International Phonetic Alphabet

in Braille and Latin scripts



Pulmonic consonants
Bilabial Labio⁠dental Dental Alveolar Palato-alveolar or Post⁠alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal or Epiglottal Glottal
Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced
Plosive (Oral stop)
Nasal (Nasal stop)
Trill
Tap or flap
Affricate



Fricative






Approximant



Lateral approximant


Non-pulmonic consonants
Bilabial Labio⁠dental Dental Alveolar Palato-alveolar or Post⁠alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular
Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced Voiceless Voiced
Oral click

Nasal click
Implosive
Ejective




Vowels
Front ​& near-front Central Back ​& near-back
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
High
(Close)
Near-high
(Near-close)
Mid-high
(Close-mid)
Mid
Mid-low
(Open-mid)
Near-low
(Near-open)
Low
(Open)

Diacritics
Symbol
Voiceless
Voiced
Aspirated
More rounded
Less rounded
Advanced
Retracted
Centralized
Mid-centralized
Syllabic
Non-syllabic
Rhoticity
Example
⠠⠫⠠⠫
⠠⠦⠠⠦
⠈⠓⠈⠓
⠠⠕
⠠⠪
⠠⠬
⠠⠤
⠈⠒
⠈⠭
⠠⠆
⠠⠾
⠐⠗⠐⠗
Symbol
Breathy voiced
Creaky voiced
Linguo⁠labial
Labialized
Palatalized
Velarized
Pharyngealized
Velarized or pharyngealized
Raised
Lowered
Advanced tongue root
Retracted tongue root
Example
⠠⠒⠠⠒
⠠⠻⠠⠻
⠠⠯⠠⠯
⠈⠺⠈⠺
⠈⠚⠈⠚
⠈⠨⠛⠈⠨⠛
⠈⠖⠆⠈⠖⠆
⠐⠻
⠠⠜  
(⠼⠠⠜  
= voiced alveolar fricative)
⠠⠣  
(⠨⠃⠠⠣  
= voiced bilabial approximant)
⠠⠱
⠠⠎
Symbol
Dental
Apical
Laminal
Nasalized
Nasal release
Lateral release
No audible release
Tie bar
Phonemic transcription
Phonetic transcription
Example
⠠⠹⠠⠹
⠠⠖⠹⠠⠖⠹
⠠⠶⠠⠶
⠈⠻
⠈⠝
⠈⠇
⠈⠙
⠎ ​ ⠅
⠘⠌⠸⠃⠃⠖⠡⠞⠢⠇⠘⠌⠘⠷⠸⠃⠃⠖⠡⠖⠗⠖⠇⠠⠆⠘⠾

Supra⁠segmentals
Symbol
Primary stress
Secondary stress
Long
Half-long
Extra-short
Minor group (⁠foot⁠)
Major group (⁠intonation⁠)
Syllable break
Linking (⁠absence of break⁠)
Example
⠸⠆⠋⠕⠐⠷⠝⠢⠸⠃⠞⠌⠱⠢⠝
⠐⠂
⠈⠷
⠼⠊⠩⠅⠞
⠸⠇

Tones and word accents
Level tone
Extra high
High
Mid
Low
Extra low
Downstep
Upstep
Contour tone
Rising
Falling
High rising
Low rising
Rising-falling
Global rise
Global fall

Credits

Based on the Latin-script IPA Chart, © 2018 International Phonetic Association (available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share⁠alike 3.0 Unported License), and on the Braille-script IPA chart, edited by Robert Englebretson, PhD.

Bibliography

Robert Englebretson (⁠editor⁠)
IPA Braille: Overview, tables, and sample texts. International Council on English Braille
Robert Englebretson
An overview of IPA Braille: An updated tactile representation of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 39(⁠1⁠): 67–86
John Esling
The IPA categories "pharyngeal" and "epiglottal". Language and Speech, 42(⁠4⁠): 349–372
International Phonetic Association
Handbook: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Association
IPA Chart
Steven Moran & Daniel McCloy (⁠editors⁠)
PHOIBLE 2.0. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Acknowledgements & thanks

  • Heidi Lewington-Arblaster