Kana Phonetic Alphabet

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The Kana Phonetic Alphabet (KPA) is a phonetic transcription method using primarily katakana. Hiragana, kanji or kanji radicals, and other symbols are also used.

Structure

In KPA, consonant characters, with the exception of coronal and dorsal nasals, come with a following vowel. For example ト stands for [to̝]. To write a consonant without a following vowel, a batsu (cross) ☓ is written atop the consonant letter to suppress the following vowel. So () stands for [t]. These single consonant are used either for coda consonants, or consonants that are not followed by a vowel because they are in a cluster.
Besides batsu, several other symbols are used above base characters, for making finer distinctions that kana alone can't make. For example 凵 above a consonant marks that it is dental.

Brackets

For phonemic transcription, sumitsukikakko (lenticular brackets) 【】 are used; and for phonetic transcription sumitsukikakko shiro (white lenticular brackets) 〖〗. Kakukakko (square brackets) [] are used for showing that two or more characters make an affricate or a co-articulated consonant. The kakukakko are thus used similarly to the tiebar ◌͡◌ in IPA. Orthography may be inclosed in kagikakko (corner brackets) 「」. But this is only useful for orthographies that use kana.

Phone charts

Consonants

The following charts show how to write single consonants. To write [m] for example, () is always used, never (), (), () or ().

Pulmonic Consonants
Bilabial Labiod. Dental Alveolar Post-Alv. Retroflex Alv.-Pal. Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Epiglottal Glottal
Nasal () () (凵☓) (凵☓) () () ン゜ () () () () () () () () () () ん゜
m ɱ̊ ɱ n̪̊ n n̠̊ ɳ̊ ɳ n̠̊ʲ n̠ʲ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ
Plosive () () (凵☓) (凵☓) (凵☓) (凵☓) () () (幺☓) (幺☓) (厂☓) (厂☓) (シ☓) (シ☓) (ヨ☓) (ヨ☓) () () (ん☓) (ん☓) (口☓) (口☓) (皿☓) ()
p b t d ʈ ɖ t̠ʲ d̠ʲ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ɢ̠ ʡ ʔ
Affricate ts dz
p͡ɸ b͡β p̪͡f b̪͡v t͡s̪ d͡z̪ t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ c͡ç ɟ͡ʝ k͡x ɡ͡ɣ q͡χ ɢ͡ʁ q̠͡ħ ɢ̠͡ʕ ʡ͡ʜ ʡ͡ʢ ʔ͡h
Lateral Affr. ts dz
t̪͡ɬ̪ d̪͡ɮ̪ t͡ɬ d͡ɮ t̠͡ɬ̠ d̠͡ɮ̠ ʈ͡ɭ̝̊ ɖ͡ɭ̝ t͡ɬ̠ʲ d͡ɮ̠ʲ c͡ʎ̝̊ ɟ͡ʎ̝ k͡ʟ̝̊ ɡ͡ʟ̝ q͡ʟ̠̊˔ ɢ͡ʟ̠˔
Sibilant Fric. (凵☓) (凵☓) () () (幺☓) (幺☓) (厂☓) (厂☓) () (手☓)
s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ
Non-Sibilant Fric. () (手☓) () (凵手☓) (凵手☓) (手☓) (手☓) (幺手☓) (幺手☓) (厂手☓) (厂手☓) (シ手☓) (シ手☓) (手☓) (手☓) (ク☓) () (ん☓) () (口☓) () (皿☓) () (手☓)1 (自手☓)2
ɸ β f v θ ð θ̠ ð̠ θ̢ ð̢ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ̝ ħ ʕ̝ ʜ ʢ̝ ɦ̝
Lateral Fric. (凵手☓) (凵手☓) (手☓) (手☓) (幺手☓) (幺手☓) (厂手☓) (厂手☓) (シ手☓) (シ手☓) (ユ手☓) (ユ手☓) (ク手☓) (ク手☓) (ん手☓) (ん手☓)
ɬ̪ ɮ̪ ɬ ɮ ɬ̠ ɮ̠ ɭ̝̊ ɭ̝ ɬ̠ʲ ɮ̠ʲ ʎ̝̊ ʎ̝ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ ʟ̠̊˔ ʟ̠˔
Approximant (斤☓) (斤☓) (斤☓) () (凵中☓) (凵中☓) (中☓) (中☓) (幺中☓) (幺中☓) (厂中☓) (厂中☓) (シ中☓) (シ中☓) () () (Ⓧ☓) (Ⓧ☓) (ん☓) (ん☓) (口☓) (口☓) (皿☓) (皿☓) () (自☓)
ɸ̞ β̞ ʋ̥ ʋ θ̞ ð̞ ɹ̥ ɹ ɹ̠̊ ɹ̠ ɻ̊ ɻ ɹ̠̊ʲ ɹ̠ʲ j ɰ̊ ɰ χ̞ ʁ̞ ħ̞ ʕ̞ ʜ̞ ʢ̞ ɦ̞
Lateral Appr. l
l̪̊ l l̠̊ ɭ̊ ɭ l̠̊ʲ l̠ʲ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ̥ ʟ ʟ̠̊ ʟ̠
Flap or Tap
ⱱ̟̊ ⱱ̟ ⱱ̥ ɾ̪̊ ɾ̪ ɾ̥ ɾ ɾ̠̊ ɾ̠ ɽ̊ ɽ ɾ̠̊ʲ ɾ̠ʲ ɢ̆ ʡ̥̆ ʡ̆
Lateral Flap
ɺ̪̊ ɺ̪ ɺ̥ ɺ ɺ̠̊ ɺ̠ ɺ̢̊ ɺ̢ ɺ̠̊ʲ ɺ̠ʲ ʎ̥̆ ʎ̆ ʟ̥̆ ʟ̆ ʟ̠̥̆ ʟ̠̆
Trill r
ʙ̥ ʙ ʙ̪̊ ʙ̪ r̪̊ r r̠̊ ɽ̊͡r̥ ɽ͡r r̠̊ʲ r̠ʲ ʀ̥ ʀ

1 2[h ɦ] can be written as () (自☓) without the 手 diacritic unless there is need to specify that these sounds have friction.
The characters with ン, ん, or ヴ as their base are special in that they do not require ☓ on top. ン is never followed by a vowel, while ん and ヴ do not specify an inherent vowel; instead a following vowel must be explicitly written after them.

Vowels


Vowels
Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close i y ɨ ʉ ɯ̟ ɯ u
i y ɨ ʉ ɯ̟ ɯ u
Near-close ʊ
ɪ ʏ ɨ̞ ʉ̞ ʊ̜ ʊ ɯ̞
Close-mid e o
e ø ø̠ ɘ ɵ ɤ̟ ɤ o
Mid ø̞ ø̽ ə̜ ə̹ ɤ̽ ɤ̞
ø̞ ø̽ ə̜ ə̹ ɤ̽ ɤ̞
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
ɛ œ ɛ̠ œ̠ ɜ ɞ ʌ̟ ɔ̟ ʌ ɔ
Near-open æ
æ æ̹ ɶ̽ ɐ ɐ̹ ɑ̽ ɒ̽ ɑ̝ ɒ̝
Open a
a ɶ ɶ̠ ä ɶ̈ ɑ̟ ɒ̟ ɑ ɒ

Diacritics


Diacritics
Diacritic Examples Symbol name Meaning Origin
Batsu Consonant is not followed by vowel From various uses of crosses with negative meanings such "prohibited", "does not exist", "wrong", etc.
Articulation
Ha Dental (or labiodental if applied to a bilabial consonant)
Postalveolar
Iwa Retroflex
Katakana shi Alveolo-palatal
Katakana yu Palatal
Katakana ku Velar
Hiragana n Uvular
Kuchi Pharyngeal
Sara Epiglottal
Glottal
Te Fricative
Approximant
Naka Central consonant
Non-labialized consonant or unrounded vowel A batsu negating a maru
Phonation
Handakuten Voiceless From Japanese orthography where it is used on syllabics beginning with /p/.
Dakuten Voiced From Japanese orthography where it is used for deriving voiced syllabics from unvoiced ones.
Ji Breathy voice