Kana Phonetic Alphabet

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 ト(☓) 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, ム(☓) is always used, never マ(☓), ミ(☓), メ(☓) or モ(☓).

Pulmonic Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Dental		Alveolar		Post-Alv.		Retroflex		Alv.-Pal.		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal		Epiglottal		Glottal
Nasal	ム(☓)゜	ム(☓)	ム(凵☓)゜	ム(凵☓)	ン(凵)゜	ン(凵)	ン゜	ン	ン(幺)゜	ン(幺)	ン(厂)゜	ン(厂)	ン(シ)゜	ン(シ)	ン(ユ)゜	ン(ユ)	ン(ク)゜	ン(ク)	ん゜	ん
	m̥	m	ɱ̊	ɱ	n̪̊	n̪	n̥	n	n̠̊	n̠	ɳ̊	ɳ	n̠̊ʲ	n̠ʲ	ɲ̊	ɲ	ŋ̊	ŋ	ɴ̥	ɴ
Plosive	プ(☓)	ブ(☓)	プ(凵☓)	ブ(凵☓)	ト(凵☓)	ド(凵☓)	ト(☓)	ド(☓)	ト(幺☓)	ド(幺☓)	ト(厂☓)	ド(厂☓)	ト(シ☓)	ド(シ☓)	ト(ヨ☓)	ド(ヨ☓)	ク(☓)	グ(☓)	ク(ん☓)	グ(ん☓)	ク(口☓)	グ(口☓)	ク(皿☓)		ッ(・)
	p	b	p̪	b̪	t̪	d̪	t	d	t̠	d̠	ʈ	ɖ	t̠ʲ	d̠ʲ	c	ɟ	k	ɡ	q	ɢ	q̠	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.					ス(凵☓)	ズ(凵☓)	ス(☓)	ズ(☓)	ス(幺☓)	ズ(幺☓)	ス(厂☓)	ズ(厂☓)	シ(☓)	ジ(手☓)
					s̪	z̪	s	z	ʃ	ʒ	ʂ	ʐ	ɕ	ʑ
Non-Sibilant Fric.	ふ(☓)	ぶ(手☓)	フ(☓)	ヴ	ト(凵手☓)	ド(凵手☓)	ト(手☓)	ド(手☓)	ト(幺手☓)	ド(幺手☓)	ト(厂手☓)	ド(厂手☓)	ト(シ手☓)	ド(シ手☓)	ユ(手☓)゜	ユ(手☓)	フ(ク☓)	ヴ(ク)	フ(ん☓)	ヴ(ん)	フ(口☓)	ヴ(口)	フ(皿☓)	ヴ(皿)	ホ(手☓)1	ホ(自手☓)2
	ɸ	β	f	v	θ	ð	θ̠	ð̠			θ̢	ð̢			ç	ʝ	x	ɣ	χ	ʁ̝	ħ	ʕ̝	ʜ	ʢ̝	h̝	ɦ̝
Lateral Fric.					ル(凵手☓)゜	ル(凵手☓)	ル(手☓)゜	ル(手☓)	ル(幺手☓)゜	ル(幺手☓)	ル(厂手☓)゜	ル(厂手☓)	ル(シ手☓)゜	ル(シ手☓)	ル(ユ手☓)゜	ル(ユ手☓)	ル(ク手☓)゜	ル(ク手☓)	ル(ん手☓)゜	ル(ん手☓)
					ɬ̪	ɮ̪	ɬ	ɮ	ɬ̠	ɮ̠	ɭ̝̊	ɭ̝	ɬ̠ʲ	ɮ̠ʲ	ʎ̝̊	ʎ̝	ʟ̝̊	ʟ̝	ʟ̠̊˔	ʟ̠˔
Approximant	ふ(斤☓)	ぶ(斤☓)	フ(斤☓)	ヴ(斤)	ル(凵中☓)゜	ル(凵中☓)	ル(中☓)゜	ル(中☓)	ル(幺中☓)゜	ル(幺中☓)	ル(厂中☓)゜	ル(厂中☓)	ル(シ中☓)゜	ル(シ中☓)	ユ(☓)゜	ユ(☓)	ヲ(Ⓧ☓)゜	ヲ(Ⓧ☓)	ヲ(ん☓)゜	ヲ(ん☓)	ヲ(口☓)゜	ヲ(口☓)	ヲ(皿☓)゜	ヲ(皿☓)	ホ(☓)	ホ(自☓)
	ɸ̞	β̞	ʋ̥	ʋ	θ̞	ð̞	ɹ̥	ɹ	ɹ̠̊	ɹ̠	ɻ̊	ɻ	ɹ̠̊ʲ	ɹ̠ʲ	j̊	j	ɰ̊	ɰ	χ̞	ʁ̞	ħ̞	ʕ̞	ʜ̞	ʢ̞	h̞	ɦ̞
Lateral Appr.								l
					l̪̊	l̪	l̥	l	l̠̊	l̠	ɭ̊	ɭ	l̠̊ʲ	l̠ʲ	ʎ̥	ʎ	ʟ̥	ʟ	ʟ̠̊	ʟ̠
Flap or Tap
	ⱱ̟̊	ⱱ̟	ⱱ̥	ⱱ	ɾ̪̊	ɾ̪	ɾ̥	ɾ	ɾ̠̊	ɾ̠	ɽ̊	ɽ	ɾ̠̊ʲ	ɾ̠ʲ					q̆	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	r̪	r̥	r	r̠̊	r̠	ɽ̊͡r̥	ɽ͡r	r̠̊ʲ	r̠ʲ					ʀ̥	ʀ

^{1 2}[h ɦ] can be written as ホ(☓) ホ(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	i̠	y̠	ɨ	ʉ	ɯ̟	u̟	ɯ	u
	i	y	i̠	y̠	ɨ	ʉ	ɯ̟	u̟	ɯ	u
Near-close								ʊ
	i̞	y̞	ɪ	ʏ	ɨ̞	ʉ̞	ʊ̜	ʊ	ɯ̞	u̞
Close-mid			e							o
	e	ø	e̠	ø̠	ɘ	ɵ	ɤ̟	o̟	ɤ	o
Mid	e̞	ø̞	e̽	ø̽	ə̜	ə̹	ɤ̽	o̽	ɤ̞	o̞
	e̞	ø̞	e̽	ø̽	ə̜	ə̹	ɤ̽	o̽	ɤ̞	o̞
Open-mid			ɛ							ɔ
	ɛ	œ	ɛ̠	œ̠	ɜ	ɞ	ʌ̟	ɔ̟	ʌ	ɔ
Near-open			æ
	æ	æ̹	a̽	ɶ̽	ɐ	ɐ̹	ɑ̽	ɒ̽	ɑ̝	ɒ̝
Open					a
	a	ɶ	a̠	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
凵			Ha	Dental (or labiodental if applied to a bilabial consonant)
幺				Postalveolar
厂			Iwa	Retroflex
シ			Katakana shi	Alveolo-palatal
ユ			Katakana yu	Palatal
ク			Katakana ku	Velar
ん			Hiragana n	Uvular
口			Kuchi	Pharyngeal
皿			Sara	Epiglottal
・				Glottal
手			Te	Fricative
斤				Approximant
中			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.
自			Ji	Breathy voice