Phonetic Symbol Guide

<h2 id="list-of-symbols">List of symbols</h2>

The symbols included in the 2nd edition of the Guide are as follows. A number were adopted into Unicode 14 and 15 and have been available in SIL fonts since February 2023. Those not found in Unicode are marked with an asterisk.

a ȧ ä ᶏ ɐ ɑ α ɒ ɒ̇ ɒ̈ ꭤ æ æ̇ æ̈ ꜵ ᴀ A 4 ꜭ *[small cap Ɐ ] Æ *[small cap Ꜵ ] ʌ *[small cap Δ ]
b ḅ ƀ b̶ b̸ ь ъ ɓ ʙ β
c ć ꞓ ȼ č ç ƈ ɕ ʗ 𝼏 C
d đ ꟈ d̸ 𝼥 ɗ ɖ ᶑ ȸ ʣ ʤ ð δ D
e ë ę ᶒ ə ɚ ɘ ᴇ ᴇ̈ E ɛ ɛ̇ ᶓ ʚ ɜ ɝ ɞ
f ƒ ꜰ
ɡ g̸ ǥ ɠ g ɢ ʛ G ɣ γ *[palatal-hook γ] *[retroflex-hook γ] ɤ *(and its allograph <a href="/facts/Baby_gamma/pjtf82xl"></a>)
h ḥ ƕ ħ ɦ *[right-tail ɦ] ꜧ ɧ ɥ ʮ ʯ ʜ H
i ï ı ɨ ɪ ɪ̈ ᵻ I ι ɿ ʅ
j *[hook-top j] ɉ ʝ ǰ ɟ ʄ ᴊ
k ꝁ ƙ ʞ ᴋ 𝼐
l ɫ ƚ ɬ ɭ ɮ *(and its allograph ) ʟ L *[reversed ʟ] λ ƛ
m ɱ *[h-m ligature] ɯ ɰ ᴍ M
n ń *[left-arm n] π ƞ ñ ɲ ŋ η ɳ ɴ N
o ȯ ö ǫ ƍ σ O ♀ ⚲ ʘ ɵ θ ø <a href="/facts/Slashed_0/RYbw9BXQ">0︀</a> (and its variant ∅) ɸ œ ɶ ꝏ 8
ɔ ɔ̇ ɔ̈ *[turned ꞓ] ᶗ ꭢ ω ω̇ ω̈ *[turned ω] ɷ ꭥ ꭥ̇ ꭥ̈ ꭥ̶
p ᵽ ƥ *[straight allograph of ƍ ] ᴘ P ρ ƿ þ
q ʠ ȹ
r ɾ ɼ ɽ ɹ ɻ ɺ ʀ R ᴙ ʁ
s S š ʂ ʃ 𝼋 ƪ ʆ 𝼌
t ŧ 𝼪 ƫ ʈ ƭ ʇ 𝼍 ʦ ʧ
u u̇ ü ʉ *[half-barred u] ꞹ ʊ ᴜ ᴜ̇ ᵾ *[small cap ∩ ] U
v ʋ
w ◌̫ ẇ ẅ w̸ ʍ
x x̭ x̯ X χ
y ÿ ʎ ʏ
z ȥ ž ʑ ʐ ƻ ↊ ʒ ǯ ƺ ʓ ƹ ↋
ʔ ? 7 ʡ ʖ ƾ 𝼎 ʕ 9 ʢ
ǃ ǀ / ǂ ≠ ǁ ⫽ ⫻ # & *
<a href="/facts/Chao_tone_letter/fmt3IlB4">Chao tone letters</a>: ˩ ˨ ˧ ˦ ˥ etc.
IPA tone diacritics: ◌́ ◌̄ ◌̀ ◌̌ ◌̂ ◌᷉ etc.
◌̄ ˉ ˗ − ◌̠ ˍ + ◌̟ ◌̽ ˭
◌̪ ◌̺ ◌̻ ◌̝ ˔ ◌̞ ˕ ◌꭪ ◌꭫
ˈ ˌ ◌̩ ◌̚
↑ ↓ ↗ ↘ ˂ ˃ ◌͕ ⃖ (superscript ←)
◌̇ ꞏ . ˑ ◌̣ ◌̈ ◌̤ ꞉ ː
ʼ ʽ ʻ , ⹁
◌̊ ◌̥ ◌̜ ˒ ◌̹
◌̃ ◌̴ ◌̰ ◌̼
◌́ ˊ ◌̀ ˋ ◌̂ ◌̭ ◌̌ ◌̬
◌̨ ◌̧ ◌̡ ◌˞ ◌̢
◌̆ ◌̑ ◌̯ ◌͡◌ ◌͜◌
<h2 id="non-trivial-unicode-support">Non-trivial Unicode support</h2>
Not all Unicode support is direct. Some typewriter substitutions made by overstriking a Latin letter with a virgule require composite encoding:

<ul><li>⟨b̸⟩, for a <a href="/facts/Voiced_bilabial_fricative/2ljHM92m">voiced bilabial fricative</a></li>
<li>⟨d̸⟩, for a <a href="/facts/Voiced_dental_fricative/MTJup6oV">voiced dental fricative</a></li>
<li>⟨g̸⟩, for a <a href="/facts/Voiced_velar_fricative/ESy9fy1G">voiced velar fricative</a></li>
<li>⟨w̸⟩, used for <a href="/facts/Nahua_language/MTVHtb8U">Nahua</a> [ɰᵝ]</li></ul>
Similarly ⟨ꭥ̶⟩, an unused proposal to replace Americanist ⟨ꭥ̇⟩.
The 'baby gamma' variant of the vowel letter ⟨ɤ⟩ is available as a <a href="/facts/Character_variant/04Q7sE8J">character variant</a> in fonts such as <a href="/facts/Gentium/sJuT39EI">Gentium</a> and <a href="/facts/Andika_(typeface)/oPE7rK6r">Andika</a>.
Several other symbols are graphic variants of Unicode characters:

<ul><li>p with a tail facing left ( ɋ) and reversed o with <a href="/facts/Ogonek/VjMJBB2S">ogonek</a> (ǫ). The first is an allograph in Doke of ⟨ƍ⟩ (turned delta δ), and the latter a misanalysis by the Guide of the same letter.</li>
<li>double virgule ⫽, a close-kerned // or italicized ǁ, is an allograph of ⟨ǁ⟩. It might be adequately rendered with U+2AFD ⫽ DOUBLE SOLIDUS OPERATOR.</li>
<li>triple virgule ⫻, a close-kerned /// or italicized ⦀, used in a passing mention of <a href="/facts/Retroflex_click/UPxRBKjU">retroflex clicks</a> in the Cole article "Bushman Languages" in the 1966 Encyclopædia Britannica (4: 469). The symbol was removed from later editions. It might be adequately rendered with U+2AFB ⫻ TRIPLE SOLIDUS BINARY RELATION. This is an allograph of a triple pipe, for which Unicode recommends using character U+2980 TRIPLE VERTICAL BAR DELIMITER ⟨⦀⟩.</li></ul>
A couple are more distinct graphically, but without a corresponding semantic distinction:

<ul><li>superscript spacing diacritic ⟨←⟩, used to indicate clicks in Smalley (1963). This is similar to the subscript arrow U+02FF (˿) used to indicate clicks in the same way in the <a href="/facts/Uralic_Phonetic_Alphabet/G0Sk8xGp">Uralic Phonetic Alphabet</a>. It could be encoded as a space plus U+20D6: ⟨ ⃖⟩, though substituting a combining modifier for a spacing modifier like this is deprecated by Unicode, as it can cause complications.</li>
<li>hooktop j, an Americanist variant of ⟨ ʄ ⟩ in Smalley (1963) Manual of Articulatory Phonetics. Unlike ⟨ ʄ ⟩, in the Smalley letter the hook connects to the dot of the jay and so is detached from the body of the letter.</li></ul>
<h2 id="common-symbols-not-in-unicode">Common symbols not in Unicode</h2>

A couple of the symbols are found in Slavic sources:

<ul><li>gamma with a palatal tail turning left, approx. γ̡, to replace γ̯</li>
<li>gamma with a retroflex tail turning right, approx. γ̢, to replace γ̣</li></ul>
<h2 id="rare-symbols">Rare symbols</h2>

The following are not supported by <a href="/facts/Unicode/DDu3MfPV">Unicode</a> as of version 16.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a> 
Some of the symbols are idiosyncratic proposals by well-known scholars that never caught on:

<ul><li>a right-tail hooktop h (fusion of ⟨ɦ⟩ and ⟨ɳ ⟩: ), found for the velar fricative in the Germanic 'fortis' voiceless spirant series f þ ɦɳ, contrasting with the voiced series ƀ ð ᵹ and the Indo-European 'lenis' spirants ɸ θ χ in Prokosch (1939) A Comparative Germanic Grammar. (See esp. p. 51.) Prokosch describes the symbol as a "modified h, since h is the usual spelling in all Germanic languages" (p. 83), though other authors simply write these sounds f þ h.</li></ul>
A couple symbols were mentioned in the 1949 Principles of the International Phonetic Association as recent suggestions for further improvement and were never adopted: 

<ul><li>h-m ligature, approx. hm or ɰ (turned ɰ) for [m̥]</li>
<li>turned small capital U, U, for a generic vowel; now ⟨V⟩ is generally used.</li></ul>
The majority of the non-Unicode symbols were proposed by <a href="/facts/George_Trager/S5GFuhHC">George Trager</a> to improve the <a href="/facts/Americanist_phonetic_notation/ozMFd3Rl">Bloch & Trager</a> system of vowel transcription and other conventions of Americanist notation, but were never adopted:

<ul><li>inverted (turned) small capital ᴀ (ᴀ) to replace æ̇; this had been the original IPA form of the letter that is now ⟨ɤ⟩.</li>
<li>small capital Ꜵ ligature (looks like an ᴀ-ᴅ ligature) to replace ɒ̈</li>
<li>small capital Δ to replace ᴇ̈</li>
<li>barred ɔ, ꞓ (turned ꞓ) to replace ɔ̇</li>
<li>inverted (turned) ω, ω, to replace ω̇</li>
<li>u with a bar on the left leg, u- , to replace u̇</li>
<li>a fusion of ᴛ + n (n with the arm of ᴛ to the left, approx. ꭋ n ) for the <a href="/facts/Dental_nasal/0CEs8314">dental nasal</a> [n̯]. It is similar in shape to U+1DF27 𝼧 <a href="/facts/Latin_Extended-G/UKu08qCc">LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH MID-HEIGHT LEFT HOOK</a> in Unicode 15, though with a flat left arm.</li>
<li>a reversed small capital L, ʟ (turned ᴦ or small-cap ⅃), for a labial lateral approximant; this is not a distinctive sound and the symbol was never used. However, it would potentially be used for an <a href="/facts/ExtIPA/LDcj1gPx">extIPA</a> <a href="/facts/Velodorsal/blWClp79">velodorsal</a> lateral.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, 1999, p. 31, 161. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Updated from Phonetic Symbol Guide at ScriptSource (⟨ꞹ⟩ was added to Unicode 11 as U+A7B9); additions in U14 and U15 are listed above. <a href="http://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=entry_detail&uid=j5k8l4plf5" target="_blank">http://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=entry_detail&uid=j5k8l4plf5</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Phonetic Symbol Guide open-in-new

Phonetic Symbol Guide