The letters

The traditional names of the Latin and Greek letters are used for unmodified symbols. In Unicode, some of the symbols of Greek origin have Latin forms for use in IPA; the others use the symbols from the Greek section. Examples: IPA symbol name (lowercase) p (lowercase) x (lowercase) r beta epsilon gamma theta chi phi[1] upsilon [2] phonetic description voiceless bilabial stop voiceless velar fricative coronal trill voiced bilabial fricative open-mid front unrounded vowel voiced velar fricative voiceless dental fricative voiceless uvular fricative voiceless bilabial fricative near-close near-back rounded vowel Unicode name LATIN SMALL LETTER P LATIN SMALL LETTER X LATIN SMALL LETTER R GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN E LATIN SMALL LETTER GAMMA GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI LATIN SMALL LETTER PHI LATIN SMALL LETTER UPSILON

p x r

Note 1. Jump up ^ The Latin phi; the old-style or Greek phi () is used in linguistics to mark prosodic units (foot). 2. Jump up ^ The Latin upsilon is frequently called "horseshoe u" in order to distinguish it from the Greek upsilon (). Historically, it derives from a Latin small capital U. The IPA standard includes some small capital letters, such as , although it is common to refer to these symbols as simply "capital" or "cap" letters, because the IPA standard does not include any full-size capital letters.

Cursive-based letters
A few letters have the forms of cursive or script letters. Examples: IPA symbol name single-story a phonetic description open back unrounded Unicode name LATIN SMALL LETTER ALPHA

single-story g cursive v[2]

[1]

vowel voiced velar stop labiodental approximant

LATIN SMALL LETTER SCRIPT G LATIN SMALL LETTER V WITH HOOK

Note 1. Jump up ^ The double-story g ( ) is not strictly an IPA character, but is an acceptable alternative. 2. Jump up ^ In form and origin, but not in name, this is the Greek upsilon.

Ligatures
Ligatures are called precisely that, although some have alternate names. Examples: IPA symbol name ethel l- ligature ash phonetic description open-mid front rounded vowel voiced coronal lateral fricative near-open front unrounded vowel Unicode name LATIN SMALL LIGATURE OE LATIN SMALL LETTER LEZH LATIN SMALL LETTER AE

Rotated letters
Many letters are turned, or rotated 180 degrees. Examples: IPA symbol name turned y turned h turned singlestory a turned v[1] open o[2] phonetic description palatal lateral approximant labial-palatal approximant open back rounded vowel open-mid back unrounded vowel open-mid back rounded vowel Unicode name LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED Y LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED H LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED ALPHA LATIN SMALL TURNED V LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O

Notes 1. Jump up ^ The symbol is often also called "caret" or "wedge" for its similarity to that diacritic. 2. Jump up ^ The symbol can be described as a reversed c, but it is almost always referred to as open o, which describes both its articulation and its shape.

A few letters are reversed (flipped on a vertical axis): IPA symbol name reversed e phonetic description Unicode name LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED E LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED OPEN E [1] LATIN LETTER PHARYNGEAL VOICED FRICATIVE [3]

close-mid central unrounded vowel reversed epsilon open-mid central unrounded vowel reversed glottal voiced pharyngeal stop [2] fricative Notes

1. Jump up ^ The old Unicode name for this character is LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED EPSILON. 2. Jump up ^ This IPA symbol is often called by the name of the corresponding Arabic letter, ayin. 3. Jump up ^ The old Unicode name for this character is LATIN LETTER REVERSED GLOTTAL STOP. One letter is inverted (flipped on a horizontal axis): inverted capital small R. ( could also be called an inverted w, but turned w is more common.)