IPA Extensions

This article is about the Unicode block. For the extensions to the IPA for disordered speech abbreviated extIPA, see Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet.
For a list of all phonetic characters encoded in Unicode, see Phonetic symbols in Unicode.
For a list of all Latin characters encoded in Unicode, see Latin script in Unicode.
IPA Extensions
RangeU+0250..U+02AF
(96 code points)
PlaneBMP
ScriptsLatin
Major alphabetsIPA
Assigned96 code points
Unused0 reserved code points
Unicode version history
1.0.0 (1991)89 (+89)
3.0 (1999)94 (+5)
4.0 (2003)96 (+2)
Unicode documentation
Code chart ∣ Web page
Note: [1][2]

IPA Extensions is a block (U+0250–U+02AF) of the Unicode standard that contains full size letters used in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Both modern and historical characters are included, as well as former and proposed IPA signs and non-IPA phonetic letters. Additional characters employed for phonetics, like the palatalization sign, are encoded in the blocks Phonetic Extensions (1D00–1D7F) and Phonetic Extensions Supplement (1D80–1DBF). Diacritics are found in the Spacing Modifier Letters (02B0–02FF) and Combining Diacritical Marks (0300–036F) blocks. Its block name in Unicode 1.0 was Standard Phonetic.[3]

With the ability to use Unicode for the presentation of IPA symbols, ASCII-based systems such as X-SAMPA are being supplanted.[4] Within the Unicode blocks there are also a few former IPA characters no longer in international use by linguists.

  1. ^ "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  2. ^ "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  3. ^ "3.8: Block-by-Block Charts" (PDF). The Unicode Standard. Version 1.0. Unicode Consortium. Archived (PDF) from the original on Nov 27, 2023.
  4. ^ Wells, John C. (2003). "Phonetic symbols in word processing and on the web" (PDF). In Solé, Maria-Josep; Recasens, Daniel; Romero, Joaquín (eds.). Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Barcelona: International Phonetic Association. Archived (PDF) from the original on Oct 22, 2023.