Americanist phonetic notation (also Americanist Phonetic Alphabet, American Phonetic Alphabet, sometimes abbreviated APA) is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and Euro-American anthropologists and language scientists (former Neo-grammarians) for the phonetic and phonemic transcription of Native American and European languages. However, the system is generally used for transcribing any language. Phonetic transcription (or phonetic notation) is the visual system of symbolization of the sounds occuring in spoken human language. ... See Anthropology. ... The Neogrammarians (also Young Grammarians, German Junggrammatiker) were a German school of linguists, originally at the University of Leipzig, in the late 19th century who proposed the Neogrammarian hypothesis of the regularity of sound change. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... In spoken language, a phoneme is a basic, theoretical unit of sound that can distinguish words (that is, changing a phoneme in a word, produces another word, that has a different meaning). ... Native American languages are the indigenous languages of the Americas, spoken from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America. ... This article is about the continent. ...

History

Alphabet

It is often useful to compare the Americanist tradition with another widespread tradition, International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Unlike the IPA, Americanist phonetic notation does not require a strict harmony among character styles: letters from the Greek and Roman alphabets are used side-by-side. Another contrasting feature is that the Americanist tradition relies heavily on diacritics where the IPA, shunning diacritic usage, relies on newly created Greek and Roman letters with character shape modifications. The reason for these differences is the result of a different philosophy. The Americanist linguists were interested in a phonetic notation that could be easily created from typefaces of existing orthographies. This was seen as more practical and more cost-efficient, as many of the characters chosen already existed in Greek and East European orthographies. The International Phonetic Alphabet. ... In typography, a typeface is a co-ordinated set of character designs, which usually comprises an alphabet of letters, a set of numerals and a set of punctuation marks. ...

Consonants

Below is a generalized chart of phonetic symbols used by linguists of the Americanist tradition for transcribing consonant sounds. A consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure or stricture sufficient to cause audible turbulence, at one or more points along the vocal tract. ...

Notes: In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ... Dentals are consonants articulated with either the lower or the upper teeth, or both. ... Alveolars are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, the internal side of the upper gums (known as the alveoles of the upper teeth). ... retroflex plosive Retroflex consonants cover two points of articulation. ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. ... A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx. ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that doesnt have voicing. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... A glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (a movement, a closure) of the glottis (the opening that leads from the nose and mouth cavities into the larynx and the lungs). ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that doesnt have voicing. ... Ejective consonants are a class of consonants which may contrast with aspirated or unaspirated consonants in a language. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... Implosive consonants are plosives (rarely affricates) with a glottalic ingressive airstream mechanism. ... Affricate consonants begin like stops (most often an alveovelar, such as or ) and that doesnt have a release of its own, but opens directly into a fricative such as or (or, in one language, into a trill). ... A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that doesnt have voicing. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... A glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (a movement, a closure) of the glottis (the opening that leads from the nose and mouth cavities into the larynx and the lungs). ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that doesnt have voicing. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... A glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (a movement, a closure) of the glottis (the opening that leads from the nose and mouth cavities into the larynx and the lungs). ... Fricative consonants are produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together (e. ... A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that doesnt have voicing. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... A glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (a movement, a closure) of the glottis (the opening that leads from the nose and mouth cavities into the larynx and the lungs). ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that doesnt have voicing. ... A glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (a movement, a closure) of the glottis (the opening that leads from the nose and mouth cavities into the larynx and the lungs). ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... In phonetics, a voiceless consonant is a consonant that doesnt have voicing. ... A voiced consonant is a sound made as the vocal cords vibrate, as opposed to a voiceless consonant, where the vocal cords are relaxed. ... A glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (a movement, a closure) of the glottis (the opening that leads from the nose and mouth cavities into the larynx and the lungs). ... Liquid consonants, or liquids, are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial in English yes corresponds to ). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics. ... Rhotic consonants, or R-like sounds, are non-lateral liquids. ... A glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (a movement, a closure) of the glottis (the opening that leads from the nose and mouth cavities into the larynx and the lungs). ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ... A glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (a movement, a closure) of the glottis (the opening that leads from the nose and mouth cavities into the larynx and the lungs). ...

• Among the dental fricatives, [θ] and [ð] are slit fricatives while [s̪] and [z̪] are grooved fricatives.

Rhotics table

Most languages only have one phonemic rhotic consonant (only about 18% of the world's languages have more than one rhotic). As a result, rhotic consonants are generally transcribed with the < r > character. This usage is common practice in Americanist and also other notational traditions (such as the IPA). This lack of detail, although economical and phonologically sound, requires a more careful reading of a given language's phonological description to determine the precise phonetics. A list of rhotics is given below. Rhotic consonants, or R-like sounds, are non-lateral liquids. ...

Alternate symbols

There are many alternate symbols seen in Americanist transcription. Below are some equivalent symbols matched with the symbols shown in the consonant chart above.

Vocalics

Vowels and glides. In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by an open configuration of the vocal tract, in contrast to consonants, which are characterized by a constriction or closure at one or more points along the vocal tract. ... Semivowels (also called semiconsonants or glides) are vowels that function phonemically as consonants. ...

Notes: A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. ... In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. ... In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ... Semivowels (also called semiconsonants or glides) are vowels that function phonemically as consonants. ... Tenseness is a term used in phonology to describe a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. ... A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... Tenseness is a term used in phonology to describe a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. ... An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ...

• Voiceless vocalics can be transcribed with capital letters, eg. [W] = voiceless [w], [A] = voiceless [a].

Diacritics

secondary articulations...

Historical charts of 1916

The following chart appeared in American Anthropological Society (1916).

Notes:

• surd = voiceless; sonant = voiced; intermed. = partially voiced
• In the glottalized stop column, the phonetic symbol appearing on the left side (which is a consonant plus an overhead single quotation mark) represents a weakly glottalized stop (i.e. weakly ejective). The symbol on the right side is strongly glottalized (i.e. it is articulated very forcefully). Example: [k̓] = weakly glottalized; [k!] = strongly glottalized.

See also

• International phonetic alphabet
• IPA in Unicode
• Phonetics
• Phonology

The International Phonetic Alphabet. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... Phonology (Greek phone = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), or phonemics, is a subfield of linguistics closely associated with phonetics. ...

External links

• description of phonetics using Americanist notation (ancientscripts.com)
• APA symbols guide (by linguist, David Odden) (PDF file)
• Phonetics 001 (contains a simplified consonant chart of Americanist notation)

Bibliography

• Albright, Robert W. (1958). The International Phonetic Alphabet: Its background and development. International journal of American linguistics (Vol. 24, No. 1, Part 3); Indiana University research center in anthropology, folklore, and linguistics, publ. 7. Baltimore. (Doctoral dissertation, Standford University, 1953).
• American Anthropological Society [Boas, Franz; Goddard, Pliny E.; Sapir, Edward; & Kroeber, Alfred L.]. (1916). Phonetic transcription of Indian languages: Report of committee of American Anthropological Association. Smithsonian miscellaneous collections (Vol. 66, No. 6). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution (American Anthropological Society).
• Bloomfield, Leonard; & Bolling George Melville. (1927). What symbols shall we use? Language, 3 (2), 123-129.
• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Clark, John; & Yallop, Colin. (1995). An introduction to phonetics and phonology (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19452-5.
• Odden, David. (2005). Introducing phonology. Cambridge introductions to language and linguistics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82669-1 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-53404-6 (pbk).
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-1604-8774-9.
• Herzog, George; Newman, Stanley S.; Sapir, Edward; Swadesh, Mary Haas; Swadesh, Morris; Voegelin, Charles F. (1934). Some orthographic recommendations. American Anthropologist, 36 (4), 629-631.
• Hill, Kenneth C. (1988). [Review of Phonetic symbol guide by G. K. Pullum & W. Ladusaw]. Language, 64 (1), 143-144.
• Kemp, J. Alan. (1994). Phonetic transcription: History. In R. E. Asher & J. M. Y. Simpson (Eds.), The encyclopedia of language and linguistics (Vol. 6, pp. 3040-3051). Oxford: Pergamon.
• MacMahon, Michael K. C. (1996). Phonetic notation. In P. T. Daniels & W. Bright (Ed.), The world's writing systems (pp. 821-846). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507993-0.
• Maddieson, Ian. (1984). Patterns of sounds. Cambridge studies in speech science and communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Pike, Kenneth L. (1943). Phonetics: A critical analysis of phonetic theory and a technic for the practical description of sounds. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• Pullum, Geoffrey K.; & Laduslaw, William A. (1986). Phonetic symbol guide. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-68532-2.
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978-present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1-20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1-3, 16, 18-20 not yet published).