Handbook of the International Phonetic Association

The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet was published by Cambridge University Press in July of 1999 and is being regularly reprinted.

The book is a comprehensive guide to the International Phonetic Alphabet, widely used for over a century to transcribe the sounds of languages. It's in three parts: Part I contains an introduction to phonetic description and exemplification of the use of phonetic symbols; Part II consists of twenty-nine "Illustrations" of the application of the International Phonetic Alphabet to a range of languages; and Part III covers speech pathology, computer codings, and the history of the IPA. This is an essential reference work for phoneticians and linguists more generally.

The words and text that appear in the illustrations contained in Part II of the Handbook and which demonstrate the application of the International Phonetic Alphabet to a wide variety of sound systems of languages of the world are available for download as zipped folders of audio (wav) files, broken down by language (along with PDF files containing revisions or other information).

Electronic files of the Chart of the IPA, the Number Chart of the IPA, and the Chart of 'Extensions' to the International Phonetic Alphabet are available for viewing and printing on the website of the International Phonetic Association.

Contact information

For further information on the IPA, its organization and activities, contact:

Dr. John H. Esling, Professor Emeritus
President, International Phonetic Association
Department of Linguistics
University of Victoria
Victoria, BC
V8W 3P4  Canada

Phone: 250-721-7422
Fax: 250-721-7423
Email: esling@uvic.ca
IPA website: www.internationalphoneticassociation.org