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WonderLanguage fact

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) gives each speech sound its own symbol. Since 1888 it has let linguists write down how words in any language are actually pronounced, whatever their spelling.

International Phonetic Association, 1888

LanguageScience

The story behind the card

The alphabet comes from the International Phonetic Association, founded in Paris in 1886 by French and British language teachers led by Paul Passy, who wanted one notation that would work for any language. Most symbols are Latin letters, with extra letters and small marks added for sounds that Latin has no letter for, such as the clicks of some southern African languages. Dictionaries use it because spelling is an unreliable guide: English 'read' is said two ways, and the IPA writes them differently, /riːd/ and /rɛd/. The Association still revises its chart when phoneticians agree on changes.

Türkçe oku
Uluslararası Fonetik Alfabe (IPA), her konuşma sesine ayrı bir simge verir. 1888'den beri dilbilimciler, hangi dilde olursa olsun bir sözcüğün nasıl söylendiğini, yazılışından bağımsız olarak bu alfabeyle gösterir.
Uluslararası Fonetik Derneği, 1888

Alfabeyi, 1886'da Paris'te Paul Passy'nin önderliğinde Fransız ve İngiliz dil öğretmenlerinin kurduğu Uluslararası Fonetik Derneği hazırladı; amaç, her dilde işe yarayacak tek bir gösterim sistemiydi. Simgelerin çoğu Latin harfleridir. Latin alfabesinde karşılığı olmayan sesler için, örneğin güney Afrika'daki bazı dillerde dil şaklatılarak çıkarılan “klik” sesleri için yeni harfler ve küçük işaretler eklenmiştir. Sözlükler IPA'yı kullanır, çünkü yazılış telaffuzu her zaman doğru göstermez: İngilizcedeki “read” sözcüğü iki türlü okunur, IPA'da ise bu ikisi /riːd/ ve /rɛd/ diye ayrı yazılır. Dernek, fonetikçiler yeni değişikliklerde anlaştıkça tabloyu hâlâ günceller.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: International Phonetic Alphabet
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