Americanist phonetic notation


Americanist phonetic notation, also known as the North American Phonetic Alphabet or NAPA, is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American anthropologists and language scientists 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, Uralic, Semitic languages and for the languages of the Caucasus and of India; however, Uralists commonly use a variant known as the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet. Despite its name, the term "Americanist phonetic alphabet" has always been widely used outside the Americas. For example, a version of it is the standard for the transcription of Arabic in articles published in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, the journal of the German Oriental Society.
Certain symbols in NAPA have been used as obsolete and nonstandard symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet in certain transcriptions. Over the years, NAPA has drawn closer to the IPA. However, there remain significant differences. Among these are:
used an early set of phonetic symbols in his publications on American language families, although he chose symbols which had their origins in work by other phoneticians and American writers. The influential anthropologist Franz Boas used a somewhat different set of symbols. 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 and Herzog et al.. 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, Goddard, Langacker, Mithun, and Odden.
It is often useful to compare the Americanist tradition with another widespread tradition, the International Phonetic Alphabet. Unlike the 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 recounts the following concerning the Americanist tradition:

Alphabet

Consonants

There is no central authority. The Western Institute for Endangered Language Documentation recommends the following conventions:
Advanced is and retracted is. Geminate is or. Glottalization is e.g. or .
Palatalization is written. Labialization, velarization, aspiration, voicelessness and prenasalization are as in the IPA. Pharyngeals, epiglottals and glottals are as in the IPA, as are implosives and clicks.
Notes:
Most languages only have one phonemic 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. 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.
AlveolarRetroflex/Uvular
Approximantrṛ
Flapřṛ̌
Tapᴅ
Trillr̃ṛ̃

Other flaps are etc.

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.

  • ¢ = c
  • č̣ = c̣
  • j = ʒ
  • ǰ = ǯ
  • ƚ = ł
  • ɸ = φ
  • G = ġ
  • X = ẋ
  • ʸ may be used for fronted velars
  • Some transcriptions superscript the onset of doubly articulated consonants and the release of fricatives, 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 for the voiceless uvular fricative.
    • The use of the standard IPA belted l for the voiceless lateral fricative is becoming increasingly common.

    Pullum & Ladusaw

    According to Pullum & Ladusaw, current Americanist symbols are closer to the IPA. There is 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, this is compatible with the WIELD recommendations. Only precomposed affricates are shown below; others may be indicated by digraphs.
    Ejectives and implosives follow the same conventions as in the IPA, apart from the ejective apostrophe being placed above the base letter.

    ''Anthropos''

    The journal Anthropos published the alphabet to be used in their articles in 1907. Although European, it is the same basic system that Sapir and Boas introduced to the United States. Transcription is italic, without other delimiters.
    Palatalized consonants are written with an acute – ' etc. Semivowels are ' etc.

    Vowels

    WIELD recommends the following conventions. It doesn't provide characters for distinctions that aren't attested in the literature:
    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, current Americanist usage is more-or-less as follows :

    ''Anthropos''

    Vowels are inconsistent between languages. ' etc. may be used for unrounded central vowels, and the -based letters are poorly defined, with height and rounding confounded.
    There are actually three heights of low front and back vowels.     ' is also seen for a low back vowel.
    Reduced vowels are ' etc. There are also extra-high vowels ' etc.

    Bloch & Trager

    Bloch & Trager 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.

    Kurath

    Kurath is as follows. Enclosed in parentheses are rounded vowels. Apart from and some differences in alignment, it is essentially the IPA.
    FrontHalf-
    front    		CentralHalf-
    back    		Back
    Highi ɨ ɯ
    Lower highɪ ᵻ ɤ
    Higher mide ɘ
    Midə
    Lower midɛ ɜ ʌ
    Higher lowæɐ
    Lowaɑꭤ

    Chomsky & Halle

    Chomsky & Halle proposed the following schema, which was hardly ever used. In addition to the table, there was for an unstressed reduced vowel.

    Diacritics

    s are widely used in Americanist notation. Unlike the IPA, which seeks to use as few diacritics as possible, the Americanist notation uses a narrow set of symbols and then relies on diacritics to indicate a sound's phonetic value.

    Historical charts of 1916

    The following charts were agreed by committee of the American Anthropological Association in 1916.
    The vowel chart is based on the classification of H. Sweet. The high central vowels are differentiated by moving the centralizing dot to the left rather than with a cross stroke. IPA equivalents are given in a few cases that may not be clear.
    Notes:
    Following are symbols that differ among well-known Americanist sources.
    Powel
    1880    		Boas
    1911    		AAA
    1916    		Sapir
    1934    		Sturtevant
    1978    		IPA
    plosives------
    plosiveskꞏkykʸkʸc
    plosivesgꞏgygʸgʸɟ
    plosivesqq, ḳqq
    plosivesg̣g̣ġɢ
    plosivesᵋʼ̨̔, ʔʔʔ
    affricates------
    affricatestθθ̂t͜θ
    affricatesdϑð̂d͜ð
    affricatestscct͜s
    affricatesdzʒʒd͜z
    affricatestctcččt͜ʃ
    affricatesdjdjǯǯd͡ʒ
    affricatesʟtł, tʟƛƛt͜ɬ
    affricatesʟ̣dlλλd͡ɮ
    fricatives------
    fricativesççθθθ
    fricatives¢¢ϑδð
    fricativescccšʃ
    fricativesjjjžʒ
    fricativesqx̣xxx
    fricativesxγγγɣ
    fricativesxx̣x̣χ
    fricativesγ̣γ̣γ̇ʁ
    fricativesḥħ
    nasals------
    nasalsñññŋŋŋ
    nasalsṇ̃ṇ̃ŋ̇ɴ
    nasalsm̥ᴍMm̥
    nasalsn̥ɴNn̥
    nasalsñ̥ɴ̃Ṇŋ̊
    lateralsłł, ʟłɬ
    trillsɹṛʀ

    Powel
    1880    		Boas
    1911    		AAA
    1916    		Sapir
    1934    		Sturtevant
    1978    		IPA
    aspirationCʽCʽCʽ, CʰCʰCʰ
    glottalizationCʼ C!CʼCʼC̓Cʼ, Cˀ
    palatalizationCꞏCy, CyCʸCʸCʲ
    labializationCᵘCw, CwCʷCʷCʷ
    lengthV̄?V̄Vꞏ Vꞏ Vː
    nasalizationVⁿVⁿV̨ṼṼ

    Powel
    1880    		Boas
    1911    		AAA
    1916    		Sapir
    1934    		Sturtevant
    1978    		IPA
    vowels------
    vowelsǐii, īii
    vowelsiɩ, iɪɪ
    vowelsěee, ēee
    vowelseɛ, eɛɛ
    vowelsää, ăææ
    vowelsuuu, ūuu
    vowelsǔυ, uᴜʊ
    vowelsooo, ōoo
    vowelsǒɔ, oŏɔ
    vowelsɔâωɔɒ
    vowelsïɨɨ, ɯ
    vowelsûᴇəəə
    vowelsɑ, ȧʌɐ