Americanist phonetic notation, also known as the North American Phonetic Alphabet (NAPA), the Americanist Phonetic Alphabet and the American Phonetic Alphabet (APA), is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American anthropologists and language scientists (many of whom were Neogrammarians) for the phonetic and phonemic transcription of indigenous languages of the Americas and for languages of Europe. It is still commonly used by linguists working on, among others, Slavic languages, Semitic languages, and the languages of the Caucasus, of India, and of much of Africa. Uralicists, working on Uralic languages, commonly use the similar but distinct Uralic Phonetic Alphabet.
Despite its name, APA has always been widely used outside the Americas. For example, a version of it is the standard transcription of Arabic for articles published in the , the journal of the German Oriental Society.
Diacritics are more widely used in Americanist notation than in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which seeks to use as few diacritics as possible for phonemic distinctions, retaining them primarily for the dental–alveolar distinction. Americanist notation relies on diacritics to distinguish multiple distinctions that are phonemic in the languages it transcribes. On the other hand, Americanist notation uses single letters for most coronal affricates, whereas the IPA generally requires digraphs. Otherwise Americanist notation has grown increasingly similar to IPA, and has abandoned many of the more obscure letters it once employed.
Summary contrast with the IPA alphabet Certain symbols in APA were once identical to those of the International Phonetic Alphabet, but have become obsolete in the latter, such as . Over the years, APA has drawn closer to the IPA. This can be seen, for example, in a comparison of Edward Sapir's earlier and later works. However, there remain significant differences. Among these are:
for , for , or for , for and for Palato-alveolar and sometimes alveopalatal Advancing diacritic (inverted breve, e.g. g̯ ) for dentals and palatals (apart from non-sibilant dental ), and retracting diacritic (a dot, e.g. ṣ g̣) for retroflex and uvulars (apart from uvular ) or for a flap and for a trill Ogonek for nasalization Dot over vowel for centering, two dots (diaeresis) over a vowel to change fronting (for front rounded vowels and unrounded back vowels) Acute and grave accents over vowels for stress
History John Wesley Powell used an early set of phonetic symbols in his publications (particularly Powell 1880) on American language families, although he chose symbols which had their origins in work by other phoneticians and American writers (e.g., Pickering 1820; Cass 1821a, 1821b; Hale 1846; Lepsius 1855, 1863; Gibbs 1861; and Powell 1877). The influential anthropologist Franz Boas used a somewhat different set of symbols (Boas 1911). In 1916, a publication by the American Anthropological Society greatly expanded upon Boas's alphabet. This same alphabet was discussed and modified in articles by Bloomfield & Bolling (1927) and Herzog et al. (1934). The Americanist notation may be seen in the journals American Anthropologist, International Journal of American Linguistics, and Language. Useful sources explaining the symbols – some with comparisons of the alphabets used at different times – are Campbell (1997:xii-xiii), Goddard (1996:10–16), Langacker (1972:xiii-vi), Mithun (1999:xiii-xv), and Odden (2005).
It is often useful to compare the Americanist tradition with another widespread tradition, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Americanist phonetic notation does not require a strict harmony among character styles: letters from the Greek and Latin alphabets are used side-by-side. Another contrasting feature is that, to represent some of the same sounds, the Americanist tradition relies heavily on letters modified with diacritics; whereas the IPA, which reserves diacritics for other specific uses, gave Greek and Latin letters new shapes. These differing approaches reflect the traditions' differing philosophies. The Americanist linguists were interested in a phonetic notation that could be easily created from typefaces of existing orthographies. This was seen as more practical and more cost-efficient, as many of the characters chosen already existed in Greek and East European orthographies.
Abercrombie (1991:44–45) recounts the following concerning the Americanist tradition:
Alphabet
Consonants There is no central authority. The Western Institute for Endangered Language Documentation (WIELD) has recommended the following conventions since 2016:WIELD's Recommended Americanist Transcription System
Advanced is and retracted is . Geminate is or . Glottalization, including ejectives, uses a combining diacritic, e.g. or . Palatalization is written . Labialization, velarization, aspiration, voicelessness and prenasalization are as in the IPA, as are pharyngeals, epiglottals, glottals, implosives and clicks.
Differences from the IPA fall into a few broad categories: use of c j λ ƛ for affricates; of and for the palato-alveolar and alveolo-palatals, respectively; of the diacritics and to derive dental and retroflex articulations from the default alveolar, and palatal and uvular from the default velar; of y for its English consonantal value; and of r for a tap rather than a trill.
+WIELD (2016) recommendations for APA consonants Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Retro-flex Palato-alveolar Alveo-palatal Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-geal Glottal Plosive p t̯ t ṭ k̯ k q ʔ is often rendered by removing the dot from a question mark . b d̯ d ḍ ɡ̯ ɡ ɡ̇ Affricate pf cc̣čćkxqx̣ c̯ dð dzdẓǰdź dz̯ ƛ λ Fricative ɸ f s ṣ š ś x̯ x x̣ ħ h s̯ β v ð z ẓ ž ź ɣ̯ ɣ ɣ̇ ʕ ɦ z̯ ł łʸ ɮ Nasal m n̯ n ṇ ń ñ ŋ ŋ̇ Trill r̃ ʀ Tap r̯ r ṛ Approximant ʋ ɹ ɹ̣ y ẉ ẅ w l̯ l ḷ lʸ
Notes: Among the dental fricatives, are slit fricatives (non-sibilant) while are grooved fricatives (sibilant).
Rhotics table About 90% of languages have only one rhotic consonant. As a result, rhotic consonants are generally transcribed with the character. This usage is common practice in Americanist and also other notational traditions (such as the IPA). This lack of detail, although economical and phonologically sound, requires a more careful reading of a given language's phonological description to determine the precise phonetics. A list of rhotics is given below.
+ Common rhotic conventions Alveolar Retroflex/Uvular Approximant r ṛ Flap ř ṛ̌ Tap ᴅ ᴅ̣ Trill r̃ ṛ̃
Other flaps are , , etc.
Common alternate symbols There are many alternate symbols seen in Americanist transcription. Below are some equivalent symbols matched with the symbols shown in the consonant chart above.
may be used for (= ), or for . may be used for (= ). may be used for (= ). may be used for (= ). may be used for (= ). or may be used for . may be used for . may be used for . may be used for . ʸ may be used for fronted velars (e.g., kʸ = k̯, gʸ = g̑). Some transcriptions superscript the onset of doubly articulated consonants and the release of affricates, e.g. , . There may be a distinction between laminal retroflex and apical retroflex in some transcriptions. The fronting diacritic may be a caret rather than an inverted breve, e.g. dental and palatal . Many researchers use the x-caron (x̌) for the voiceless uvular fricative. The use of the standard IPA belted l (ɬ) for the voiceless lateral fricative is becoming increasingly common.
Pullum & Ladusaw According to Pullum & Ladusaw (1996),Phonetic Symbol Guide, 2nd ed., p. 301–302 typical Americanist usage at the time was more-or-less as follows. There was, however, little standardization of rhotics, and may be either retroflex or uvular, though as noted above or may be a retroflex flap vs as a uvular trill. Apart from the ambiguity of the rhotics below, and minor graphic variants (ȼ g γ for c ɡ ɣ and the placement of the diacritic in g̑ γ̑), this is compatible with the WIELD recommendations. Only precomposed affricates are shown below; others may be indicated by digraphs (e.g. ).
+Typical APA consonant values (1996, not prescriptive) Bilabial Labio-dental Inter-dental Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palato-alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-geal Glottal Stop (oral) p t̯ t ṭ k̯ k q ʔ b d̯ d ḍ g̑ g ġ Affricate ȼ č ǰ Lateral affricate ƛ λ Fricative ɸ f s̯ s ṣ š x̯ x x̣ ħ h β v ð z̯ z ẓ ž γ̑ γ γ̇ ʕ ɦ Lateral fricative ł Nasal m ṃ n ṇ ñ ŋ ŋ̇ Rhotic r ṛ ṛ Lateral l ḷ Glide (w) y (w)
Ejectives and implosives follow the same conventions as in the IPA, apart from the ejective apostrophe being placed above the base letter.
Pike Pike (1947) provides the following set of symbols:
+Pike (1947) consonant values Bilabial Labio-dental Inter-dental Alveolar Retroflex Alveolo-palatal Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-geal Glottal Stop (oral) p t̯ t ṭ k̯ k ḳ (q) ḳ̣ ʔ b d̯ d ḍ g̯ g g̣ (G) Affricate pᵽ ts (ȼ) tš (č) kx bb̶ d̯d̶ dz (ʒ) dž (ǰ) gg̶ Lateral affricate tƚ (ƛ) dl (λ) Flat fricative ᵽ f x̯ x x̣ ḥ h b̶ v d̶ ḍ̶ g̶̯ g̶ g̶̣ ɦ Sibilant w̱̟ (W̟) s ṣ , ṣ̌ š w̟ z ẓ , ẓ̌ ž Lateral fricative ƚ̟ l̟ Nasal m̱ (M) ṉ (N) ṉ̃ (Ñ) ŋ̱ (Ŋ) m n ṇ ñ ŋ Lateral ƚ (L) ƚʸ l ḷ lʸ Flap ṟ̌ ř , l͏̌ ṛ̌ Trill p̃ ṟ̃ b̃ r̃ ṛ̃
Voiceless, voiced and syllabic consonants may also be C̥, C̬ and C̩, as in IPA. Aspirated consonants are C or C̥ʰ / C̬ʱ. Non-audible release is indicated with superscripting, Vꟲ.
Fortis is C͈ and lenis C᷂. Labialization is C̮ or Cʷ; palatalization is Ꞔ, or Cʸ; velarization is C⁽ᵘ⁾, and pharyngealization is C̴.
Other airstream mechanisms are pulmonic ingressive C←, ejective Cˀ, implosive Cˁ, click C˂, and lingual ejective (spurt) C˃.
Vowels WIELD recommends the following conventions. It does not provide characters for distinctions that are not attested in the literature:
+ WIELD (2016) recommendations for APA (semi)vowels Front Central Back y ẅ ẉ w Close i ü ɨ ʉ ï u ɪ ʊ̈ ᵻ ʊ̇ ʊ Mid e ö ə ȯ ë o ɛ ɔ̈ ɛ̇ ɔ̇ ʌ ɔ Open æ ɒ̈ æ̇ ɑ ɒ a a
No distinction is made between front and central for the lowest unrounded vowels. Diphthongs are e.g. or , depending on phonological analysis. Nasal vowels are e.g. . Long vowels are e.g. . A three-way length distinction may be or . Primary and secondary stress are e.g. and . Voicelessness is e.g. , as in the IPA. Creak, murmur, rhoticity et al. are as in the IPA.
Pullum & Ladusaw According to Pullum & Ladusaw (1996), typical Americanist usage at the time was more-or-less as follows:
+Typical APA vowel values (1996, not prescriptive) Front Central Back y w High i ü ɨ ʉ ï u ɪ ᴜ̈ ᵻ ᵾ ɪ̈ ᴜ Mid e ö ə ë o ɛ ɔ̈ ʌ ɔ Low æ a/ɑ Lower-Low a ɑ ɒ
Pike Pike (1947) presents the following:
+Pike (1947) vowel values Front Central Back y w High i ü ɨ ʉ ï u ι ᴜ̈ ϊ ᴜ Mid e ö ə ë o ɛ ɔ̈ ʌ ɔ Lowhigher æ lower a ɑ ɒ
Nasalization is V̨ or Vⁿ. A long vowel is V꞉ or V·; half-long is V· (raised dot). Positional variants are fronted V˂, backed V˃, raised V˄ and lowered V˅.
Bloch & Trager
Bloch & Trager (1942) proposed the following schema, which was never used. They use a single dot for central vowels and a dieresis to reverse backness. The only central vowels with their own letters are , which already has a dot, and , which would not be distinct if formed with a dot.
+Bloch & Trager (1942) vowel symbols Front Central Back Highi ü ɨ u̇ ï u Lower-high ɪ ᴜ̈ ᵻ ᴜ̇ ɪ̈ ᴜ Higher-mid e ö ė ȯ ë o Mean-mid ᴇ ꭥ̈ ᴇ̇ ꭥ̇ ᴇ̈ ꭥ Lower-mid ɛ ɔ̈ ɛ̇ ɔ̇ ɛ̈ ɔ Higher-low æ ω̈ æ̇ ω̇ æ̈ ω Low a ɒ̈ ȧ ɒ̇ ä ɒ
Kurath