Template:IPA

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This template ensures proper display of a transcription in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It can also automatically provide a label indicating the language being transcribed and link to an explanatory guide. Its behavior changes drastically depending on whether more than one unnamed parameter is given. For broad transcriptions of English, use {{IPAc-en}} instead.

Usage

The behavior of this template changes significantly depending on whether more than one unnamed parameter is given.

Markup	Renders as
{{IPA|/ˌlɔːrəm ˈɪpsəm/}}	/ˌlɔːrəm ˈɪpsəm/
{{IPA|la|ˌloːrɛm ˈɪpsʊm}}	Latin pronunciation: [ˌloːrɛm ˈɪpsʊm]

Basic mode

The basic usage of this template is just to pass an IPA transcription as the first argument, as in:

Markup	Renders as
{{IPA|/ˌlɔːrəm ˈɪpsəm/}}	/ˌlɔːrəm ˈɪpsəm/

Which might not look different from just the transcription without the template (/ˌlɔːrəm ˈɪpsəm/), but it actually outputs:

<span class="IPA nowrap" lang="und-Latn-fonipa" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ˌlɔːrəm<span class="wrap"> </span>ˈɪpsəm/</span>

That is, it adds

• the IPA class, allowing registered users to assign a typeface of their choice (see Help:IPA § Rendering issues for how);
• an IETF language tag indicating IPA as the writing system (see Template:Lang § Rationale for more);
• a title attribute, which appears as a tooltip when the mouse hovers over the transcription;
• the nowrap class, preventing line wrapping at inappropriate places like after / or ˌ;
• the wrap class to whitespace characters, allowing wrapping to occur at appropriate places.

All IPA text should be placed in the template, even if it consists entirely of ASCII characters, as in {{IPA|/mi/}}. This allows users to format all examples of IPA text consistently, and software like screen readers to interpret them accurately. If a substantial portion of a page uses IPA, post notice of that fact with {{IPA notice}}.

Issue with linking

If the template is inside a wikilink, the link may not display correctly in certain namespaces (including the mainspace):

Markup	Renders as
[[Lorem ipsum|{{IPA|/ˌlɔːrəm ˈɪpsəm/}}]]	[[Lorem ipsum|/ˌlɔːrəm ˈɪpsəm/]]

This is because the template by default inserts a category. To prevent it, add |cat=no, as in:

Markup	Renders as
[[Lorem ipsum|{{IPA|/ˌlɔːrəm ˈɪpsəm/|cat=no}}]]	/ˌlɔːrəm ˈɪpsəm/

Optional parameters

See also: § Common parameters

lang

IETF language tag (e.g. ar, pt-BR) to be followed by -Latn-fonipa, replacing und (undetermined).

tooltip

Replaces the default tooltip "Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)". Leaving it blank means no tooltip.

Guide-linking mode

If more than one unnamed parameter is given, the first one is recognized as a language code and the second as the transcription. The transcription is automatically linked to one of the language-specific keys if a corresponding one exists, or to Help:IPA if not, and preceded by a label with the name of the language, as in {{langx}}. Unlike in the basic mode, brackets are automatically added so need not be included in the input.

Markup	Renders as
{{IPA|la|ˌloːrɛm ˈɪpsʊm}}	Latin pronunciation: [ˌloːrɛm ˈɪpsʊm]
{{IPA|pt-BR|sɐ̃w̃ ˈpawlu|lang|Br-SaoPaulo.ogg}}	Brazilian Portuguese: [sɐ̃w̃ ˈpawlu]
{{IPA|ki|ɣēkōjó|link=yes}}	Gikuyu pronunciation: [ɣēkōjó]
{{IPA|und|ʔ|}}	[ʔ]

Notice the transcriptions are linked to language-specific keys in the first two examples, and to the generic guide in the rest. The language name and article link are automatically taken from Module:Lang by passing the language tag, unless overridden in Module:IPA/data.

The behavior in this mode mimics {{IPA-xx}} templates that were created for a number of languages. {{IPA}} consolidates those templates for better maintenance and consistency, and is now the recommended template.

Parameters

See also: § Common parameters

First unnamed parameter

IETF language tag (e.g. ar, pt-BR). See Template:Lang for more.

Second unnamed parameter

Transcription, without brackets.

Third unnamed parameter

Label code. Leave it blank to have no label at all. The label "[language name] pronunciation:" is used if the input is not empty but none of the below.

• lang: "[language name]:"
• ipa: "IPA:"
• pron: "pronounced"
• also: "also"
• alsolang: "also [language name]:"
• langalso: "[language name] also"
• local: "locally"
• localpron: "local pronunciation:"

Fourth unnamed parameter

Name of an audio file to accompany the transcription.

label

Text that precedes the transcription. Takes precedence over the third unnamed parameter.

link

If set to yes, the language name in the label will be linked to the article about the language.

small

If set to no, the label appears in the same size as the surrounding text. Be sure to use this where the text is already smaller, per MOS:SMALLTEXT (references, infoboxes, and navboxes are excluded by default).

generic

If set to yes, the transcription is linked not to the language-specific key but to the generic Help:IPA. This is required if the transcription does not adhere to the conventions laid out in the language-specific key.

List of keys

These are defined in Module:IPA/data.

Common parameters

These parameters can be used in either mode.

audio

Name of an audio file to accompany the transcription. Takes precedence over the fourth unnamed parameter.

wrap

If set to none, wrapping is prevented for the entire transcription (i.e. the wrap class is not added to spaces). If set to all, no wrapping prevention takes place (i.e. the nowrap class is not added to the transcription).

class

HTML class(es) added to the span element containing the transcription.

cat

If set to no, the page will not be categorized under Category:Pages with plain IPA (basic mode) or a language-specific subcategory of Category:Pages with IPA (guide-linking mode).

Tracking categories

• A subcategory of Category:Pages with IPA (if this is a red link, create it with the content {{IPA language category}})
• Category:IPA template errors – added if more than one parameter is given and the first is an invalid language tag
• Category:Pages including recorded pronunciations – added if the transcription has audio

These are added only in Module:Category handler's default namespaces. If |debug=yes is given, the categories that would be added are shown as links, no matter the namespace. This is for testcases only.

TemplateData

TemplateData

This template ensures proper display of transcriptions using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Its behavior changes drastically depending on whether more than one unnamed parameter is given. For dialect-neutral transcriptions of English, use IPAc-en instead. Template parameters[Edit template data] This template prefers inline formatting of parameters. Parameter Description Type Status Transcription or language code 1 Transcription including brackets ([...] for a phonetic transcription and /.../ for a phonemic one) if this template is being used just for formatting. IETF language tag if used for linking the transcription to a language-specific key or introductory guide. Example [ɛɡzɑ̃pl], en String required Transcription 2 Without brackets. Example ɛɡzɑ̃pl String optional Label code 3 Replaces the default label "[language name] pronunciation:" with another canned one. Leave it blank to have no label. Suggested values lang ipa pron also alsolang langalso local localpron String optional Audio file audio 4 Name of an audio file to accompany the transcription. File optional Label label Text that precedes the transcription. Unlike "Label code", this displays any wikitext as entered. Line optional link link "yes" links the language name in the label to the article about the language. Suggested values yes String optional small small "no" cancels the reduction of the label size. Suggested values no String optional generic generic "yes" links the transcription to [[Help:IPA]] instead of a language-specific key. Required if the transcription does not adhere to the conventions of the language-specific key. Suggested values yes String optional wrap wrap "none" prevents wrapping anywhere in the transcription. "all" cancels the prevention of wrapping after non-space characters in the transcription. Suggested values none all String optional class class Additional HTML class(es) for the transcription. String optional Language code lang IETF language tag when the first parameter is a transcription. Example en String optional Tooltip tooltip Tooltip to replace the default one with. Leave it blank to have no tooltip. String optional cat cat "no" cancels the categorization of the page into "Pages with [language name] IPA". Suggested values no String optional

Conversion templates

Some language-specific templates allow you to enter ordinary letters (or conventional ASCII equivalents) in place of IPA characters, and convert them to the phonetic symbols used to transcribe the language.

Language	Template	Code example	Result
Cantonese	{{IPAc-yue}} (uses)	{{IPAc-yue|h|ung|2|.|z|i|2}}	[hʊŋ˧˥.tsi˧˥]
Hungarian	{{IPAc-hu}} (uses)	{{IPAc-hu|'|m|a|gy|a|r}}	[ˈmɒɟɒr]
Mandarin	{{IPAc-cmn}} (uses)	{{IPAc-cmn|zh|ong|1|h|ua|2}}	[ʈʂʊ́ŋxwǎ]
Polish	{{IPAc-pl}} (uses)	{{IPAc-pl|'|sz|cz|e|ć|i|n}}	[ˈʂt͡ʂɛt͡ɕin]

Some other conversion templates have also been created, but they haven't been vetted by the community and may not produce output complying with the respective keys.

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:IPA/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (edit | diff) and testcases (edit) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.