A spelling alphabet, radio alphabet, or telephone alphabet is a set of words which are used to stand for the letters of an alphabet. Each word in the spelling alphabet typically replaces the name of the letter with which it starts (acrophony). It is used to spell out words when speaking to someone not able to see the speaker, meaning there are no visual cues which assist the listener (the McGurk effect). Giving one's name over the telephone is a common scenario where a spelling alphabet is often used. Spelling alphabets are often called phonetic alphabets. However, phonetic transcription systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet are designed to record detailed information about the sounds of human speech. As written representations of spoken sounds, they are utterly different from spelling alphabets, which are spoken representations of written symbols. ABCs redirects here, for the Alien Big Cats, see British big cats. ... In an acrophonic alphabet the initial (Greek: acro) sound (phonos) of a word gives the name to the whole. ... The McGurk effect is a perceptual phenomenon which demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception. ... For other uses, see Telephone (disambiguation). ... Phonetic transcription (or phonetic notation) is the visual system of symbolization of the sounds occurring in spoken human language. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ...

Voice procedure

See also: Voice procedure

Spelling alphabets are especially useful when speaking in a noisy environment when clarity and promptness of communication is essential, for example during two-way radio communication between an aircraft pilot and air traffic control, or in military operations. Whereas the names of many letters sound alike, the set of replacement words can be selected to be as distinct from each other as possible, to minimise the likelihood of ambiguity or mistaking one letter for another. For example, if a burst of static cuts off the start of an English-language utterance of the letter J, it may be mistaken for A or K. In the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet (or NATO phonetic alphabet), the sequence J-A-K would be pronounced Juliett-Alpha-Kilo. Some voice procedure standards require numbers to be spelled out digit by digit; some spelling alphabets replace confusable digit names with more distinct alternatives: for example, the NATO alphabet has "niner" for 9 to distinguish it better from 5 and the German word "nein". Voice procedure includes various techniques used to clarify, simplify and standardize spoken communications over two-way radios, in use by the military, in civil aviation, police and fire dispatching systems, citizens band radio (CB), etc. ... Motorola HT1000 hand-held two-way radio A two-way radio is a radio that can both transmit and receive (a transceiver), unlike a broadcast receiver which only receives content one way. ... For the Canadian musical group, see Air Traffic Control (band). ... Radio noise If there was no noise picked up with radio signals, then tiny transmitters could be received at any distance just by making a radio receiver that was sensitive enough. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... FAA radiotelephony phonetic alphabet and Morse code chart. ... For other uses, see Number (disambiguation). ... In mathematics and computer science, a numerical digit is a symbol, e. ...

History

On the Western Front of the First World War British Army signallers developed "signalese" a way of spelling out over the landlines in use to communicate. This gave rise to phrases such as "Ack-Ack" from AA for anti-aircraft. Pip-emma for pm. Western Front was a term used during the First and Second World Wars to describe the contested armed frontier between lands controlled by Germany to the East and the Allies to the West. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... A US Army signaller (25Q) erecting a 30-meter mast antenna In the armed forces, a signaller is a soldier or seaman in a Corps or trade responsible for military communications and related tasks. ... Look up PM, Pm, pm, p. ...

Examples

The following examples are from various languages and time periods:^[1]

FAA radiotelephony phonetic alphabet and Morse code chart. ... The armed forces of the United Kingdom, commonly known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majestys Armed Forces, and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown[1], encompasses a navy, army, and an air force. ... The RAF phonetic alphabet is not a phonetic alphabet in the sense in which that term is used in phonetics, i. ... The New York City Police Department (NYPD) was created in 1845 and currently is the largest municipal police force in the world with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City. ... Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche, a region of central Italy, population 101,909 (2005). ... Ä, or ä, is a glyph which represents either a letter from several extended Latin alphabets, the letter A with umlaut, or a letter A with diaeresis. ... For the food product, see Bologna sausage. ... Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Barcelona (Catalan) Spanish name Barcelona Nickname Ciutat Comtal (City of Counts) Postal code 08001–08080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 93 (Barcelona) Website http://www. ... For other uses, see Como (disambiguation). ... Ch is a digraph in the Roman alphabet. ... Domodossola is a city in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in the region of Piedmont, Italy, earlier known as Oscela, Oscella, Oscella dei Leponzi, Ossolo, Ossola Lepontiorum, and Domo dOssola (because its in the Ossola valley). ... Empoli is a town in Tuscany, Italy, about 30 km southwest of Florence. ... This article is about the city in Italy. ... For other uses, see Genoa (disambiguation). ... Girona (Catalan: Girona, Spanish: Gerona, French: Gérone) is a city located in the northwest of Catalonia, Spain on the confluence of the rivers Ter and Onyar. ... Imola (Iômla in the local dialect) is a town, comune in the province of Bologna, located on the Santerno river, in the Emilia-Romagna region of north-central Italy. ... Livorno (archaic English: ) is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. ... LL may stand for: LL is the IATA code for Lineas Aeras Allegro airline LL is the production code for the Doctor Who serial The Evil of the Daleks. ... Llobregat - The second greatest river in Catalonia, starts in Castellar de nHug (Berguedà), near Berga, ends in the Mediterranean Sea, near Barcelona. ... Type Anti-tank Nationality Joint France/Germany Era Cold War, modern Launch platform Individual, Vehicle Target Vehicle, Fortification History Builder MBDA, Bharat Dynamics (under license) Date of design 70s Production period since 1972 Service duration since 1972 Operators 41 countries Variants MILAN 1, MILAN 2, MILAN 2T, MILAN 3, MILAN... This article is about the Spanish capital. ... Location of the city of Naples (red dot) within Italy. ... “Navarra” redirects here. ... Ñ and ñ in Arial and Times New Roman, with an example word from Panare Ñ is a letter of the modern Roman alphabet formed by an N with a diacritical tilde. ... Otranto is a town and commune in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a fertile region, and once famous for its breed of horses. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ö, or ö, is a character used in several extended Latin alphabets, or the letter O with umlaut or diaeresis. ... Padua, Italy, (Italian: IPA: , Latin: Patavium, Venetian: ) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, the economic and communications hub of the region. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... This article is about the Canadian province. ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... Savona (Sàn-na in the local dialect of Ligurian) is a seaport and comune in the northern Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea, at sea-level. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... See also SCH. Sch is the trigraph used in German to represent //, the sound of the sh in the English word fish. It was also used in medieval Polish orthography. ... ß as the combination of Å¿s on a Pirna street sign (Waldstraße) This article is about the letter ß in the German alphabet. ... For other uses, see Turin (disambiguation). ... Tarragona (IPA: in Catalan) is a city located in the south of Catalonia, northeastern Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. ... Udine (Friulian Udin, Slovene Videm) is a city in northeastern Italy, capital of the historical region of Friuli, in the middle of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic sea and the Alps (Alpi Carniche), less than 40 km from the Slovenian border. ... The name Ulysses can mean: The Roman equivalent of Odysseus A 1922 novel by James Joyce: Ulysses (novel) A 1967 movie based on the novel, Ulysses (movie) A solar probe: Ulysses (spacecraft) A poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson A anime television program produced by DiC Entertainment: Ulysses 31 An indie... Ãœ, or ü, is a character which represents either a letter from several extended Latin alphabets, or the letter U with umlaut or diaeresis. ... For other uses, see Venice (disambiguation). ... Valencia is the name of several places: In Spain: Valencia, Spain, capital of the Valencia Autonomous Community Valencia (autonomous community) Valencia (province), in the Valencia Autonomous Community The Kingdom of Valencia, which existed from 1237 to 1707 Valencia de Alcántara, a town in the province of Cáceres In... Look up Washington in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Washington in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Print portraying Socrates and Xanthippe. ... York shown within England Coordinates: , Sovereign state Constituent country Region Yorkshire and the Humber Ceremonial county North Yorkshire Admin HQ York City Centre Founded 71 City Status 71 Government  - Type Unitary Authority, City  - Governing body City of York Council  - Leadership: Leader & Executive  - Executive: Liberal Democrat  - MPs: Hugh Bayley (L) John... For other uses, see Zaragoza (disambiguation). ...

References

1. ^ The Phonetic Alphabet
2. ^ ^{a b c d} This is simply the ordinary name of the letter.

External links

• Phonetic/spelling alphabets for various languages from Brian Kelk's website
• Spelling alphabets from around the world by WorldAlphabets.info