Phonetic alphabets use symbols or codes to indicate what a speech sound or letter sounds like.
Definition of phonetic alphabet
1: a set of symbols (such as the IPA) used for phonetic transcription
2: any of various systems of identifying letters of the alphabet by means of code words in voice communication
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a standardized system of symbols used to represent the sounds of spoken languages. It was developed by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century and has since been widely adopted by linguists, language teachers, and speech therapists to represent the sounds of languages in a precise and consistent manner.
The IPA consists of a set of symbols that represent the sounds of spoken language, as well as a set of diacritics (marks added to a letter or symbol) used to indicate different pronunciation features such as stress, tone, and vowel length. The IPA symbols are arranged in a chart known as the IPA chart, which organizes the sounds of language according to their place and manner of articulation.
The IPA is used to transcribe the sounds of any language, and is widely used in dictionaries, language teaching materials, and linguistic research. It is particularly useful for describing the sounds of languages that do not have a written form, and for comparing the sounds of different languages. The IPA is constantly being revised and updated to reflect the latest developments in linguistics and the sounds of spoken languages.