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Many British dictionaries, among which are learner �s dictionaries such as the Oxford Advanced Learner �s Dictionary and the Cambridge Advanced Learner �s Dictionary, now use the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent the pronunciation of words.^[16] However, most American (and some British) volumes use one of a variety of pronunciation respelling systems, intended to be more comfortable for readers of English. For example, the respelling systems in many American dictionaries (such as Merriam�Webster) use �y� for IPA [j] and �sh� for IPA [ʃ], reflecting common representations of those sounds in written English,^[17] using only letters of the English Roman alphabet and variations of them. (In IPA, [y] represents the sound of the French �u� (as in tu), and [sh] represents the pair of sounds in grasshopper.)

One of the benefits of using an alternative to the IPA is the ability to use a single symbol for a sound pronounced differently in different dialects. For example, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language uses �ŏ� for the vowel in cot (kŏt) but ��� for the one in caught (k�t).^[18] Some American speakers pronounce these the same way (for example, like IPA [ɒ] in the Boston dialect); for those speakers who maintain the distinction, depending on the accent, the vowel in cot may vary from [ɑ] to [a], while the vowel in caught may vary from [ɔ] to [ɑ], or may even be a diphthong. Using one symbol for the vowel in cot (instead of having different symbols for different pronunciations of the o) enables the dictionary to provide meaningful pronunciations for speakers of most dialects of English.

[edit] Other languages

The IPA is also not universal among dictionaries in languages other than English. Monolingual dictionaries of languages with generally phonemic orthographies generally don �t bother with indicating the pronunciation of most words, and tend to use respelling systems for words with unexpected pronunciations. Dictionaries produced in Israel use the IPA rarely and sometimes use the Hebrew alphabet for transcription of foreign words. Monolingual Hebrew dictionaries use pronunciation respelling for words with unusual spelling; for example, Even-Shoshan Dictionary respells תָּכְנִית as תּוֹכְנִית because this word uses kamatz katan. Bilingual dictionaries that translate from foreign languages into Russian usually employ the IPA, but monolingual Russian dictionaries occasionally use pronunciation respelling for foreign words; for example, Ozhegov �s dictionary adds нэ́ in brackets for the French word пенсне (Pince-nez) to indicate that the е doesn �t iotate the н.

The IPA is more common in bilingual dictionaries, but there are exceptions here too. Mass-market bilingual Czech dictionaries, for instance, tend to use the IPA only for sounds not found in the Czech language.^[19]

[edit] Standard orthographies and capital variants

IPA symbols have been incorporated into the standard orthographies of various languages, notably in Sub-Saharan Africa but in other regions as well, for example: Hausa, Fula, Akan, Gbe languages, Manding languages, and Lingala.

An example of capital letter forms for IPA symbols is Kabiy� of northern Togo, which has Ɔ Ɛ Ɖ Ŋ Ɣ Ʃ Ʊ (or Ʋ) (capital ɔ ɛ ɖ ŋ ɣ ʃ ʊ (or ʋ)): MBƱ AJƐYA KIGBƐNDƱƱ ŊGBƐYƐ KEDIƔZAƔ SƆSƆƆ TƆM SE. Other IPA-paired capitals include Ɑ Ɓ Ƈ Ɗ Ə/Ǝ Ɠ Ħ Ɯ Ɱ Ɲ Ɵ Ʈ Ʒ Ɽ.

The above-mentioned and other capital forms are supported by Unicode, but appear in Latin ranges other than the IPA extensions.

[edit] Classical singing

IPA has widespread use among classical singers for preparation, especially among English-speaking singers who rarely sing in their native language. Opera librettos are authoritatively transcribed in IPA, such as Nico Castel �s volumes^[20] and Timothy Cheek �s book Singing in Czech.^[21] Opera singers � ability to read IPA was recently used by the Visual Thesaurus, which employed several opera singers "to make recordings for the 150,000 words and phrases in VT �s lexical database. ...for their vocal stamina, attention to the details of enunciation, and most of all, knowledge of IPA."^[22]

[edit] Letters

The International Phonetic Alphabet divides its letter symbols into three categories: pulmonic consonants, non-pulmonic consonants, and vowels.^[23][24] Each character is assigned a number, to prevent confusion between similar letters (such as ɵ and θ), for example in printing manuscripts. Different categories of sounds are assigned different ranges of numbers.

[edit] Pulmonic consonants

A pulmonic consonant is a consonant made by obstructing the glottis (the space between the vocal cords) or oral cavity (the mouth) and either simultaneously or subsequently letting out air from the lungs. Pulmonic consonants make up the majority of consonants in the IPA, as well as in human language. All consonants in the English language fall into this category.^[25]

The pulmonic consonant table, which includes most consonants, is arranged in rows that designate manner of articulation, meaning how the consonant is produced, and columns that designate place of articulation, meaning where in the vocal tract the consonant is produced. The main chart includes only consonants with a single place of articulation.

Notes

• Asterisks (*) next to symbols mark reported sounds that do not (yet) have official IPA symbols. See the respective articles for ad hoc symbols found in the literature.
• Daggers (�) mark IPA symbols that have recently been added to Unicode. As of Unicode 5.1.0, this is the case of the labiodental flap, symbolized by a v with a right-hook: . These display properly with a recent version of Charis SIL, Doulos SIL or DejaVu fonts installed.
• In rows where some symbols appear in pairs (the obstruents), the symbol to the right represents a voiced consonant (except breathy-voiced [ɦ]). However, [ʔ] cannot be voiced, and the voicing of [ʡ] is ambiguous.^[26] In the other rows (the sonorants), the single symbol represents a voiced consonant.
• Although there is a single symbol for the coronal places of articulation for all consonants but fricatives, when dealing with a particular language, the symbols may be treated as specifically dental, alveolar, or post-alveolar, as appropriate for that language, without diacritics.
• Shaded areas indicate articulations judged to be impossible.
• The symbols [ʁ, ʕ, ʢ] represent either voiced fricatives or approximants.
• In many languages, such as English, [h] and [ɦ] are not actually glottal, fricatives, or approximants. Rather, they are bare phonation.^[27]
• It is primarily the shape of the tongue rather than its position that distinguishes the fricatives [ʃ ʒ], [ɕ ʑ], and [ʂ ʐ].