Learn the Other IPA symbols palette
This palette brings together several official IPA Other Symbols, additional fricatives, tie bars and ready-made symbol sequences. Learn what each group contributes without treating the site's convenient folder as a single sound class.
VIDEO TUTORIAL
Explore more IPA symbols
Explore additional IPA symbols and use them in a saved transcription.
English narration Captions: English
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What you’ll learn
- Identify the main symbol types in the 17-button palette.
- Distinguish a tied affricate from a double articulation and an ordinary sequence.
- Insert exact Unicode symbols while interpreting phonetic descriptions rather than letter shapes.
A few symbols, a clearer picture
Two approximants
The official chart describes w as voiced labial-velar and ɥ as voiced labial-palatal.
An alveolo-palatal pair
These are the voiceless and voiced alveolo-palatal fricatives, respectively.
Two uses of a tie bar
These can represent an affricate and a double articulation, respectively; a tie bar is not exclusively an affricate sign.
Additional pulmonic fricatives
These ordinary IPA fricatives are included here for convenience: voiceless uvular χ and voiceless postalveolar ʃ.
Audit the palette by sound description
Several different articulatory patterns appear together.
Read the explanation
The official Other Symbols panel includes the labial-velar ʍ and w, the labial-palatal approximant ɥ, the alveolo-palatal fricatives ɕ and ʑ, and the voiced alveolar lateral flap ɺ. Its descriptions distinguish place, manner and voicing rather than grouping symbols by visual resemblance. For example, ɥ is not simply a decorative h: its label describes an approximant with labial and palatal articulation.
That panel also includes ʜ and ʢ, described as voiceless and voiced epiglottal fricatives, and ʡ, described as an epiglottal plosive without an obligatory voiced label. The official label for ɧ is simultaneous ʃ and x. These chart descriptions provide a reference vocabulary; they are not a guarantee that every token discussed with a conventional symbol has identical fine articulatory detail. Consult a language-specific account for actual pronunciations.
Schematic labial-velar versus labial-palatal approximant comparison.
Schematic voiceless versus voiced alveolo-palatal fricatives.
Read ties as a statement about coordination
An above or below tie can link two symbols when the analysis requires it.
Read the explanation
An affricate combines a stop closure with a fricative release, and it can be written with a tie such as t͡ʃ or t͡s. The tie makes the intended relationship explicit when needed. A tie can also mark double articulation, such as k͡p, where the two places of closure are coordinated. That example is not an affricate merely because it contains the same curved mark.
The palette provides an above tie, a below tie and three ready-made tied strings: t͡ʃ, t͡s and k͡p. To build an above-tied string manually, put the combining mark after the first base and before the second, as t + U+0361 + ʃ. The below tie uses U+035C. A font must shape the mark across the neighboring symbols; its appearance can vary without changing the intended characters.
Schematic affricate versus double articulation; different relationships despite the shared tie.
Schematic text order for an above tie; the dotted circle is only a display aid.
Separate the site's folder from the IPA classification
Convenient duplication does not create a new phonetic category.
Read the explanation
The i2Speak palette has 17 buttons. Ten base symbols belong to the official Other Symbols panel; χ and ʃ are additional pulmonic fricatives available here for convenience. Two buttons insert combining tie marks, and three insert complete tied sequences. This accounts for the full current palette. You should therefore not describe every button as a separate sound or call every item an unusual non-pulmonic consonant.
Unicode names identify characters; phonetic descriptions explain their use. The name of χ refers to Greek chi, but its IPA value is voiceless uvular fricative. The shape of ʃ likewise does not make it an ordinary s. Other and Extended are site navigation labels, not names for the separate extIPA system.
Schematic uvular versus postalveolar fricative comparison, both voiceless.
Build a mixed reference line
Open a clean practice line
Open Other IPA symbols and place the caret on an empty practice line in the editor. Turn off Smart IPA suggestions for literal spaces and any surrounding notation.
Compare two approximants
Select w, type a space and select ɥ. Read their tooltips to compare labial-velar with labial-palatal.
Insert two complete tied strings
Type a space and select the t͡ʃ button. Type another space and select k͡p. Each of these buttons inserts its full sequence, including the combining tie.
Inspect and keep the result
Compare your line with the sample and use Copy text or Download text. Inspect both ties after pasting into the destination, using a font that supports the symbols.
Check your understanding
Try each question, then compare your reasoning with the explanation. These exercises stay on this page and do not change your editor text.
Use descriptions that a reader can verify
Name the language, speaker and notation convention for real speech. Official chart descriptions and recordings supply references, not every language-specific realization.
Preserve combining marks and inspect exports. Palette membership does not establish airstream mechanism, IPA status or extIPA membership.
Listen to the IPA’s recorded chartListening opens the International Phonetic Association website. Exercises here practice notation and interpretation; they do not assess pronunciation.