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 (☓) 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.

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	g	q	ɢ	q̠	ɢ̠	ʡ		ʔ
Affricate					ts	dz
	p͡ɸ	b͡β	p̪͡f	b̪͡v	t͡s̪	d͡z̪	t͡s	d͡z	t͡ʃ	d͡ʒ	ʈ
Lateral Affr.					ts	dz
					ts	dz
Sibilant Fric.					s̪	z̪	s	z	ʃ	ʒ	ʂ	ʐ	ɕ	ʑ
					s̪	z̪	s	z	ʃ	ʒ	ʂ	ʐ	ɕ	ʑ
Non-Sibilant Fric.	ɸ	β	f	v	θ	ð	θ̠	ð̠							ç	ʝ	x	ɣ	χ	ʁ̝	ħ	ʕ̝	ʜ	ʢ̝	h	ɦ
	ɸ	β	f	v	θ	ð	θ̠	ð̠							ç	ʝ	x	ɣ	χ	ʁ̝	ħ	ʕ̝	ʜ	ʢ̝	h	ɦ
Lateral Fric.			f	v	θ	ð	s	z	ʃ	ʒ			x	ɣ	h
					ɬ̪	ɮ̪	ɬ	ɮ	ɬ̠	ɮ̠	ɭ̝̊	ɭ̝	ɬ̠ʲ	ɮ̠ʲ	ʎ̝̊	ʎ̝	ʟ̝̊	ʟ̝̠̊	ʟ̝̠
Approximant		w										j
	ɸ̞	β̞	ʋ̥	ʋ	θ̞	ð̞	ɹ̥	ɹ	ɹ̠̊	ɹ̠	ɻ̊	ɻ	ɹ̠̊ʲ	ɹ̠ʲ	j̊	j	ɰ̊	ɰ	ɰ̠̊	ʁ̞	ʕ̞̊	ʕ̞	ʢ̞̊	ʢ̞	h	ɦ
Lateral Appr.								l
								l
Flap or Tap
Lateral Flap or Tap
Trill								r
								r