Phonetic Symbols in Unicode - Phonetic Scripts

Phonetic Scripts

Phonetic scripts, such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) make use of letters from other writing systems: most notably Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. Combining diacritics also adds meaning to the phonetic text. Finally, these phonetic alphabets make use of modifier letters. A "modifier letter" is strictly intended not as an independent grapheme but as a modification of the preceding character resulting in a distinct grapheme, notably in the context of the International Phonetic Alphabet. For example, ʰ should not occur on its own but modifies the preceding or following symbol. Thus, tʰ is a single IPA symbol, distinct from t. In practice, however, several of these "modifier letters" are also used as full graphemes, e.g. ʿ as transliterating Semitic ayin or Hawaiian okina, or ˚ transliterating Abkhaz ә.