Unicode Phonetic Symbols

Unicode supports several phonetic alphabets and notations through the existing writing systems and the addition of several phonetic extension blocks. *IPA Extensions (0250–02AF); Spacing Modifier Letters (02B0–02FF); Phonetic Extensions (1D00–1D7F); Phonetic Extensions Supplement (1D80–1DBF); Modifier Tone Letters (A700–A71F); and Superscripts and Subscripts (2070–209F).

Phonetic alphabets, such as the International Phonetic Alphabet make use of letters from other writing systems: most notably Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. Combining diacritics also adds meaning to the phonetic text. Finally, these phonetic alphabets make use of modifier letters.. A "modifier letter" is strictly intended not as an independent grapheme but as a modification of the preceding character [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Spacing%20Modifier%20Letters] resulting in a distinct grapheme, notably in the context of the International Phonetic Alphabet. For example, ʰ should not occur on its own but modifies the preceding or following symbol. Thus, IPA|tʰ is a single IPA symbol, distinct from IPA|t. In practice, however, several of these "modifier letters" are also used as full graphemes, e.g. ʿ as transliterating Semitic ayin or Hawaiian okina, or ˚ transliterating Abkhaz ә.

Blocks

Unicode ranges encoding phonetic notation.
*IPA Extensions (0250–02AF)
*Spacing Modifier Letters (02B0–02FF)
*Phonetic Extensions (1D00–1D7F)
*Phonetic Extensions Supplement (1D80–1DBF)
*Modifier Tone Letters (A700–A71F)
*Superscripts and Subscripts (2070–209F)