Hagiwara - Reference Chart for IPA Typography - Version 1.1 October 2002

Nov 1, 2026

Reference chart for IPA typography compiled by Robert Hagiwara to quickly type or look up International Phonetic Alphabet characters using SIL IPA Encore TrueType fonts or Unicode. Explains installation and Alt/Option-based four-digit code entry, and how Unicode/HTML symbol codes work via ampersand identifiers and numeric or hexadecimal forms. Describes chart structure, selection workflow, and scope limitations regarding diacritics and composite unit symbols that lack Unicode equivalents.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryTechnology

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

About this table

Understanding and using the table

IPA

IPA#

SIL

UDec

Hagiwara – Reference Chart for IPA Typography Reference Chart for IPA Typography Robert Hagiwara University of Manitoba Version 1.1 October 2002 Overview This table is intended to provide quick and concise reference for people who want to type or refer to IPA characters in either the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) IPA Encore fonts or using Unicode. I refer to this table often in general word processing and in web-based documents associated with my monthly mystery spectrograms ([http://www.umanitoba.ca/linguistics/robh/](http://www.umanitoba.ca/linguistics/robh/)), and believe others might find it useful as well. The SIL fonts are available as freeware from SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics, 2002) . They are True Type fonts and, once installed, can be used like any standard font in computer word processing and similar applications. For word processing SIL encourages the use of a standard keyboard, but provides a table of codes which allow typing in an individual character by using the Alt key (or Option key on Macs). The typist holds down the Alt key and enters (using the number pad) a four-digit code. The Unicode standard is an international character-coding standard that is useful for Generalized Markup Language kinds of applications, such as HyperText Markup Language (HTML) for web pages. Each IPA character (indeed, just about every alphabetic character in just about every language) has been assigned a unique code, which can be referred to as a symbol inan HTML document. The codes may be entered as either a decimal or a hexadecimal number. In HTML, symbol codes start with an ampersand identifier “&” followed by a number sign “\#”, and end with a semi-colon “;”. Decimal numbers are entered directly after the number sign and before the semicolon, while hexadecimal numbers are preceded by an “x”. (See below for examples.) The user’s browser, in presenting the page, looks up the symbol and presents it onscreen or in print appropriately. This table was compiled from materials provided with the SIL freeware fonts package (Summer Institute of Linguistics, n.d.), from the Unicode symbols list provided by John Wells(Wells, 2002). Also included are IPA reference numbers as assigned in the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association (International Phonetic Association, 1999), and symbol names as set down in the Phonetic Symbol Guide (Pullum & Ladusaw, 1996) . About this table The table is arranged in six columns, described below. The order of elements is from Pullum & Ladusaw (1996; hereafter “P&L”), although I may at some point move stuff around (I can’t decide if Turned V really belongs with all the “a” vowels or down by “v”) . The table excludes some of the more complicated diacritics which are available from the SIL fonts but which do not have Unicode equivalents (e.g. the fall-rise diacritic) . It also excludes some of the unit symbols for things which are official composed of symbols and diacritics in the IPA chart. For instance, Unicode offers unit symbols for barred-l and schwa-r. These have not been included in this Hagiwara – Reference Chart for IPA Typography version of the chart (although composing them results in some pretty ugly symbols) . I’ll try to add them in a later version. Understanding and using the table Find the symbol you want to use by looking for it in the first column. These are presented in the order they appear in P&L: all the “a” vowels are together, followed by all the “b” shaped symbols, etc. Then you can use the codes provided to either insert it into your document. I have also used this table to refer to symbols in notes and in e-mail with editors and colleagues (“It’sthe rhoticity sign. You know, IPA 419, Unicode 734.”) IPA This column presents the IPA symbol or diacritic as it appears in the SIL Doulos IPA93 font, which looks a lot like the official representation in the IPA Handbook(International Phonetic Association, 1999) . Overstriking diacritics

FAQs

What is the purpose of Hagiwara’s reference chart for IPA typography?

It provides a quick and concise lookup for typing or referencing IPA characters using SIL IPA Encore fonts or Unicode.

How do you enter an IPA symbol using SIL fonts?

Hold the Alt key (Option on Mac) while entering the four-digit code from the number pad, then release Alt to display the symbol.

How are Unicode IPA symbols represented in HTML?

Use an ampersand identifier followed by a number sign and a decimal code or an x-prefix for hexadecimal, ending with a semicolon.

Nov 1, 2026

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