This page gives a general overview of the symbols used in the IPA. As it is used for all languages, it would be impractical to explain to English speakers how to pronounce all of the sounds. Therefore, the symbols are grouped based on the features they have, or the parts of the mouth used to pronounce them. A dental consonant, for example, is pronounced using the teeth, while a bilabial consonant uses both lips.


!Palatal !Velar !Uvular !colspan="2"|Pharyngeal !colspan="2"|Glottal |-bgcolor="#E7F5DE" valign=middle align="center" !bgcolor="#BECFEB"|Plosive |p    b |    |    |t    d |  |ʈ    ɖ |c    ɟ |k    ɡ |q    ɢ |  |bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |ʔ |bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |-bgcolor="#E7F5DE" valign=middle align="center" !bgcolor="#BECFEB"|Nasal |m |ɱ | |n |  |ɳ |ɲ |ŋ |ɴ |colspan="4" bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |-bgcolor="#E7F5DE" valign=middle align="center" !bgcolor="#BECFEB"|Trill |ʙ |  | |r |  |  |  |bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |ʀ |colspan="2"|  |colspan="2" bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |-bgcolor="#E7F5DE" valign=middle align="center" !bgcolor="#BECFEB"|Tap or Flap |ⱱ̟ | |ɾ̪ |ɾ |  |ɽ |  |bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |ɢ̆ |colspan="2"|  |colspan="2" bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |-bgcolor="#E7F5DE" valign=middle align="center" !bgcolor="#BECFEB"|Lateral Tap or Flap |colspan="2" bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |  |ɺ |  |  |ʎ̯ |ʟ̆ |  |colspan="4" bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |-bgcolor="#E7F5DE" valign=middle align="center" !bgcolor="#BECFEB"|Fricative |ɸ    β |f    v |θ    ð |s    z |ʃ    ʒ |ʂ    ʐ |ç    ʝ |x    ɣ |χ    ʁ |colspan="2"|ħ    ʕ |colspan="2"|h    ɦ |-bgcolor="#E7F5DE" valign=middle align="center" !bgcolor="#BECFEB"|Lateral Fricative |colspan="2" bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |  |ɬ    ɮ |  |  |  |  |  |colspan="4" bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |-bgcolor="#E7F5DE" valign=middle align="center" !bgcolor="#BECFEB"|Approximant |β̞ |ʋ |  |ɹ |  |ɻ |j |ɰ |  |colspan="2"|  |colspan="2" bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  |-bgcolor="#E7F5DE" valign=middle align="center" !bgcolor="#BECFEB"|Lateral Approximant |colspan="2" bgcolor="#D4D4D4"|  | |l |&nbsp

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

Consonants (non-pulmonic)

siu-kái
Clicks Voiced implosives Ejectives
ʘ Bilabial click ɓ Bilabial voiced implosive ʼ For example:
ǀ Dental click ɗ Dental/alveolar voiced implosive Bilabial ejective
ǃ (Post)alveolar click ʄ Palatal voiced implosive Dental/alveolar ejective
ǂ Palatoalveolar click ɠ Velar voiced implosive Velar ejective
ǁ Alveolar lateral click ʛ Uvular voiced implosive Alveolar fricative ejective


ɪʏ
eø
ɘɵ
ɤo
ɛœ
ɜɞ
ʌɔ
aɶ
ɑɒ

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|- | style="height: 28px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; background: #becfeb;" | Near-close |- | style="height: 28px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; background: #becfeb;" | Close-mid |- | style="height: 28px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; background: #becfeb;" | Mid |- | style="height: 28px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; background: #becfeb;" | Open-mid |- | style="height: 28px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; background: #becfeb;" | Near-open |- | style="height: 28px; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; background: #becfeb;" | Open |}

  • Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel.


  • Affricates and double articulations can be represented by two symbols joi

Suprasegmentals

siu-kái
ˈ Primary stress
ˌ Secondary stress
ː Long
ˑ Half-long
˘ Extra-short
Pang-bô͘:unsupported Syllable break
ǀ Minor (foot) group
ǁ Major (intonation) group
Linking (absence of a break)

Tones and word accents

siu-kái
˥ Extra-high (top) "key"tone
˦ High tone
˧ Mid tone
˨ Low tone
˩ Extra-low (bottom) tone

Diacritics

siu-kái
Diacritics may be placed above a symbol with a descender, e.g. ŋ̊
 ̥ Voiceless  ̤ Breathy voiced  ̪ Dental
 ̬ Voiced  ̰ Creaky voiced  ̺ Apical
ʰ Aspirated  ̼ Linguolabial  ̻ Laminal
˒ More rounded ʷ Labialized  ̃ Nasalized
˓ Less rounded ʲ Palatalized Nasal release
˖ Advanced ˠ Velarized ˡ Lateral release
˗ Retracted ˁ Pharyngealized  ̚ No audible release
 ̈ Centralized  ̴ Velarized or pharyngealized
 ̽ Mid-centralized  ̝ Raised (ɹ̝ = voiced alveolar fricative)
 ̩ Syllabic  ̞ Lowered (β̞ = voiced bilabial approximant)
 ̯ Non-syllabic  ̘ Advanced Tongue Root
˞ Rhoticity  ̙ Retracted Tongue Root
  ͍ Labial Spreading   ͈ Strong Articulation   ͊ Denasal
  ͆ Dentolabial   ͉ Weak Articulation   ͋ Nasal Escape
 ̪͆ Interdental/Bidental \ Reiterated Articulation   ͌ Velopharyngeal Friction
 ̳ Alveolar   ͎ Whistled Articulation  ↓ Ingressive Airflow
 ̼ Linguolabial   ͢ Sliding Articulation  ↑ Egressive Airflow