Interactive IPA

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a set of symbols that is used to describe the sounds of a language.

You can click either on the buttons, or on underlined text to get explanations for the specific jargon.

Below you can select a language to see its phonemic inventory.

Vowels

Where a symbol appear to the right of a dot, it represents a rounded vowel. To the left of a dot a symbol represents an unrounded vowel. Click here to learn more about the Vowel-Space.

Close
Near-Close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open
Front
Near-Front
Central
Near-Back
Back

Pulmonic Consonant

Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced, and to the left in a cell are voiceless. In the table below, the horizontal axis indicates the place of articulation and the vertical axis indicates the manner of articulation.

Plosive
Nasal
Trill
Tap or Flap
Fricative
Lateral Fricative
Approximant
Lateral Approximant
BilabialLabiodentalDentalAlveolarPost-alveolarRetroflexPalatalVelarUvularPharyngealGlottal

Non-Pulmonic Consonant

ClicksImplosives

Other Consonant

to compare

All the audio clips were published to Wikimedia Commons under a free and/or copyleft licence by: Peter Isotalo; Denelson83; UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive 2003; Halibutt; Pmx; Octane; TFighterPilot; YodaMaster445; Zion arts and Adamsa123