 small capital i over schwa used by some English phoneticians and dictionaries (such as the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English);[41] may be more broadly described as any obscure vowel between [i] or [ɪ] and [ə]
ꝋ barred o close-mid central rounded vowel ɵ variant shape of ⟨ɵ⟩ in some early 20th century works.[61]
ꭥ (ʊ or Ω) small capital omega mid back rounded vowel o̞, ɔ̝ Proposed by Bloch & Trager (1942)
o̧ o with cedilla used by Sinologists[9]
ⱺ o with low ring inside used in the Swedish Dialect Alphabet
ᴏ small capital o devoiced close-mid or open-mid back rounded vowel o̥ or ɔ̥ used by Uralicists[11]
ᴐ small capital open o devoiced open-mid back rounded vowel ɔ̥
ↄ reversed c open-mid back rounded vowel ɔ a mistake, typewriter substitution or similarity of shape; homoglyphic in many sans-serif fonts
ұ Cyrillic straight U with stroke near-close near-back unrounded vowel ɯ̽ or ʊ̜ used in Mande studies[62]
ω or ꞷ Greek or Latin omega Used by Wells (1982),[63] by analogy of the obsolete ⟨ɷ⟩ symbol
near-open back rounded vowel ɒ̝, ɔ̞ Proposed by Bloch & Trager (1942); used by Sinologists[9]
near-close back rounded vowel ʊ̠, u̞, o̝ used in the phonetic description of the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages[21]
ɷ closed Latin omega repurposed by Sinologists
near-close near-back rounded vowel ʊ longstanding alternate symbol until 1989
ᴜ small capital u Americanist notation; also the shape of ⟨ʊ⟩ in the original 1900 chart, reused in the 1921 chart
devoiced close back rounded vowel u̥ used by Uralicists[11]
ᵿ barred Latin upsilon near-close central rounded vowel (schwu) ʊ̈, ʉ̞, ɵ̝, ʊ̟ an analogous combination of ⟨ʊ⟩ and ⟨ʉ⟩, two vowels of which it lies between; used by some English phoneticians and dictionaries (such as the Oxford English Dictionary, where it may be more broadly described as any obscure vowel between [u] or [ʊ] and [ə], and called schwu)[58][59]
ɷ̶ (ɷ) barred closed Latin omega an analogous combination of ⟨ɷ⟩ and ⟨ʉ⟩
ᵾ barred small capital u Americanist notation[60]
(ʊ
ə)		 small capital Latin upsilon over schwa used by some English phoneticians and dictionaries (such as the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English);[41] may be more broadly described as any obscure vowel between [u] or [ʊ] and [ə]
ɏ barred y close central compressed vowel ÿ para-IPA, by analogy of central ⟨i u⟩ being transcribed as ⟨ɨ ʉ⟩; used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
ɏ or ʏ̵ (ʏ) small capital barred y near-close central compressed vowel ʏ̈ para-IPA, by analogy of central ⟨ɪ ʊ⟩ being transcribed as ⟨ᵻ ᵿ⟩
ɉ barred j voiced post-palatal approximant ȷ̈ or ɰ̈ used by Ball et al. (2011, 2020, 2025)[25][26][17]
ɥ̶ (ɥ) barred turned h compressed post-palatal approximant ɥ̈ used by Ball et al. (2011, 2025);[25][17] in the Unicode Pipeline, approved for version 18.0[64][1]
w̶ (w) barred w protruded post-palatal approximant ẅ used by Ball et al. (2020, 2025);[26][17] in the Unicode Pipeline, approved for version 18.0[64][1]
B G H I L N Œ Q R Y uppercase letters small caps ʙ ɢ ʜ ɪ ʟ ɴ ɶ ꞯ ʀ ʏ often mistaken by typing
H uppercase h long vowel (chōonpu) ː used by Japanologists to represent a phonemic long vowel, such as /aH/[65] or /aR/[66]
R uppercase r
Q uppercase q long consonant (sokuon) used by Japanologists; typically marks gemination, but may also be realized as a glottal stop [ʔ] in certain contexts
X uppercase x voiceless uvular fricative χ a mistake
Y uppercase y voiced labial–palatal approximant ɥ
ƞ n with long right leg moraic nasal (hatsuon) m, ɰ̃, ɴ, etc. Intended for the moraic nasal of Japanese;[15] withdrawn 1976. Now often written by Japanologists as an uppercase /N/ (common wildcard for nasal consonants).
ⱴ v with curl labiodental flap ⱱ historically used before ⟨ⱱ⟩ was officially adopted by the IPA in 2005[67]
v̶ (v) barred v used in the phonetic description of the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages,[21] associated with the grapheme ⟨vb⟩
ⱳ w with hook bilabial flap ⱱ̟ or b̮ para-IPA, by analogy of ⟨ⱱ⟩ for the labiodental equivalent.[68] In literature, this sound has often been transcribed as ⟨w̆⟩, also by analogy of the labiodental formerly being transcribed as ⟨v̆⟩; see bilabial flap for further examples and explanation
glottalic (preglottalized) labial-velar approximant wˀ, ˀw, ʔw, or w̰ 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
ƴ y with hook glottalic (preglottalized) palatal approximant jˀ, ˀj, ʔj, or j̰
𝼑 l with fishhook alveolar lateral flap ɺ historical alternate used in transcriptions before the official adoption of ⟨ɺ⟩ by the IPA;[69] also in the Anthropos phonetic alphabet
𝼈 turned r with long leg and retroflex hook retroflex lateral flap ɭ̆ para-IPA, a combination of ⟨ɺ⟩ and ⟨ɻ⟩;[69] used by Ball for AddPhon in 2025[17]
ᶑ d with hook and tail voiced retroflex implosive para-IPA, a combination of ⟨ɗ⟩ and ⟨ɖ⟩; common, but not explicitly approved in IPA[70]
ᶘ ᶚ esh and ezh with retroflex hook laminal retroflex fricatives ʂ̻ ʐ̻ or ʂ̠ ʐ̠ used by Laver (1994) for Polish ⟨sz ż⟩ and Russian ⟨ш ж⟩; described as retroflex palato-alveolar by Diehl (1995), which may be impossible to pronounce according to Ladefoged[71]
k', t', etc. apostrophe no audible release k̚, t̚, etc. removed[citation needed]
palatalization kʲ, tʲ, etc. common in X-SAMPA
k’, t’, etc. right single quotation mark fortis consonants k͈, t͈, etc. used by some Koreanists for fortis sounds, where the distinction with lenis is not one of voicing.[72]
K, T, etc. uppercase letters
k*, t*, 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 ⟨ː⟩; see syntactic gemination for further details
k῾, t῾, or kʽ, tʽ, etc. Greek dasia or modifier letter reversed comma weak aspiration seen in the charts of 1926 and 1949[15]
kʻ, tʻ, etc. modifier letter turned comma seen in the charts of 1921 through 1951, apart from 1926 and 1949
ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ ʨ ʥ ligatures affricates t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ formerly acceptable variants[73]
𝼗 𝼒 ligatures with palatal hook palatalized affricates t͡ɕ d͡ʑ historical, para-IPA[69]
ꭧ ꭦ 𝼜 𝼙 ligatures with retroflex hook retroflex affricates ʈ͡ʂ̺ ɖ͡ʐ̺ ʈ͡ʂ̻ ɖ͡ʐ̻
or
ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ ʈ͡ʂ̠ ɖ͡ʐ̠
p′, s′, t′, etc. prime palatalization pʲ, sʲ, tʲ, etc. traditional Irish phonology transcription
pʼ, sʼ, tʼ, etc. combining apostrophe traditional Russian phonology transcription
¹, ², etc. superscript digits pitch accents ˈ◌̌, ˈ◌̂ or ˈ◌̂, ˈ◌̌ used in Swedish and Norwegian
tonal accents ◌́, ◌̌, ◌̀, ◌̂ or ◌̋, ◌᷄, ◌᷉, ◌̂ or similar, or Chao tone letters used by Sinologists in China and Taiwan
ā, ī, ū, etc. macron long vowel aː, iː, uː, etc. typically a mistake, but used by some authors
a:, i:, u:, etc. colon
a̔, e̔, etc. rough breathing mark breathy voiced vowel (h-colored) a̤ / aʱ, e̤ / eʱ, etc. brief usage in 1949;[15] not in subsequent charts
◌̡ palatal hook palatalization ◌ʲ Typically used in the transcription of Slavic languages such as Russian. Superseded 1989
◌̢ retroflex hook retroflexion used on consonants when no precomposed character exists
r-colored vowels ɚ, ɝ, ◌˞ Superseded 1989; MODIFIER LETTER RHOTIC HOOK (U+02DE) is now preferred
schwa with right hook Used by Kenyon until 1935;[74] in the Unicode Pipeline, provisionally assigned[75]
◌˖, ◌˗ 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
◌ᶹ superscript v with hook labialization (compressed) ◌ᵝ 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 ⟨◌ꭩ⟩,[76] instead of compression[77]
◌᫦ ◌᫧ combining double arch below and above added to Unicode in 2025 with this as its intended usage, but not IPA[77]
◌̫ ◌᫇ combining inverted double arch below and above labialization (protruded) ◌ʷ withdrawn 1989
◌ᪿ ◌ᷱ combining w below and above used in some sources, but the rounded version (double arch) is the standard[77]
◌̨ 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
◌̦ combining comma below appears only in the 1921 chart
◌̇ overdot palatalization ◌ʲ 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
◌ʱ Modifier h with hook breathy voice or voiced aspiration ◌̤ Equivalent in the IPA
◌ˀ Modifier glottal stop creaky voice or glottalization ◌̰
◌͋ Combining homothetic nareal fricative ◌̾ former extIPA, replaced in 2024
◌͌ Combining double tilde velopharyngeal release ◌𐞐 (◌ᶠᵑ)
ˉ◌, ˗◌, ˍ◌ 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
˥ ꜒, ˩ ꜖
ˋ◌, ˴◌, ˎ◌ Modifier high, mid and low grave behind falling or high falling, mid falling and low-falling tone or intonation ◌᷇, ◌᷆
or
˥˧ ꜒꜔, ˦˨ ꜓꜕, ˧˩ ꜔꜖
ˊ◌, ˏ◌ Modifier high and low acute behind high rising and low rising tone or intonation ◌᷄, ◌᷅
or
˧˥ ꜔꜒, ˨˦ ꜕꜓, ˩˧ ꜖꜔
ˇ◌, ˬ◌ Modifier high and low caron behind high dipping and low dipping (falling-rising) tone or intonation ◌᷉
or
˥˧˥ ꜒꜔꜒, ˦˨˦ ꜓꜕꜓, ˧˩˧ ꜔꜖꜔
ˆ◌, ꞈ◌ Modifier high and low circumflex behind peaking (rising-falling) tone or intonation ◌᷈
or
˧˥˨ ꜔꜒꜕, ˨˦˨ ꜕꜓꜕, ˩˧˩ ꜖꜔꜖
˜◌, ˷◌ Modifier high and low tilde behind "wavy" tone or intonation removed[citation needed]
˙◌, ·◌, .◌ Modifier high, mid and low dot behind atonic (unaccented) syllable with high, mid, and low pitch; respectively used by Chao (1927)[78]
◌́, ◌̂, ◌̀, ◌̆ Acute accent, circumflex, grave accent, breve stress symbols:

primary stress, weakened primary stress, secondary stress, and no stress; respectively

 ˈˈ◌, ˈ◌, ˌ◌, ◌ some English phoneticians and phonologists use acute and grave accents as primary and secondary stress symbols. Some linguists[79] 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 ([n̩, ɴ̩, ŋ̍ (or ŋ̩), m̩]).
◌̄, ◌́, ◌̌, ◌̀ 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
Close

References

See also

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI