The International Phonetic Alphabet (revised to 2005)
There are two MRI viewing options for both charts: MRI 1 and MRI 2.
- MRI 1 was recorded in 2014 at Edinburgh Imaging Facility QMRI, with a frame rate of 7.5fps. Each file has been overdubbed with “clean” audio, recorded in a recording studio.
- MRI 2 was recorded in 2022-2023 at the Edinburgh Imaging Facility, RIE, with a frame rate of 6.25fps and a 70% increase in image resolution, compared to MRI 1. Audio for the MRI 2 files was recorded in the MRI machine using an optical microphone and post-hoc noise cancelling. We aim to replace the MRI 2 audio with clean audio in the near future.
Consonants (Pulmonic)
Press on a symbol to play the associated video.
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pb | td | ʈɖ | cɟ | kɡ | qɢ | ʔ | ||||
| Nasal | m | ɱ | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ | ɴ | ||||
| Trill | ʙ | r | ʀ | ||||||||
| Tap or Flap | ⱱ | ɾ | ɽ | ||||||||
| Fricative | ɸβ | fv | θð | sz | ʃʒ | ʂʐ | çʝ | xɣ | χʁ | ħʕ | hɦ |
| Lateral fricative | ɬɮ | ||||||||||
| Approximant | ʋ | ɹ | ɻ | j | ɰ | ||||||
| Lateral approximant | l | ɭ | ʎ | ʟ |
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.
Charts reprinted with permission from The International Phonetic Association
How to refer to this resource: Lawson, E., Stuart-Smith, J., Scobbie, J. M., Nakai, S. (2018). Seeing Speech: an articulatory web resource for the study of Phonetics. University of Glasgow. 30th May 2023. https://www.seeingspeech.ac.uk/