IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet. These are the set of alphabets/symbols which are used to textually represent the sounds of any language.
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| Illustration Exemplifying IPA |
When we speak we make sounds with the help of some organs. But in many languages, English being one of them, regular alphabet like ABC or spelling do not always represent the sounds completely. In English, sometimes a letter has a sound, sometimes it is silent. And in some other places a letter represents more than one sound and often times multiple letters combine together to represent a single sound. Let's consider some examples.
In the word "Max":
- The letter 'M' is representing 1 sound.
- Letter 'a' also has an 'ae' sound.
- But the letter 'x', though a single letter, has two sounds; the sound of 'k' and sound of 's'.
In the word "Knife", there is no sound of 'k' i.e. it is silent.
In the word "Shop", the letter combination "Sh" is representing a single sound.
"Ch" in word 'Chop' and "Sh" in 'Shop' are digraphs.
So because there is lack of consistency when it comes to a letter representing sounds; it causes confusions and difficulties for the foreign English language learners.
So language instructors decided if we can somehow represent the sounds of the language we are teaching, this problem of lexico-phonemic inconsistency (text-sound inconsistency) can be solved, if not, minimised atleast. Thus, this led to the invention of International Phonetic Alphabet most commonly known as IPA.
IPA for English
English language makes use of 44 phonemes (sounds). 20 out of those are vowels (open sounds) and remaining 24 are consonants (constricted sounds). An interactive English Phonemic Chart is provided below. Tap on any sound to listen to it along with an example. In addition to that, you get a textual explanation of how that specific sound is supposed to be articulated.
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