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SIL IPA keyboard for Keyman Desktop

SIL IPA keyboard (ver 1.6)

Martin Hosken and Lorna Evans,
SIL Non-Roman Script Initiative (NRSI)

Technical Support

If you have problems using the SIL Unicode IPA keyboard, please contact:

User Support
SIL Non-Roman Script Initiative
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd.
Dallas, TX 75236
USA

E-mail: nrsi@sil.org

 

Keyboard Layout

The keyboard layout is described in terms of an IPA chart rather than a keyboard. This is because many base characters are typed as a sequence of a letter followed by one of <, >,  = or | which are characters used to change a base character to another base character. Diacritics are typed as sequences of an appropriate key. Blue denotes non-IPA sanctioned phonetic symbols (they may be used by other traditions such as Americanist, Chinese or Russian).

Consonants

 

Bilabial

Labio-dental

Dental

Alveolar

Post-alveolar

Retroflex

Palatal

Velar

Uvular

Pharyngeal

Glottal

Plosive

p

p

 

 

 

 

t

t

 

 

ʈ

t<

c

c

k

k

q

q

 

 

ʔ

?=

 

b

b

 

 

 

 

d

d

 

 

ɖ

d<

ɟ

j=

ɡ

g<

ɢ

G=

 

 

 

 

Nasal

m

m

ɱ

m>

 

 

n

n

 

 

ɳ

n<

ɲ

n=

ŋ

n>

ɴ

N=

 

 

 

 

Trill

ʙ

B=

 

 

 

 

r

r

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ʀ

R=

 

 

 

 

Tap or Flap

 

 

v<

 

 

ɾ

r>

 

 

ɽ

r<

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fricative

ɸ

f=

f

f

θ

t=

s

s

ʃ

s=

ʂ

s<

ç

c=

x

x

χ

x=

ħ

h>

h

h

 

β

b=

v

v

ð

d=

z

z

ʒ

z=

ʐ

z<

ʝ

j<

ɣ

g=

ʁ

R>

ʕ

?<

ɦ

h<

Lateral Fricative

 

 

 

 

 

 

ɬ

l=

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ɮ

l>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Approximant

 

 

ʋ

v=

 

 

ɹ

r=

 

 

ɻ

R<

j

j

ɰ

w>

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lateral Approximant

 

 

 

 

 

 

l

l

 

 

ɭ

l<

ʎ

L<

ʟ

L=

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where symbols appear in pairs, the bottom one represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote articulations judged impossible.

Other Consonants

Clicks

Voiced implosives

ʘ

p=

Bilabial

ɓ

b>

Bilabial

ǀ

!<

Dental

ɗ

d>

Dental/alveolar

ǃ

!

(Post)alveolar

ʄ

j>

Palatal

ǂ

!=

Palatoalveolar

ɠ

g>

Velar

ǁ

!>

Alveolar lateral

ʛ

G>

Uvular

Other Symbols

ʍ

w=

Vl labial-velar fricative

ɕ

c<

vd alveolo-palatal fricative

w

w

Vd labial-velar approximant

ʑ

z>

Vd alveolo-palatal fricative

ɥ

y< or h=

Vd labial-palatal approximant

ɺ

L>

Vd alveolar lateral flap

ʜ

H=

Vl epiglottal fricative

ɧ

H>

Simultaneous ʃ and x

ʢ

Q<

Vd epiglottal fricative

 

 

 

ʡ

Q=

Vd epiglottal plosive

 

 

 

Vowels

 

Front

Central

Back

 

Unrounded

Rounded

Unrounded

Rounded

Unrounded

Rounded

Close

i

i

y

y

ɨ

I=

ʉ

U=

ɯ

u=

u

u

Near-close

ɪ

i=

ʏ

y=

 

 

 

 

 

 

ʊ

u<

Close-mid

e

e

ø

o>

ɘ

E=

ɵ

O=

ɤ

O>

o

o

Mid

 

 

 

 

 

ə

e=

 

 

 

 

 

Open-mid

ɛ

e<

œ

E<

ɜ

e>

ɞ

O<

ʌ

u>

ɔ

o<

Near-open

æ

a<

 

 

 

ɐ

a>

 

 

 

 

 

Open

a

a

ɶ

E>

 

 

 

 

ɑ

a=

ɒ

o=

Suprasegmentals

ˈ

}

Primary stress

ˌ

}}

Secondary stress

:

Long

::

Half long

eːː

:::

Extra long

***

Extra short

|

.<

Minor (foot) group

.=

Major (intonation) group

.

.

Syllable break

#=

Linking (absence of a break)

Other (non-IPA) Vowels

A>

 

α

a|

open central unrounded vowel

ɩ

i|

near-close near-front unrounded

A|

open central unrounded

I>

 

ɿ

z|

unrounded alveolar apical

I<

lower-high central unrounded

or

high back unrounded

ʅ

Z|

unrounded retroflex apical

U>

high front rounded

ʮ

y|

rounded alveolar apical

ɷ

u|

near-close back rounded

ʯ

Y|

rounded retroflex apical

E|

mid front unrounded

 

 

 

ʚ

e|

open-mid front rounded

 

 

 

Tone and Word accents

Level[1]

Contour[2]

˥

#4

@4

Extra high

˩˥

#04

@13

Rising

˦

#3

@3

High

˥˩

#40

@31

Falling

˧

#2

@2

Mid

˧˥

#24

e᷄

@23

High rising

˨

#1

@1

Low

˨˧

#12

e᷅

@12

Low rising

˩

#0

@0

Extra low

˨˥˨

#141

e᷈

@131

Rising-falling

 

 

#<

Downstep

 

 

e᷆

@21

Low falling

 

 

#>

Upstep

 

 

e᷇

@32

High falling

 

 

!^

Africanist Upstep

 

 

e᷉

@313

Falling-rising

 

 

#!

Africanist downstep (raised)

 

 

#>>

Global rise

 

 

##!

Africanist downstep (lowered)

 

 

#<<

Global fall

Tone numbers and pitch contours (non-IPA)

³

3^ (0-9)

superscript number

-^

superscript hyphen

Other (non-IPA) Symbols

ƈ

c>

vl palatal implosive

ȡ

d|

alveolo-palatal vd plosive

ђ

h|

vd pharyngeal nasal

ƙ

k>

vl velar implosive

ȴ

l|

front-palatal vd lateral approximant

ȵ

n|

front-palatal vd nasal

ƥ

p>

vl bilabial implosive

ʠ

q>

vl uvular implosive

S=

vl retroflex postalveolar fricative

ƭ

t>

vl dental or alveolar implosive

ȶ

t|

front-palatal vl plosive

ʇ

T|

dental click

w<

bilabial flap

Z=

vd retroflex postalveolar fricative

+

+=

 

0=

Empty set

0>

Diacritic “holder”

Diacritics & Suprasegmentals

h^

Aspirated

w^

Labialised

j^

Palatalised

g=^

Velarised

?<^

Pharyngealised

ⁿk

n^

Pre/post nasalised

l^

Lateral release

ᶮɟ

symbol followed by ^ e.g. n=^

Other superscripts are available[4]

[[

Light aspiration

[[[

Rhoticity

]]

Ejective

]]]

No audible release

]]]]

Weak aspiration

$

Syllabic

$$

Non-syllabic

$$$

Creaky voiced

symbol followed by $$$$ e.g. a$$$$

Retroflex hooks[5]

%

Voiceless

%%

Voiced

%%%

Breathy voiced

symbol followed by %%%% e.g. b%%%%

Palatal hooks[6]

ŋ̊

@

Voiceless (diacritics are sometimes placed above a symbol with a descender)

ŋ̍

@@

Syllabic (diacritics are sometimes placed above a symbol with a descender)

{

Dental

{{

Apical

{{{

Laminal

{{{{

Linguolabial

{{{{{

Closer variety / Fricative

~

Nasalised

ɫ

l~~

Velarized or pharyngealized[7]

*

Centralised

**

Mid centralised

***

Extra short

****

Palatalization/Centralization

*****

 

k͡p

#&

Double articulation / affricate[8]

t͜s

@&

Double articulation / affricate[9]

+

Advanced

_

Retracted

++

Raised

__

Lowered

+++

+ATR

___

-ATR

++++

More rounded

____

Less rounded

_____

open vowel

}}}

Fortis

p᷂

}}}}

Lenis

=>

Becomes, is realized as

σ

s>

Syllable

͏

=<

Combining Grapheme Joiner



[1] Use “& for Left-stem level tones, e.g. “&0” becomes A712 (꜒).

[2] Glides to and from any level (e.g. “#32” becomes ˦˧) and any sequence of any two glides (e.g. “#314” becomes ˦˨˥).

[3] These require the use of Charis SIL (http://scripts.sil.org/CharisSIL) or Charis SIL (http://scripts.sil.org/CharisSIL) version 4.1 or greater. They will turn into contours if used in Graphite applications.

[4] The following characters can be superscripted: 0123456789 + - = ( ) ʕ ʔ b β c ɕ d ð f ɸ g ɡ ɣ h ɦ j ɟ ʝ k l ɭ ʟ m ɱ n ɲ ɳ ŋ ɴ p r ɹ ɻ ʁ s ʂ ʃ t θ v ʋ w ɰ x ɥ z ʑ ʐ ʒ a ɐ ᴂ ɑ e ə ɜ ɛ i ɪ ɨ o ɒ ɔ ɵ ʌ u ɯ ʊ ʉ y

[5] Retroflex hooks may be added to: a ɑ ɗ e ɛ ɜ ə i ɔ ʃ u ʒ (ᶏ ᶐ ᶑ ᶒ ᶓ ᶔ ᶕ ᶖ ᶗ ᶘ ᶙ  ᶚ)

[6] Palatal hooks may be added to: b d f ɡ k l m n p r s ʃ v x z (ᶀ ᶁ ᶂ ᶃ ᶄ ᶅ ᶆ ᶇ ᶈ ᶉ ᶊ ᶋ ᶌ ᶍ ᶎ)

[7] Available for ᵬ, ᵭ, ᵮ, ɫ, ᵯ, ᵰ, ᵱ, ᵲ, ᵳ, ᵴ, ᵵ and ᵶ.

[8] Typed between the characters. Thus k#&p.

[9] Typed between the characters. Thus t@&s.

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