Phonetic alphabet

Phonetic alphabet may refer to:

• A phonetic transcription system, representation of the sounds of a language through a set of very general conventions that allow comparing different languages to one another and is not subject to orthographic and historical conventions that darken the reading. Examples of this are:
  • The International Phontic Alphabet, originally developed by the International Phonetic Association, is currently the most widely used general purpose system.
  • The American Phontic Alphabetoriginally developed by americanists, anthropologists and European and American linguists to provide a faithful transcription of the indigenous languages of America that generally lacked an established spelling.
  • The Phonetic Alphabet of the Revista de Filología Españolaoriginally developed for the languages and dialects of the Iberian Peninsula.
  • The SAMPA English Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet), computer-readable phonetic alphabet using 7-bit ASCII characters.
  • The X-SAMPA, variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John Christopher Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London.
• A alphabet by words, set of words used to spell on radio or telephone transmissions so that there are no misconceptions. Examples of this are:
  • The radiophabetused in marine and aviation.
  • The phonetic alphabet of the railway.