Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet explained

pronounced as /notice/The Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet for Disordered Speech, commonly abbreviated extIPA, are a set of letters and diacritics devised by the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association to augment the International Phonetic Alphabet for the phonetic transcription of disordered speech. Some of the symbols are used for transcribing features of normal speech in IPA transcription, and are accepted as such by the International Phonetic Association.

Many sounds found only in disordered speech are indicated with diacritics, though an increasing number of dedicated letters are used as well. Special letters are included to transcribe the speech of people with lisps and cleft palates. The extIPA repeats several standard-IPA diacritics that are unfamiliar to most people but transcribe features that are common in disordered speech. These include preaspiration (IPA|ʰ◌), linguolabial (IPA|◌̼), laminal fricatives pronounced as /[s̻, z̻]/, and (IPA|*) for a sound (segment or feature) with no available symbol (letter or diacritic). The novel transcription (IPA|ɹ̈) is used for an English molar-r, as opposed to (IPA|ɹ̺) for an apical r; these articulations are indistinguishable in sound and so are rarely identified in non-disordered speech.

Sounds restricted to disordered speech include velopharyngeals, nasal fricatives (a.k.a. nareal fricatives) and some of the percussive consonants. Sounds sometimes found in the world's languages that do not have symbols in the basic IPA include denasals, the sublaminal percussive, palatal and velar lateral fricatives, and fricatives that are simultaneously lateral and sibilant.

ExtIPA was revised and expanded in 2015; the new symbols were added to Unicode in 2021.[1]

Letters

The non-IPA letters found in the extIPA are listed in the following table. VoQS letters may also be used, as in (IPA|ↀ͡r̪͆) for a buccal interdental trill (a raspberry), as VoQS started off as a subset of extIPA.

Several letters and superscript forms were added to Unicode 14 and 15. They are included in the free Gentium Plus and Andika fonts as of version 6.2 from February 2023.

CategoryLetterSuperscript and exampleUnicodeDescription
Lateralpronounced as /ʪ/ pronounced as /[t]/U+02AA, U+10799Voiceless grooved lateral alveolar fricative, pronounced as /[ɬ͡s]/ (a laterally lisped pronounced as //s//, with simultaneous airflow through the sibilant groove in the tongue and across the side of the tongue), intended for a lateral lisp
pronounced as /ʫ/pronounced as /[d]/U+02AB, U+1079AVoiced grooved lateral alveolar fricative, pronounced as /[ɮ͡z]/ (a laterally lisped pronounced as //z//)
pronounced as /ꞎ/pronounced as /[ʈ]/U+A78E, U+1079DVoiceless retroflex lateral fricative, implicit in standard IPA.
pronounced as /𝼅/pronounced as /[ɖ]/U+1DF05, U+1079FVoiced retroflex lateral fricative, implicit in standard IPA.
pronounced as /𝼆/pronounced as /[c]/U+1DF06, U+107A1Voiceless palatal lateral fricative. The voiced fricative may be (IPA|𝼆̬) or, in standard IPA, (IPA|ʎ̝).
pronounced as /𝼄/pronounced as /[k]/U+1DF04, U+1079CVoiceless velar lateral fricative. The voiced fricative may be (IPA|𝼄̬) or, in standard IPA, (IPA|ʟ̝).
Velo­pharyngealpronounced as /ʩ/pronounced as /[s]/U+02A9, U+10790Voiceless velopharyngeal fricative (often occurs with a cleft palate). The voiced fricative is (IPA|ʩ̬).
pronounced as /𝼀/pronounced as /𐞪/ pronounced as /[s𐞪]/U+1DF00, (U+10790+107AA)Voiceless velopharyngeal trill or 'snort'. (Velopharyngeal fricative accompanied by uvular trill. pronounced as /[]/ may be equivalent to pronounced as /[ʩ𐞪]/.)
Velo­dorsalpronounced as /𝼃/  - U+1DF03Voiceless velodorsal plosive. (The old IPA letter for a velar click, (IPA|ʞ), was used for a voiceless velodorsal plosive from 2008 to 2015.)
pronounced as /𝼁/ - U+1DF01Voiced velodorsal plosive
pronounced as /𝼇/ - U+1DF07Velodorsal nasal
Pharyn­gealpronounced as /ꞯ/  - U+A7AFVoiceless upper-pharyngeal plosive pronounced as /[q˗]/ or pronounced as /[ʡ̟]/
pronounced as /𝼂/ - U+1DF02Voiced upper-pharyngeal plosive pronounced as /[ɢ̠]/ or pronounced as /[ʡ̟̬]/
Rowspan=3Percussivepronounced as /ʬ/ - U+02ACBilabial percussive (for lips smacking together; cf. non-percussive pronounced as /[ʬ↓]/ for lips smacking apart)
pronounced as /ʭ/ - U+02ADBidental percussive (gnashing teeth)
pronounced as /¡/pronounced as /ꜞ/ pronounced as /[ǃꜞ], [ǂꜞ]/U+00A1, U+A71ESublaminal lower-alveolar percussive (tongue slap). This letter is used with the alveolar and palatal clicks for pronounced as /[ǃ¡]/ and pronounced as /[ǂ¡]/, clicks with percussive release, or "clucks".

Diacritics

The extIPA has widened the use of some of the regular IPA symbols, such as pronounced as /[ʰp]/ for pre-aspiration and pronounced as /[tʶ]/ for uvularization, and has added some new ones. Some of these extIPA diacritics are occasionally used for non-disordered speech, for example for the unusual airstream mechanisms of Damin.

One modification of regular IPA is the use of parentheses around the phonation diacritics to indicate partial phonation; a single parenthesis at the left or right of the voicing indicates that it is partially phonated at the beginning or end of the segment. These conventions may be convenient for representing various voice onset times. Phonation diacritics may also be prefixed or suffixed to represent relative timing beyond the segment (pre- and post-voicing etc.). The following are examples; in principle, any IPA or extIPA diacritic may be parenthesized or displaced in this manner.

Partial phonation (examples)
pronounced as /s̬᪽/partial/central voicing of pronounced as /[s]/pronounced as /z̥᪽ ʒ̊᪻/  partial/central devoicing of pronounced as /[z], [ʒ]/subscript: U+1ABD; superscript: 1ABB
pronounced as /s̬᫃/initial voicingpronounced as /z̥᫃/initial devoicingsubscript: U+1AC3; superscript: 1AC1
pronounced as /s̬᫄/final voicingpronounced as /z̥᫄/final devoicingsubscript: U+1AC4; superscript: 1AC2
pronounced as /z̤᪽/partial murmuring of pronounced as /[z]/pronounced as /n͊᪻/partially denasalized pronounced as /[n]/
Displaced timing (examples)
pronounced as /ˬz/pre-voiced pronounced as /[z]/pronounced as /zˬ/post-voiced pronounced as /[z]/U+02EC
pronounced as /a˷/pronounced as /[a]/ with a creaky offglidepronounced as /p˳/pronounced as /[p]/ with extended voicelessnessU+02F7 (˷), U+02F3 (˳)

The transcriptions for partial voicing and devoicing may be used in either the sense of degrees of voicing or in the sense that the voicing is discontinuous. For the former, both parentheses indicate the sound is mildly (partially) voiced throughout, and single parentheses mean a partial degree of voicing at the beginning or end of the sound. For the latter, both parentheses mean the sound is (de)voiced in the middle, while the single parentheses mean complete (de)voicing at the beginning or end of the sound. The implication is that such voicing or devoicing is atypical of the language being spoken. For example, (IPA|z̥) would be used for the usual devoicing or partial devoicing of the language, while (IPA|z̥᪽) would indicate that the transcriber found the devoicing to be atypical, as in pathological speech. Similarly, (IPA|z̥᫃) would indicate atypical devoicing at the beginning of the segment.

Altering the position of a diacritic relative to the letter indicates that the phonation begins before the consonant or vowel does or continues beyond it. The voiceless ring and other phonation diacritics can be used in the same way if needed. For example, (IPA|p˳a) indicates that voicelessness continues past the pronounced as /[p]/, more or less equivalent to (IPA|pʰa).

Other extIPA diacritics are:

Airstream mechanism
pronounced as /ɬ↓, ə↓/U+2193(after a letter) Ingressive airstreampronounced as /ʘ↑/U+2191(after a letter) Egressive airstream
pronounced as /↓/(in isolation) inhalationpronounced as /↑/(in isolation) exhalation
Phonation
pronounced as /p˭/U+02EDUnaspiratedpronounced as /ʰp/U+02B0Pre-aspiration
Nasalization
pronounced as /n͋/U+034Bpronounced as /s͌/
or
pronounced as /s/
U+034C
or
U+10790
Velopharyngeal friction (especially noisy nasal airstream caused by turbulent airflow through the velopharyngeal port)
pronounced as /v͋/(on an oral letter) nasal fricative escape (audible turbulent airflow through the nostrils, as with a nasal lisp)pronounced as /m͊/U+034ADenasal (as with a headcold; complements the nasal diacritic)
Articulatory strength
pronounced as /f͈, h͈/U+0348Strong articulation (not necessarily fortis); (IPA|h͈) may be used for a true glottal fricativepronounced as /v͉/U+0349Weak articulation (not necessarily lenis)
Articulation
pronounced as /v͆/U+0346pronounced as /n̪͆/U+0346
 +032A
pronounced as /t͆/(on a coronal letter) class-3 occlusion (tongue protrudes past upper teeth, as with a severe underbite)pronounced as /h̪͆/(on a glottal letter) bidental
pronounced as /s͇/U+0347(on a coronal letter) Alveolarpronounced as /s͍/U+034DLabial spreading
pronounced as /f͇/(on a labial letter) labioalveolar (class-2 occlusion, as with a severe overbite)pronounced as /o͍/(complements the diacritics for rounding  - see rounded vowel)
pronounced as //U+034EWhistledpronounced as /s̻ z̻/U+033Blaminal fricatives (including lowered tongue tip)
pronounced as /ɹ̈/,
pronounced as /ɹ̺/
(as IPA)bunched-r (molar-r),
and apical-r, respectively
pronounced as /s͕/, pronounced as /s͔/ U+0355,
U+0354
Offset to the left and right, respectively
Timing
pronounced as /s͢θ  x͢ɕ/U+0362Slurred/sliding articulation (a consonantal diphthong, moving from one articulation to another within the time of a single segment)pronounced as /p\p\p/U+005CStutter (reiterated articulation)

Diacritics may be placed within parentheses as the voicing diacritics are above. For example, (IPA|m͊᪻) indicates a partially denasalized pronounced as /[m]/.

The arrow for sliding articulation was first used for pronounced as /[wɑət̪s̪͢θ]/ for 'watch' and pronounced as /[z̪͢ðɪpʊə]/ for 'zipper'. It is most commonly observed in quick changes from the blade to the tip of the tongue (laminal to apical) in plosives and fricatives, such as pronounced as /[t̪͢t]/ and pronounced as /[t͢θ]/, or vice versa, but is not limited to that; the consonants may also be labial or dorsal, e.g. pronounced as /[ɸ͢f]/ and pronounced as /[k͢q]/.[2]

The slit-grooved distinction of the channel shape of front fricatives may be handled with these diacritics, with for example (IPA|s̪ z̪) for grooved (sibilant) dental fricatives, and (IPA|θ͇ ð͇) for ungrooved (non-sibilant) aveolar fricatives. This is a common topic in speech pathology, though (IPA|s̪ z̪) occur in non-pathological speech in some languages.[2]

Any IPA letter may be used in superscript form as a diacritic, to indicate the onset, release or 'flavor' of another letter. In extIPA, this is provided specifically for the fricative release of a plosive. For example, (IPA|k) is pronounced as /[k]/ with a lateral-fricative release (similar to the velar lateral affricate pronounced as /[k͜]/, but with less frication); (IPA|d) is pronounced as /[d]/ with lateral-plus-central release. Combining diacritics can be added to superscript diacritics, such as (IPA|tʰ̪͆) for pronounced as /[t]/ with bidental aspiration.

The VoQS (voice-quality symbols) take IPA and extIPA diacritics, as well as several additional diacritics that are potentially available for extIPA transcription. The subscript dot for 'whisper' is sometimes found in IPA transcription, though in IPA the diacritic has also been used for apical-retroflex articulation.

Prosodic notation and indeterminate sounds

The Extended IPA has adopted bracket notation from conventions transcribing discourse. Parentheses are used to indicate mouthing (silent articulation), as in the common silent sign to hush pronounced as /(ʃːː)/. Parentheses are also used to indicate silent pauses, for example (...); the length of the pause may be indicated, as in (2.3 sec). A very short (.) may be used to indicate an absence of co-articulation between adjacent segments, for instance pronounced as /[t(.)weɫv̥]/ rather than pronounced as /[tʷw̥eɫv̥]/.

Double parentheses indicate that transcription is uncertain because of extraneous noise or speech, as when one person talks over another. As much detail as possible may be included, as in ⸨2 syll.⸩ or ⸨2σ⸩ for two obscured syllables. This is also IPA usage. Sometimes the obscuring noise will be indicated instead, as in ⸨cough⸩ or ⸨knock⸩, as in the illustrative transcription below; this notation may be used for extraneous noise that does not obscure speech, but which the transcriber nonetheless wishes to notate (e.g. because someone says 'excuse me' after coughing, or verbally responds to the knock on the door, and the noise is thus required to understand the speech).

In the extIPA, indistinguishable/unidentifiable sounds are circled rather than placed in single parentheses as in IPA. An empty circle, ◯, is used for an indeterminate segment,

 σ  an indeterminate syllable, Ⓒ a segment identifiable only as a consonant, etc. Full capital letters, such as C in Ⓒ, are used as wild-cards for certain categories of sounds, and may combine with IPA and extIPA diacritics. For example,  pronounced as /P̥/   indicates an undetermined or indeterminate voiceless plosive. Regular IPA and extIPA letters may also be circled to indicate that their identification is uncertain. For example, ⓚ indicates that the segment is judged to probably be pronounced as /[k]/. This is effectively a copy-edit mark, and may be elongated into an oval for longer strings of symbols. This was illustrated in the 1997 edition of the chart, where the circle was typeset as ( ̲̅) and longer strings as e.g. (a̲̅a̲̅a̲̅). There is no way to typeset this in Unicode that does not require spurious characters between the letters (as here), but it may be graphically approximated with an unused set of brackets, such as ⦇aaa⦈.

Curly brackets with Italian musical terms are used for phonation and prosodic notation, such as pronounced as /[{<sub>''falsetto''</sub> ˈhɛlp <sub>''falsetto''</sub>}]/ and terms for the tempo and dynamics of connected speech. These are subscripted within a notation to indicate that they are comments on the intervening text. The VoQS conventions use similar notation for voice quality. These may be combined, for example with VoQS (F) for 'falsetto':

or

pronounced as /[{<sub>''allegro''</sub> ə {F {<sub></sub> dɪn <sub></sub>} nəʊ ðæʔ F} <sub>''allegro''</sub>}]/

Silence
pronounced as /(  )/Silent articulation: pronounced as /(ʃːː)/ a silent shhh
(.)Short pause(..)Medium pause(...)Long pause(1.2)1.2-second pause
Prosody
Loud speech
('forte')
[{<sub></sub> {{IPA|ˈlaʊd}} <sub></sub>}]Louder speech
('fortissimo')
[{<sub></sub> {{IPA|ˈlaʊdɚ}} <sub></sub>}]
Quiet speech
('piano')
[{<sub></sub> {{IPA|ˈkwaɪət}} <sub></sub>}]Quieter speech
('pianissimo')
[{<sub></sub> {{IPA|ˈkwaɪətɚ}} <sub></sub>}]
allegroFast speech[{<sub>''allegro''</sub> {{IPA|ˈfæst}} <sub>''allegro''</sub>}]lentoSlow speech[{<sub>''lento''</sub> {{IPA|ˈsloʊ}} <sub>''lento''</sub>}]
crescendo, rallentando, and other musical terms may also be used.
Extraneous noise; speech obscured by extraneous noise
pronounced as /⸨  ⸩/pronounced as /⸨2σ⸩/ two syllables obscured; pronounced as /⸨cough⸩/ a cough
Unidentified and partially identified sounds in recordings
glide/approximant
liquid (or lateral) plosive
rhotic (or resonant) vowel

Chart

Three rows appear in the extIPA chart that do not occur in the IPA chart: "fricative lateral + median" (simultaneous grooved and lateral frication), "fricative nasal" (a.k.a. nareal fricative) and "percussive". A denasal row is added here. Several new columns appear as well, though the linguolabial column is the result of a standard-IPA diacritic. Dorso-velar and velo-dorsal are combined here, as are upper and lower alveolar.

Consonants not appearing on the standard IPA chart
bi-
labial
labio-
dental
labio-
alveolar
dento-
labial
bi-
dental
linguo-
labial
inter-
dental
alveolar
(lower
alveolar)
retro-
flex
pal-
atal
velar
(velo-
dorsal)
velo-
phary-
ngeal
upper
phary-
ngeal
Plosivepronounced as /p̪ b̪/pronounced as /p͇ b͇/pronounced as /p͆ b͆/pronounced as /t̼ d̼/pronounced as /t̪͆ d̪͆/ (pronounced as //)pronounced as /ꞯ /
Denasalpronounced as /m͊/ pronounced as /n͊/ pronounced as /ɳ͊/ pronounced as /ɲ͊/ pronounced as /ŋ͊/
Nasalpronounced as /m͇/pronounced as /m͆/ pronounced as /n̼/pronounced as /n̪͆/
Fricative nasal pronounced as /m̥͋ m͋/ pronounced as /n̥͋ n͋/ pronounced as /ɳ̥͋ ɳ͋/ pronounced as /ɲ̥͋ ɲ͋/ pronounced as /ŋ̥͋ ŋ͋/
Trillpronounced as /r̼/pronounced as /r̪͆/ (pronounced as /ʩ/)
Median fricativepronounced as /f͇ v͇/pronounced as /f͆ v͆/ pronounced as /h̪͆ ɦ̪͆/ pronounced as /θ̼ ð̼/ pronounced as /θ̪͆ ð̪͆/ pronounced as /θ͇ ð͇/ pronounced as /ʩ ʩ̬/
Lateral fricativepronounced as /ɬ̼ ɮ̼/ pronounced as /ɬ̪͆ ɮ̪͆/ pronounced as /ꞎ/ pronounced as / ̬/pronounced as / ̬/
Median+lateral fricativepronounced as /ʪ ʫ/
Lateral approximantpronounced as /l̼/pronounced as /l̪͆/
Percussivepronounced as /ʬ/pronounced as /ʭ/(pronounced as /¡/)

Superscript variants

The customary use of superscript IPA letters is formalized in the extIPA, specifically for fricative releases of plosives, as can be seen in the lower-left of the full chart.

Speech pathologists also often use superscripting to indicate that a target sound has not been reached – for example, pronounced as /[ˈtʃɪᵏən]/ for an instance of the word 'chicken' where the pronounced as //k// is incompletely articulated. However, due to the ambiguous meaning of superscripting in the IPA, this is not a convention supported by the ICPLA. An unambiguous transcription would mark the consonant more specifically as weakened (pronounced as /[ˈtʃɪk͉ən]/) or silent (pronounced as /[ˈtʃɪ(k)ən]/).

Sample text

A sample transcription of a written text read aloud, using extIPA and Voice Quality Symbols:

pronounced as /[ð\ðːə̤ {V̰ ə\ə\ə V̰} ˈhw̥əɹld ˈkʌp ˈf̆\faɪnəlz əv ˈnaɪntin eəti {↓<sub></sub>ˈtʉ̆<sub> </sub>↓} ˌɑɹ ˈh\hɛld ɪn sːp\ˈsːp\ʰeᵊn ˈðɪs jəɹ (3 sec) ð͈ːe wɪl ɪnv\ˈv͈ːɔlv ðə tˢˑ\tʴ̥ (.) {<sub> </sub>tʼ\tʼ<sub> </sub>} ʩ \ {<sub> </sub>ʩ \ ʩ<sub> </sub>}\ˈt͈ɒ̆p̚ ˈneʃənz əv ðə ˈwəɹld ɪnˑ ə̰ {<sub> </sub>tʰˑəʃ\t̆ʰə\təʃ<sub> </sub>}\ˈt͈ʉɹnəmənt ˈlastɪn ˌoʊvər ˈfɔɹ ˈwiks (..) ˈh͈ɛld ə\ ʔat ˈf\fɔɹtin (...) {<sub> </sub>V̰ d\d V̰<sub> </sub>} \ ˈdɪfɹənt ˈsɛn{↓təɹʐ↓} ɪn ˈspeᵊn (3 sec) ə̰ (.) ˈɔl əv ðə fˑ\f ˈɔl əv ðə ˈfəɹʂt ˈɹaʉnd ˈɡeᵊmz wɪl bi (..) wɪl bi (.) ɪn ðə (.) w̰̆ə̰ː p\pɹəv\ˈvɪnʃəl {<sub> </sub>tʼ\tʼ<sub> </sub>} \ {<sub> </sub>tʼ\tʼ<sub> </sub>} (.) tʼ\tʼ (..) {<sub> </sub>tʼ\tʼ<sub> </sub>} ʩ \ ʩ \ {↓ˈtãʉ̃nz↓} wɪð ðə s͢ːsʼ\sʼ\ˈs{↓ɛmi ˈfaɪnəlz↓} and ˈf\faɪnəlz ˈhɛld ɪn (.) ⸨knock on door⸩ bɑɹsə{<sub></sub>ˈloʊnə and ˈmədɹɪd<sub> </sub>}]/

Original text: "The World Cup Finals of 1982 are held in Spain this year. They will involve the top nations of the World in a tournament lasting over four weeks, held at fourteen different centers in Spain. All of the first-round games will be in the provincial towns with the semi-finals, and finals held in Barcelona and Madrid."

See also

Bibliography

External links

pronounced as /navigation/

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Miller . Kirk . Ball . Martin J. . Unicode request for extIPA support . Unicode . L2/20-039 . Martin J. Ball . 2020.
  2. Bernhardt & Ball (1993) Characteristics of Atypical Speech currently not included in the Extensions to the IPA. JIPA 23:1, p. 35 - 36.