SEEING SPEECH

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 Queen's Medical Research Institute (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, Royal Infirmary Edinburgh (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.

Other Symbols

Video type:
Speaker:

Press on a symbol to play the associated video.

ʍVoiceless labial-velar fricativeɕʑAlveolo-palatal fricatives (left) voiced, (right) voiceless
wVoiced labial-velar approximantɺVoiced alveolar lateral flap
ɥVoiced labial-palatal approximantɧSimultaneous
ʜVoiceless epiglottal fricativet͜s k͡pAffricates and double articulations can be represented by two symbols joined by a tie bar if necessary which can be above or below the symbols. (Available only in MRI formats.)

ʢVoiced epiglottal fricativePostalveolar affricates. Available only in MRI 2 and animation. N.B. these items do not appear in the original IPA Other Symbols chart.
ʡEpiglottal plosive

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. 12th October 2024. https://www.seeingspeech.ac.uk/