International Phonetic Alphabet chart

The following is a chart of the International Phonetic Alphabet, a standardized system of phonetic symbols devised and maintained by the International Phonetic Association. It is not a complete list of all possible speech sounds in the world's languages, only those about which stand-alone articles exist in this encyclopedia.

Official chart

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Legend: unrounded  rounded

Consonants

Place Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal
Nasal m ɱ̊ ɱ n̪̊ n n̠̊ ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ
Plosive p b t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ
Sibilant affricate t̪s̪ d̪z̪ ts dz t̠ʃ d̠ʒ
Non-sibilant affricate p̪f b̪v t̪θ d̪ð tɹ̝̊ dɹ̝ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ ɟʝ kx ɡɣ ɢʁ ʡʜ ʡʢ ʔh
Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ
Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̠ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ɻ̊˔ ɻ˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ
Approximant β̞ ʋ ð̞ ɹ ɹ̠ ɻ j ɰ ˷
Tap/flap ⱱ̟ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̮
Trill ʙ̥ ʙ r ɽ̊r̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ
Lateral affricate tꞎ d𝼅 c𝼆 ɟʎ̝ k𝼄 ɡʟ̝
Lateral fricative ɬ̪ ɬ ɮ 𝼅 𝼆 ʎ̝ 𝼄 ʟ̝
Lateral approximant l ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ̥ ʟ ʟ̠
Lateral tap/flap ɺ̥ ɺ 𝼈̊ 𝼈 ʎ̮ ʟ̆

Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced, to the left are voiceless. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.

Other consonants

Tones

Tone registers
◌̋ ˥ Extra-high (top)
◌́ ˦ High
◌̄ ˧ Mid
◌̀ ˨ Low
◌̏ ˩ Extra-low (bottom)
ꜜ◌ Downstep
ꜛ◌ Upstep
Tone contours
◌̌ ˩˥ ꜖꜒ Rising (low to high)
◌̂ ˥˩ ꜒꜖ Falling (high to low)
◌᷄ ˧˥ ꜔꜒ High rising
˨˦ ꜕꜓ Mid rising
◌᷅ ˩˧ ꜖꜔ Low rising
◌᷇ ˥˧ ꜒꜔ High falling
˦˨ ꜓꜕ Mid falling
◌᷆ ˧˩ ꜔꜖ Low falling
◌᷈ ˧˥˨, ˨˦˨, ˩˧˩ ꜔꜒꜕, ꜕꜓꜕, ꜖꜔꜖ Rising–falling (Peaking)
◌᷉ ˥˧˥, ˦˨˦, ˧˩˧ ꜒꜔꜒, ꜓꜕꜓, ꜔꜖꜔ Falling–rising (Dipping)

Auxiliary symbols

Diacritics
◌̥ ◌̊ Voiceless ◌̤ Breathy voiced ◌̪ ◌͆ Dental
◌̬ Voiced ◌̰ Creaky voiced ◌̺ Apical
◌ʰ Aspirated ◌̼ Linguolabial ◌̻ Laminal
◌̹ ◌͗ ◌˒ More rounded ◌ʷ Labialized ◌̃ Nasalized
◌̜ ◌͑ ◌˓ Less rounded ◌ʲ Palatalized ◌ⁿ Nasal release
◌̟ ◌˖ Advanced ◌ˠ Velarized ◌ˡ Lateral release
◌̠ ◌˗ Retracted ◌ˤ Pharyngealized ◌̚ No audible release
◌̈ Centralized ◌̴ Velarized or pharyngealized ◌ᵊ Mid central vowel release
◌̽ Mid-centralized ◌̝ ◌˔ Raised ◌ᶿ Voiceless dental fricative release
◌̩ ◌̍ Syllabic ◌̞ ◌˕ Lowered ◌ˣ Voiceless velar fricative release
◌̯ ◌̑ Non-syllabic ◌̘ ◌꭪ Advanced tongue root ◌ʼ Ejective
◌˞ Rhoticity ◌̙ ◌꭫ Retracted tongue root ◌͡◌
◌͜◌
Affricate or double articulation
Suprasegmentals
ˈ Primary stress
ˌ Secondary stress
ː Long
ˑ Half-long
◌̆ Extra-short
| Minor (foot) group
Major (intonation) group
. Syllable break
Linking (absence of a break)
↗︎ Global rise
↘︎ Global fall
Transcription
[ ] Phonetic transcription
/ / Phonemic transcription
{ } Prosodic notation
( ) Indistinguishable utterance
⸨ ⸩ Sound obscured

See also