Introduction to the International Phonetic Alphabet

This video just has a plain transcript, not time-aligned to the video1. Full IPA chart
a. The International Phonetic Alphabet is a tool designed to allow for the transcription of all languages using a standard set of phonetic symbols.
b. The chart can be divided into 4 main sections:
i. Consonants,
ii. Vowels,
iii. Diacritics, and
iv. Suprasegmentals
This video will focus specifically on, first, the structure of the pulmonic consonant chart, and, second, the structure of the vowel quadrilateral. Understanding the structure of both charts will allow you identify and select phonetic symbols based on consonant articulation and vowel quality, and to describe sounds that are represented by those phonetic symbols.
2. Refresher
a. The pulmonic consonant chart appears at the top of the IPA, and represents speech sounds that are made by the usual process of pushing air out of lungs and through the vocal tract. (note: see articulatory videos for more)
b. Here, we’re going to focus specifically on understanding how the chart represents the articulatory parameters that we use to describe consonant sounds, namely Voice, Place and Manner
3. Pulmonic Consonants
a. Symbols in the pulmonic consonant chart are arranged in a grid layout.
b. The columns of the grid represent places of articulation. These places are arranged to correspond with the relative positions of the articulators in the vocal tract, starting with the lips on the left and moving steadily backward through the vocal tract until we finally reach the glottis over here on the right.
c. The rows represent manners of articulation. These manners are arranged in order from complete closure at the top to a more open stricture (known as approximation) at the bottom. (note: see video on articulation for more details about place and manner)
d. The third parameter of voicing is represented within each cell of the grid. Where symbols appear in pairs within a cell, the symbol to the right is voiced, while the symbol on the left is voiceless.
e. In addition to these three articulatory parameters, the consonant chart also provides a bit more information about possible and impossible sounds based on human vocal anatomy.
f. A number of cells in the grid are shaded gray to indicate that these sounds are impossible to articulate. For example, a voiced glottal plosive [gesture with mouse?] is not possible because it would require the glottis to be closed, and therefore motionless, while also allowing air to flow through in order to produced voicing. So, cells that are shaded gray indicate sounds that not possible and will not appear in any language.
g. However, there are also a number of cells that do not contain any symbols, yet are not shaded gray. These cells have been left blank to indicate that, although it is possible for a human vocal tract to make such a sound, we do not currently know of any language that uses such sounds to convey a phonological contrast. Perhaps someday in the future, with further documentation of understudied languages, symbols will need to be developed to fill some of these cells.
4. Other symbols
a. In addition to the main consonant chart, there is also a section of Other Symbols located a bit further down the IPA.
b. This section presents symbols for pulmonic sounds that do not fit into the main chart for one of two reasons. First, we have sounds that are produced with a place or manner of articulation that does not appear in the pulmonic chart, mainly for reasons of space efficiency and tidy formatting. For example, here we see some epiglottal sounds, and one produced in the manner of lateral flap.
c. Second, we have sounds that are produced with two simultaneous constrictions at different places of articulation, which we refer to as doubly articulated consonants. This includes affricates, for example.
d. If we take another look at the pulmonic consonant chart, we can see where the additional places and manners could be added to the chart, but it is harder to imagine how doubly articulated consonants could be included. For example, should the labio-velar approximant [w] be added to the bilabial column, or to the velar column? Or both?
5. Vowels
a. Similar to consonants, vowels in the IPA are described according to three parameters: Height, Advancement and Rounding
b. Although the vowel chart is a quadrilateral (rather than a rectangle) we can see that it is still arranged roughly in columns, rows, and symbol pairs to represent each of these parameters.
c. Height is represented vertically in the vowel chart. The IPA uses the terms “close” and “open” to refer to vowel height, but many sources will use the terms “high” and “low” to mean the same thing.
d. Advancement is represented horizontally in the vowel chart. Just like the consonant chart, the front of the vocal tract appears on the left side here, with the back of the mouth represented on the right.
e. Rounding is represented by the position of symbols within a vowel pair. Symbols on the right are rounded, while symbols on the left are unrounded.
6. An important thing to remember about the vowel chart is that it is not intended to represent actual vowel contrasts in any language. Instead, it is based on extreme vowel articulations as the basis for the description of vowel sounds relative to those reference points.