Uralic Phonetic Alphabet

Phonetic alphabet for Uralic languages

The Uralic Phonetic Alphabet (UPA) or Finno-Ugric transcription system is a phonetic transcription or notational system used predominantly for the transcription and reconstruction of Uralic languages. It was first published in 1901 by Eemil Nestor Setälä, a Finnish linguist; it was somewhat modified in the 1970s.[1]

UPA differs from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) notation in several ways, notably in exploiting italics or boldface rather than using brackets to delimit text, in the use of small capitals for voicelessness, and in more frequent use of diacritics to differentiate places of articulation.

The basic UPA characters are based on the Finnish alphabet where possible, with extensions taken from Cyrillic and Greek orthographies. Small-capital letters and some novel diacritics are also used.

Unlike the IPA, which is usually transcribed in Roman typeface, the UPA is transcribed in italic and bold typeface. Its extended characters are found in the Phonetic Extensions and Phonetic Extensions Supplement blocks. Computer font support is available through any good phonetics font, though lower-case and small-capital may not be visibly distinct in letters such as o where these look similar.

## Vowels

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A vowel to the left of a dot is illabial (unrounded); to the right is labial (rounded).[1]

| Palatal | Central | Velar

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Close |

i • ü

i̮ • u̮

ị • u

e • ö

e̮ • o̮

ẹ • o

ä • α̈

a̮ • α̮

a • α

Mid
Open

Some sources use a å as the only pair of open vowels. y and ɯ are sometimes used for rounded ü and u̮.

If a distinction between close-mid vowels and open-mid vowels is needed, the IPA letters ⟨ɛ⟩ and ⟨ɔ⟩ can be used. That row is then:

ɛ ɔ̈ -- ɛ̮ ɔ̮ -- ɛ̣ ɔ

æ lies between ä and ɛ; œ between α̈ and ɔ̈; ø between ɔ̈ and ö.[2]

The UPA has dedicated characters for wildcards or to denote a vowel of uncertain quality:

* ʌ (or in some sources ɜ) denotes any vowel;
* ᴕ denotes any back vowel;
* ᴕ̈ denotes any front vowel.

## Consonants

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The following table describes the consonants of the UPA. A 'spirant' in this usage is a non-sibilant fricative. Under 'approximants', v w j ɦ and their voiceless counterparts are 'semivowels', while ɹ ɹ̤ are 'vibrationless rhotics'. Palatalized consonants are indicated with an acute accent. Only a few are shown in the table; the velar letters with an acute are commonly used for palatal consonants.

UPA consonants[1] | Plosive | Spirant | Sibilant | Approx. | Lateral | Trill | Flap | Nasal

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Bilabial | p | ʙ | b | φ | β |  | ᴡ | w |  |  | ᴪ | ψ |  | ᴍ | m
Labiodental | p̦ | ʙ̦ | b̦ | f | v̌ | ᴠ | v |  |  |  |  |  |  | m̦
Dental | ț | ᴅ̦ | d̦ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Alveolar | t | ᴅ | d | ϑ | δ | s | ᴢ | z | ᴚ | ɹ | ʟ | l | ʀ | r | ᴆ | ð | ɴ | n
š | ᴢ̌ | ž | ᴌ | ł
Palatalised alveolar | t́ | ᴅ́ | d́ | ϑ́ | δ́ | ś | ᴢ́ | ź |  |  | ʟ́ | ĺ | ʀ́ | ŕ |  |  | ɴ́ | ń
š́ | ᴢ̌́ | ž́ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Retroflex | ṭ | ᴅ̣ | ḍ | ϑ̣ | δ̣ | ṣ | ᴢ̣ | ẓ |  |  | ʟ̣ | ḷ | ʀ̣ | ṛ |  |  | ɴ̣ | ṇ
ṣ̌ | ᴢ̣̌ | ẓ̌ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Palatal (prevelar) | k͕ | ɢ͕ | g͕ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Palatalised velar | ḱ | ɢ́ | ǵ | χ́ | γ́ |  | j |  |  |  |  |  |  | ᴎ́ | ή
Velar | k | ɢ | g | χ | γ |  |  | ᴫ | л *  |  |  |  |  | ᴎ | η
Postvelar | k͔ | ɢ͔ | g͔ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Uvular | k̤ | ɢ̤ | g̤ |  |  | ᴚ̤ | ɹ̤ |  |  | ʀ̤ | r̤ | ᴆ̤ | ð̤ | ɴ̤ | n̤
Glottal | ʔ |  |  | ȟ | ᴤ |  |  |  | h | ɦ |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Small-cap (voiceless) and lower-case (voiced) л are distinct when italic.

When there are two or more consonants in a column, the rightmost one is voiced; when there are three, the centre one is lenis or partially devoiced and the leftmost one is fortis or fully devoiced.

ʟ̌ l‌̌ (not shown in the table) are lateral fricatives. v̌ and ȟ in the table are also fricatives derived from letters for approximants.

* ᴫ л are defined as dark alveolars, with ᴌ ł being 'half-dark', but other sources define ᴫ л as velar. They are distinct in italic typeface, which is the norm for UPA phonetic notation.

Other sources have ᴃ and ᴆ for fricative ʙ ᴅ, and ᴩ ρ for the uvular trills.

The Uralic languages transcribed with this alphabet do not contain non-pulmonic consonants except paralinguistically, thus only clicks are supported by the UPA. There are two conventions: a leftward arrow, for p˿ b˿ t˿ d˿ ḱ˿ ǵ˿ etc., and Greek letters, for ᴨ π ᴛ τ ᴋ κ etc. Nasal clicks can presumably be written ᴍ˿ m˿ ɴ˿ n˿ ᴎ́˿ ή˿ etc. under the first convention.

## Modifiers

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From extremely short (superscript) to extra-long (circumflex), length of vowels and consonants is indicated as follows:

ᵃ ă a a˴ à a͐ ā â
UPA modifier characters  Example | Description | Use

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ä | diaeresis above | 'Palatal' (front) vowel; interdental consonant (e.g. ẗ interdental t)
ạ | dot below | 'Velar' (back) vowel; 'cacuminal' (retroflex) consonant
a̤ | diaeresis below | Uvular consonant
ā | macron | Long form of a vowel or consonant
aa | doubled character
a͔ | left arrowhead below | Retracted form of a vowel or consonant (e.g. t͔ post-alveolar t)
a͕ | right arrowhead below | Advanced form of a vowel or consonant (e.g. t͕ pre-alveolar t)
a̭ | circumflex below | Raised variant of a vowel
a̬ | caron below | Lowered variant of a vowel
ǎ | caron above | Fricative variant of an approximant; 'wide' variant of a sibilant
ă | breve | Shorter or reduced vowel
a̮ | breve below | Central vowel
a̯ | inverted breve below | Non-syllabic variant of a vowel
á | acute accent | Palatalized variant of a consonant; may be moved to the right of letters with an ascender, as with δˊ.
ᴀ | small capital | Unvoiced or lenis variant of a sound
ᵃ | superscripted character | Very short sound
ₐ | subscripted character | Coarticulation due to surrounding sounds, or intermediate sound
ɐ | rotated character | Reduced form of sound. Letters ambiguous when rotated 180° are rotated 90°, as with ᴞ.

For diphthongs, triphthongs and prosody, the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet uses several forms of the tie or double breve:[3][4]

* The triple inverted breve or triple breve below indicates a triphthong[clarification needed]
* The double inverted breve, also known as the ligature tie, marks a diphthong[clarification needed]
* The double inverted breve below indicates a syllable boundary between vowels[clarification needed]
* The undertie is used for prosody[clarification needed]
* The inverted undertie is used for prosody.[clarification needed]

## Differences from IPA

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A major difference is that IPA notation distinguishes between phonetic and phonemic transcription by enclosing the transcription between either brackets [aɪ pʰiː eɪ] or slashes /ai pi e/. UPA instead used italic typeface for the former and bold typeface for the latter.[5]

For phonetic transcription, numerous small differences from IPA come into relevance:

* UPA e, o denote mid vowels with no particular bias towards open or close, as are found in most Uralic languages. IPA [e], [o] denote close-mid vowels in particular, common in Romance and West Germanic languages.
* Being designed for languages largely featuring vowel harmony, UPA has no simple way to denote a basic schwa sound, IPA [ə]. The letter ə denotes a reduced form of e, corresponding to IPA [e̽]. The two alphabets match with a reduced a sound, which is ɐ in both UPA and IPA.
* For the voiced dental fricative, UPA uses a Greek delta δ, while IPA uses the letter eth [ð]. In UPA, eth ð stands for an alveolar tap, IPA [ɾ].
* UPA uses Greek chi χ for the voiceless velar fricative. In IPA, [χ] stands for a voiceless uvular fricative, while the velar counterpart is [x] (not used in UPA except as a wildcard for any consonant).
* UPA uses small caps for voiceless sounds (ᴀ ʙ ᴅ ɢ ᴇ etc.), while IPA uses a ring diacritic.

Examples:

Sound | UPA | IPA

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Close-mid back rounded vowel | o̭ | [o]
Mid back rounded vowel | o | [o̞] or [ɔ̝]
Open-mid back rounded vowel | o̬ or α̭ | [ɔ]
Alveolar tap | ð | [ɾ]
Voiced dental fricative | δ | [ð]
Voiceless alveolar lateral approximant | ʟ | [l̥]
Velar lateral approximant | л | [ʟ]
Voiceless alveolar nasal | ɴ | [n̥]
Uvular nasal | n̤ | [ɴ]
Voiceless alveolar trill | ʀ | [r̥]
Uvular trill | r̤ | [ʀ]
Reduced vowel | ə | [e̽]

## Encoding

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The IETF language tags register `fonupa` as a subtag for text in this notation.[6]

## Font support

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Few system fonts support the small capitals. Support is available through any good phonetics font, such as (among free fonts) Gentium, Andika, Noto, DejaVu and EB Garamond, though lower-case and small-capital ᴄ, л, o, v, w and z may not be distinct in italic typeface and are rarely distinct in bold. DejaVu and EB Garamond do not support stacked the diacritics in š́, ᴢ̌́, ž́. EB Garamond includes the Unicode small capitals in its roman typeface but not in italic or bold, so automated formatting is applied. Following are pairs of small capital and lower case in these fonts; the fonts must be installed on your computer or phone to display here.

Comparison of free fonts  Browser
default font | italic | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́

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bold  | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
Gentium
Plus | italic | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
bold  | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
Andika | italic | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
bold  | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
Noto
Serif | italic | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
bold  | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
Noto
Sans | italic | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
bold  | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
DejaVu
Serif | italic | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
bold  | ᴄ c | ᴫ л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́

Garamond | italic | ᴄ c | \- л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́
bold  | ᴄ c | \- л | ᴏ o | ᴜ u | ᴠ v | ᴡ w | ᴢ z | š́ ž́

## Sample

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This section contains some sample words from both Uralic languages and English (using Australian English) along with comparisons to the IPA transcription.

Sample UPA words  Language | UPA | IPA | Meaning

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English | šᴉp | [ʃɪp] | 'ship'
English | rän | [ɹæn] | 'ran'
English | ʙo̭o̭d | [b̥oːd] | 'bored'
Moksha | və̂ďän | [vɤ̈dʲæn] | 'I sow'
Udmurt | miśkᴉ̑nᴉ̑ | [miɕkɪ̈nɪ̈] | 'to wash'
Forest Nenets | ŋàrŋū̬"ᴲ | [ŋɑˑrŋu̞ːʔə̥] | 'nostril'
Hill Mari | pᴞ·ń₍ᴅ́ᴢ̌́ö̭ | [ˈpʏnʲd̥͡ʑ̥ø] | 'pine'
Skolt Sami | pŭə̆ī̮ᵈt̄ėi | [pŭə̆ɨːd̆tːəi] | 'ermine'

## See also

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* Americanist phonetic notation

## Literature

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* Setälä, E. N. (1901). "Über transskription der finnisch-ugrischen sprachen". Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen (in German) (1). Helsingfors, Leipzig: 15–52.
* Sovijärvi, Antti; Peltola, Reino (1970). "Suomalais-ugrilainen tarkekirjoitus" (PDF). Helsingin Yliopiston Fonetiikan Laitoksen Julkaisuja (in Finnish) (9). University of Helsinki. hdl:10224/4089.
* Posti, Lauri; Itkonen, Terho (1973). "FU-transkription yksinkertaistaminen. Az FU-átírás egyszerűsítése. Zur Vereinfachung der FU-Transkription. On Simplifying of the FU-transcription". Castrenianumin Toimitteita (7). University of Helsinki. ISBN 951-45-0282-5. ISSN 0355-0141.
* Ruppel, Klaas; Aalto, Tero; Everson, Michael (2009-01-27). "L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet" (PDF). Unicode.

## References

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1. ^ a b c Sovijärvi & Peltola (1970). A few obvious expansions have been made, such as voiceless ʟ̣ to pair with voiced ḷ.
2. ^ Sovijärvi & Peltola (1970: 5 fn)
3. ^ "Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. 2002-03-20. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
4. ^ Ruppel, Klaas; Aalto, Tero; Everson, Michael (2009-01-27). "Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
5. ^ Setälä, E. N. (1901). Über transskription der finnisch-ugrischen sprachen (in German). Helsingfors, Leipzig. p. 47.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
6. ^ "Language Subtag Registry". IETF. 2024-05-16. Retrieved 22 May 2024.