International Phonetic Alphabet

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), an alphabet developed in the 19th century to accurately represent the pronunciation of languages. One aim of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was to provide a unique symbol for each distinctive sound in a language—that is, every sound, or phoneme, that serves to distinguish one word from another. It is the most common example of phonetic transcription.

The concept of the IPA was first broached by Otto Jespersen in a letter to Paul Passy of the International Phonetic Association and was developed by A.J. Ellis, Henry Sweet, Daniel Jones, and Passy in the late 19th century. Its creators’ intent was to standardize the representation of spoken language, thereby sidestepping the confusion caused by the inconsistent conventional spellings used in every language. The IPA was also intended to supersede the existing multitude of individual transcription systems. It was first published in 1888 and was revised several times in the 20th and 21st centuries. The International Phonetic Association is responsible for the alphabet and publishes a chart summarizing it.

The IPA primarily uses Roman characters. Other letters are borrowed from different scripts (e.g., Greek) and are modified to conform to Roman style. Diacritics are used for fine distinctions in sounds and to show nasalization of vowels, length, stress, and tones.

The IPA can be used for broad and narrow transcription. For example, in English there is only one t sound distinguished by native speakers. Therefore, only one symbol is needed in a broad transcription to indicate every t sound. If there is a need to transcribe narrowly in English, diacritical marks can be added to indicate that the t’s in the words tap, pat, and stem differ slightly in pronunciation.

The IPA did not become the universal system for phonetic transcription that its designers had intended, and it is used less commonly in America than in Europe. Despite its acknowledged shortcomings, it is widely employed by linguists and in dictionaries, though often with some modifications. The IPA is also used by singers.