IPA Transcription

Phonetic transcriptions - data entered into IPA Target and IPA Actual tiers - are parsed into discrete units, or IPA elements. Each IPA element constitutes either a timing unit or annotation within the transcription. The following IPA Elements are identified by Phon. All characters available in Phon may be accessed using the IPA Map.

IPA Elements

Phone

Phones are the main unit of an IPA transcription. They are composed of a vowel or consonant (or base glyph) along with optional diacritics. Diacritics are of the following types: prefix (e.g., pre-nasalization), combining (e.g., devoicing), length, and suffix (e.g., aspiration). The following sections outline each part of a single Phone.

Prefix Diacritic

A prefix diacritic must appear before the base glyph. A phone may have multiple prefix diacritics.

Base Glyph

The base glyph can be any IPA vowel or consonant.

Combining Diacritic

Combining diacritics must appear directly after the base glyph; any number of combining diacritics may be used. Combining diacritics may also be added to prefix and suffix diacritics.
Note:
Some combining diacritic options may cause rendering issues depending on the selected IPA font.

Length

Phone length is indicated using character 0x02D0 (long) and 0x02D1 (half-long.) Length diacritics must appear after the phone to which they belong.

Suffix Diacritic

A suffix diacritic must appear after the base glyph. A phone may have multiple suffix diacritics.

Tone Number

Tone numbers represent lexical or phonological tone using superscript digits. They are standalone IPA elements that appear after the phones of a syllable. A tone number applies to the syllable in which it occurs. If tone number digits appear at multiple positions within a syllable, the digits are concatenated to form a single tone value.

Supported Tone Digits

Phon supports superscript digits 0 through 9:

Digit Superscript Unicode
0⁰U+2070
1¹U+00B9
2²U+00B2
3³U+00B3
4⁴U+2074
5⁵U+2075
6⁶U+2076
7⁷U+2077
8⁸U+2078
9⁹U+2079

Tone Melody

A sequence of two or more tone digits forms a tone melody (or contour tone). For example, ²¹⁴ represents a falling-rising contour with the tone value 214.

Tone Error (Ambiguous Tone)

When the tone value is uncertain or cannot be determined, an ambiguous tone marker is used: ˣˣ (two modifier letter small x characters, U+02E3 U+02E3). This marker indicates a tone transcription error and produces the toneerr feature when used in queries.

Table 1. Tone Number Examples
Transcription Description
ba²¹⁴ Tone melody 214 (falling-rising contour)
b²a¹⁴ Also tone melody 214 (digits concatenated across the syllable)
ma¹ Single tone number 1 (high level tone)
maˣˣ Ambiguous/error tone

Compound Phone

Compound phones are the combination of two phones using a ligature symbol (either U+0361 combining double inverted breve or U+035C combining double breve below) between them. Each of the two phones may include prefix, combining, suffix, and length diacritics.

Some Possible Compound Phones Description
b͜ð Combined production of [b] and [ð]
a͡ʊː Diphthong [a͡ʊ] with second component sound lengthened

Stress Marker

Prosodically prominent syllables may be coded for primary or secondary stress. Primary stress is transcribed using a superior vertical stroke (U+02C8, ˈ) preceding the syllable. Secondary stress is transcribed using an inferior vertical stroke (U+02CC, ˌ) preceding the syllable.

Table 2. Some Examples
Orthography Transcription
cake ˈkeɪk
revoke ɹəˈvoʊk
epiglottis ˈɛpɪˌɡlɑɾɪs

Syllable Boundary

In cases where syllable boundaries may not be obvious, they can be transcribed with a period between syllables.

Table 3. Some Examples
Orthography Transcription
re-enter ˈɹiː.ɛntəɹ
sighing ˈsaɪ.ɪŋ

Word Boundary

Boundaries between words are indicated via a space.

Table 4. Some Examples
Orthography Transcription
ten cats ˈtʰɛn ˈkæts
on the roof ˈan ðə ˈɹuːf

Pause (Intra-word)

Intra-word pauses are transcribed using a '^' symbol. When at the beginning of the word is considered 'blocking'.

Table 5. Intra-word pauses
Orthography Transcription
ca^che ˈkæ^s
^blocking ^ˈblɑkɪŋ

Pause (Inter-word)

Inter-word pauses in speech may be transcribed using symbolic notation or a numeric duration.

Table 6. Inter-word pauses
Code Meaning
(.) Short pause
(..) Medium-length pause
(...) Long pause
(1.5) Numeric pause (duration in seconds, e.g., 1.5 seconds)
Table 7. Example
Orthography Transcription
cache (.) cache ˈkaʃ (.) ˈkaʃ

Other Transcription Items

Intonation Group

Intonation groups are prosodic domains or units which include complete intonational contours. Intonation groups can be minor (e.g. corresponding to noun, verb, or prepositional phrases) or major (e.g. corresponding to entire sentences). Minor groups are separated by a vertical line (U+007C, |), and major groups are separated by a double vertical line (U+2016, ‖).

Table 8. Some Example Intonation Groups
Minor Major
the dog | jumped | over the fence It's twelve o'clock ‖ It's time for lunch
the cold wind | gusted strongly I'm tired ‖ Let's go inside

Compound Word

Compound words are transcribed using a plus sign (+) or tilde (~) between each word.

Table 9. Some Possible Compound Words
Orthography Transcription
dog+house ˈdag+haʊs
picture+frame ˈpɪkʧɚ+fɹeːm

Sandhi

Description of sandhi.

Sandhi markers express a phonological relation between two words, for example in the case of external sandhi phenomena. While 'an' and 'apple' are two separate words, the final 'n' of the determiner is syllabified within the onset of the following syllable. We represent this relation as 'an apple' /ə⁀næpəl/.

Contraction

A contraction is a combination of two words within a phrase, involving the reduction of one of the words. In Phon, contractions are transcribed using the undertie character (U+203F, ‿).

Contraction
Orthography: l'ami
IPA Actual:  l‿ami

Linkers (including Liaison)

Linkers are transcribed using the character tie / overtie character (U+2040, ⁀).

Liaison
Orthography: les ami
IPA Target:  le⁀zami