ipa . . .

One of the major problems non-linguists encounter when attempting to read literature dealing with grammar (whether written by a specialist or not) is the alphabet of the IPA (International Phonetic Association). This alphabet is utilized by linguists to graphically represent phonetic articulation--that is, particular sounds used in speech.

While those who work with ancient languages (or modern languages) are familiar with their own methods of transcription, the IPA often represents these same sounds differently. For instance, ANE scholars quickly recognize [š] as representing a /sh/ sound; linguists represent that same sound with [ʃ] (if you're having problems seeing the correct font [you shouldn't, but if you do . . . ], please download Doulos SIL and Charis SIL). For that matter, English speakers think of a /r/ sound being represented by [r]; however, linguists represent the English sound with [ɹ]--the symbol [r] actually represents a trilled /r/ sound as in Spanish. German speakers have no issues with the IPA symbol [j] as that represents the glide that English speakers associate with [y].

Another example of transcription confusion occurs with the Semitic glottal stop aleph represented in SBL transliteration with [ʾ] which is represented in linguistics with something that looks suspiciously like a question mark [ʔ]--thus, English speakers who are new to pronouncing Semitics probably make the association easily . . . however, this should not be confused with the pharyngeal stop ayin [ʿ] which is represented by the IPA with [ʕ]. The East Semitic ha [ḫ], represented in IPA by [x], is phonetically differentiated from West Semitic het [ḥ] represented by [ħ] (of course, the appropriate pronunciation of these two consonants could be up for debate . . . ).

Those who know Greek recognize why the IPA represents a /th/ (ṯ) sound by [θ]. But to differentiate that /th/ as the /th/ in 'thing' from the /th/ in 'the', the IPA represents the latter with [ð]. The nasal sound English represents with [ng] and Sumerian transliteration represents with [ĝ] (well, not really, but for some reason, I can't get the appropriate [g] + tilde [~] to show up on here; furthermore, the consonant is more a nasalized /g/ which is technically what the [g] + [~] represents, so it's not quite equivalent to English [ng]) is represented in IPA with [ŋ].

Of course, vowels have their own representations wherein the various sounds are differentiated. You can view the IPA chart for yourself, but interpreting the chart brings up yet another problem when attempting to read linguistic literature: phonetic terminology such as palatial, dental, alveolar, velar, uvular, retroflex, etc. But that's a post for a different time.

Truth be told, understanding phonetic representations extends beyond merely knowing IPA symbols and proper terminology, but such goes far beyond what I can provide here as well as beyond my present level of knowledge. There are several good introductions to phonetics in general . . . perhaps I'll find a few good links online to post in the near future.

A friend created a phonetic chart for Proto-Semitic, so if I get permission, I can post that. I'm certain something similar has been published, perhaps by Huehnergard, Lipinski, Muraoka, Greenstein or the like.

To hear the sounds corresponding to the symbols, go here (English sounds) here or better, here (hundreds of sounds beyond those found in English).

Pete Bekins has crafted a brief introduction to phonetics, specifically for Hebrew students.

At www.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html you can see what IPA symbol you get by adjusting for voicing, nasality, lip position, and manner and place of articulation.

For fun, here's a dialect expert giving different examples of English dialects and accents (and foreign accents) based off phonetic representation (you'll need to scroll down) . . . he's quite good, and it's rather amusing.

Just for kicks, here's my best attempt at representing my name in IPA as ʤɛɪ kɹɪsΛ:stәmɔ
For my last name, accent on the ante-penult.