Mutual Intelligibility Resource Guides for teaching or self-teaching the International Phonetic Alphabet
We’ve made two guides to the teaching resources available for the International Phonetic Alphabet as part of the Mutual Intelligibility project.
IPA Charts
Interactive IPA Chart A free, web-based IPA chart. Each symbol is clickable and plays the corresponding phoneme. Good for an introduction to IPA or phonology in general.
IPA Lab Audio Illustrations A far more detailed and complete IPA chart showing more phonemes and diacritics with detailed descriptions at the bottom of the screen for each symbol you click on. This would be good for a more complete and technical look at phonology and the IPA.
OSU Interactive IPA Chart 6 separate interactive IPA charts for specific phonemes found in these major world languages: Chinese, English, Indian, Korean, Spanish, Turkish.
rtMRI IPA charts Each clickable phoneme or word corresponds to an MRI of someone’s oral and nasal cavities while they say that phoneme/word.
Introduction to IPA Consonants
The Art of Language Invention, Episode 21: Ejectives and Implosives A short explanation and demonstration of implosive consonants. May be of interest to English-speaking students who have rarely, if ever, heard these before. Length: 7m32s total; timestamped at implosive section - section 4m40s. Captions: auto.
Vox: Why some Asian accents swap Ls and Rs in English A less technical but professional, detailed look at a common question about speakers of Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Korean who learn English as a second language. Includes an interview with Eleanor Lawson about using ultrasound to study phonology. Length: 8m56s. Captions: human-edited.
NativLang: Weird Phonemes - pronouncing the world's rarest sounds A short animated crash course in phonemes (almost all consonants) that English speakers are likely unfamiliar with. Length: 5m54s. Captions: human-edited.
Podcast: Lingthusiasm Episode 6: All the sounds in all the languages - The International Phonetic Alphabet Section: Origin of the IPA symbols (9:16-11:50) Section: Format of the IPA consonant table and mouth position (16:18-19:45)
Making Flaps Vibrate In Your Throat: Voicing This Tom Scott video is an explanation of voicing only, but it's short and very engaging. Length: 3m18s. Captions: human-edited.
The Language Sounds That Could Exist, But Don't This Tom Scott video is a nice introduction to the IPA chart as a whole and the grey "articulations judged impossible" area. Length: 6m30s. Captions: human-edited.
Introduction to IPA Vowels
ArticulatoryIPA YouTube Playlist A collection of animations and ultrasounds that depict people pronouncing various phonemes. Captions: we're not exactly sure how one would caption this.
Essential of Linguistics: 2.8 Diphthongs A short technical video about diphthongs with mini-quiz below; dry but informative. Length: 3m00s. Captions: human-edited.
Aaron Alon: What If English Were Phonetically Consistent? A fun look at the relationship of English spelling to its phonology, mostly focused on the (in)consistency of our vowels. Breaks each vowel grapheme down into the different IPA symbols it’s likely to represent in English. Length: 4m05s. Captions: auto.
NativLang: Intro to Phonology: Consonants & Vowels A short animated explanation of phonology in general. Length: 3m30s. Captions: human-edited.
Tech Tips
TypeIt: IPA Phonetic Symbols An easy-to-use website that lets you easily type IPA symbols (either full IPA or language-specific subsets) into a text box, which you can then copy-paste elsewhere as needed.
How to Type the IPA on your phone (iOS or Android) Several good free IPA phone keyboard options, reviewed.
Read the full consonants guide or vowels guide, or subscribe to the newsletter for all teaching resource compilations.