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Editorial policy

The Journal of the International Phonetic Association (JIPA) is a forum for original research in the fields of phonetic theory and description and their phonological, typological and broader implications. JIPA encourages submissions in both well-known and un(der)documented linguistic varieties, including minority and endangered languages. JIPA also publishes Review Papers on current topics in phonetic theory, analysis and instrumentation, and invites proposals for special issues on topics related to its subject matter.

As well as publishing research on phonetics, laboratory phonology and related topics, the journal welcomes submissions on practical applications of phonetics to areas such as phonetics teaching, speech therapy, and computer speech processing, provided the focus of such submissions is primarily linguistic in nature.

Illustrations of the IPA

While seeking to advance new views of phonetics, JIPA also recognizes its special responsibilities with regard to the International Phonetic Association’s alphabet, the IPA. To this purpose, JIPA publishes discussions of IPA symbols and charts, and accounts of the phonetic structures of a wide variety of languages, illustrating the use of these symbols; these are known as ‘Illustrations of the IPA’ (for instructions on the preparation of Illustrations, please see section 4 below). The Illustrations initially became part of the Handbook of the IPA, and are now available through Cambridge Core. In this way JIPA, the Handbook and the JIPA site on Cambridge Core are useful sources to which people may turn to find accounts of the sounds and phonetic structure of the world’s languages. Audio files accompanying the Illustrations are also available to IPA members and JIPA subscribers, though the IPA site and Cambridge Core JIPA.

Preparation of manuscripts

Word length: There is no set limit to the length of contributions to JIPA. However, please use the space economically. Notably, where they would fit comfortably, present wordlists in the text and appendices in two columns rather than one.

Language: The language of JIPA is English. Contributions may use either British or American standard spelling and punctuation, provided this is done consistently.
Authors are encouraged to submit the manuscript abstract in a second language (in addition to the English version), if relevant.

Authors are advised that submissions should be written to a high standard of academic English, and authors may wish to have their writing checked for clarity and stylistic appropriateness by an experienced colleague before submission. This may help to ensure that the academic content of the paper is fully understood by the Editor, the Associate Editor dealing with the manuscript, and the reviewers. 
Please see below for more information about English language editing services offered by Cambridge University Press.

1. Manuscript requirements

1.1 Research Articles

The title and an abstract of up to 250 words summarising the content should be included, and any tables and figures should be in their intended position within the text; 1.5 spacing is strongly encouraged. The overall format must be reader-friendly for the editors and referees.

1.2 Illustrations of the IPA

Manuscripts of Illustrations have similar requirements to Research Articles, except that these submissions have special sections and no abstracts. For additional details on how to prepare Illustrations see section 4 below.

1.3 IPA symbols and transcriptions

Phonetic transcriptions should make use of the symbols and conventions of the Association’s alphabet in its latest revision (available at https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/ipa-chart). 

• In IPA transcriptions, throughout the entire manuscript and all other files, please use a Unicode-compliant IPA serif (i.e. Times-like) font set which includes a full range of IPA symbols (e.g. Doulos SIL – downloadable from here – Charis, and LaserIPA Unicode). Fonts that are not Unicode-compliant (e.g. IPAKiel) should not be used.
• Use the special IPA font type even for ordinary letter-like IPA symbols in strings where at least one symbol is drawn from the special IPA font set, e.g. [kæt]. This applies to all the symbols, including accent marks and slants and square brackets if they enclose a transcription string.
• Please note that JIPA requires the phonetic symbol for the voiced velar plosive to be ɡ (i.e. Opentail G = IPA110, Unicode: U+0261), NOT g (i.e. Looptail G = IPA210, Unicode: U+0067), and the length mark to be ː (i.e. IPA503, Unicode: U+006), not the ‘colon’ punctuation mark. This applies everywhere in the text, tables and figures.

2. Manuscript style after acceptance

After a manuscript has been accepted for publication, authors must be prepared to submit it in accordance with the Instructions presented in this section. 

Most standard word-processing formats (for either PC or Mac) are supported, but please bear in mind that MS Word for PC is the most convenient once an article has been accepted for publication. Final submissions must also be sent in PDF format to ensure that all symbols are properly encoded. 

JIPA does not at present accept manuscripts in LaTeX.

2.1 Pagination and organization of the manuscript

Please insert page numbers in the top right corner of every page. Number continuously throughout the title page, article’s main text, acknowledgements, appendix, references, and footnotes (presented in the manuscript as endnotes). 

• The various components of the manuscript are to follow in the order just given.
• There should be no automatic numbering of sections, examples, tables and figures, and no automatic cross-referencing to such objects; please use automatic numbering only for endnotes.
• Please do not use running headers or include any additional information such as a date or word count.

The title page of an article should include the paper’s title, author’s name, affiliation and email address, and the abstract, all in this order, left-aligned, in Times New Roman 12-pt font. The title pages of Illustrations are slightly different; for details see section 4 below. 

2.2 Typographic conventions

Please use font type Times New Roman and font size 12 pt throughout the manuscript, including article’s title, section headings, tables and table and figure captions. For IPA symbols see Section 1.3. On the use of other typefaces and other special symbols, please refer to Section 2.17.

2.3 Spacing, margins and other settings

Please use 1.5 spacing throughout, with standard margins of at least 2.5 cm/1" on all four sides of all pages. 

• If the paper includes displayed/numbered examples with word-for-word glosses, please set default tab stop at 0.3 cm at the top of the file and use it throughout to fix the alignment (in Word, the path to this setting is Paragraph > Tabs… > Default tab stops > 0.3 cm). 
• Please do not use the space bar or the ruler to calibrate word-for-word alignment in examples or to calibrate any other vertical alignment or indents.

2.4 Section and subsection headings, and paragraphs

Section and subsection headings should not be auto-formatted. They should be numbered and typed on separate lines, in ‘Sentence capitalisation’ bold (for section and subsection headings) and in ‘Sentence capitalisation’–no bold (for sub-subsection headings), all in 12 pt font size, Times New Roman font. There is no full-stop after section and subsection numbers.

Except for the first paragraph of a new section or subsection, the first line of every new paragraph should be indented. Please do NOT mark paragraph breaks by extra line spacing.

2.5 Stylistics and spelling

Contributors should be sensitive to the social implications of language choice and seek wording free of discriminatory overtones in matters such as race and gender. Either British English or US English spelling conventions should be followed consistently. However, in publication titles and other direct quotations, the spelling should be exactly as in the original.

2.6 Abbreviations and spelling

Writing should be non-elliptical. Abbreviations of rule and principle names, languages, authors’ names, etc. are to be kept to a minimum and clearly introduced at first occurrence if an abbreviation is indeed needed, in line with general convention.

• Use f0 for ‘fundamental frequency’; F1, F2, F3 for ‘formant’.
• Linguistic glossing abbreviations should follow the Leipzig Glossing Rules (http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/resources/glossing-rules.php). The key to abbreviations should normally be presented in an appendix, where the reliance on the Leipzig Glossing Rules should also be acknowledged (if relevant); see section 8.10.
• The list of abbreviations should be alphabetised, with digits at the start; font type should be consistent with the font type in which the abbreviation is used in the text/example glosses (usually full capitals and small capitals), e.g.:
  1, 2, 3 = first, second, third person; ACC = accusative; NT = nasal–stop (sequence)
• If just a few example glosses are used in only one or two places, they can be explained at the point of occurrence. If they are used only in the ‘Transcription’ section of an Illustration, they can be listed at the start or the end of that section.
• Abbreviations in tables should be avoided. Abbreviations in tables (if present) and figures should be glossed at each table and figure even if they are properly spelled out in the text.

2.7 Quotations

Quotations of under 25 words should be included in SINGLE quotation marks in the running text. Any punctuation follows the closing quotation mark. Longer quotations should be set out as a separate paragraph (or paragraphs), indented at the left margin throughout, without quotation marks and with no extra indent at the first line. A full source (author–year–page or chapter/section number) must be given for all the quotations

2.8 Short references in text/footnotes/captions

As is shown below, variants of the author–year–page format are used for citations depending on the context. With more than one work in a list, works are ordered chronologically, not alphabetically, unless two or more works by different authors have the same year of publication.

for arguments against see Smith & Jones (1993: 481–483), Chomsky (1995: 154, 286–287; 1997), Vikner (1995: Chapter 5), Rizzi (1997), Iwakura (1999: Section 3.2)

and elsewhere (see Seuren 1985: 295–313; Browning 1996: 238 fn. 2)

distinguish certain words from others ‘without having any meaning of its own’ (Hockett 1958: 575).

structural ambiguity (Lehiste 1973, Lehiste, Olive & Streeter 1976, Beach 1991, Price et al. 1991, Speer, Crowder & Thomas 1993, Nagel et al. 1996) and pronominal reference (Akmajian & Jackendoff 1970; Hirschberg & Avesani 1997, 2000; McMahon, Pierrehumbert & Lidz 2004)

as argued in Harris (published online 5 December 2012).

in Faroese, as pointed out in Holmberg (1986: 19, 1991: 219, 2001: 44).

Other features:

• when citing works by three co-authors, list all three surnames at first occurrence, e.g. Lehiste, Olive & Streeter (1976), and use ‘et al.’ in subsequent citations, e.g. Lehiste et al. (1976);
• when citing works by more than three authors, always use ‘et al.’ after the first author’s surname, e.g. Kortmann et al. (2004), not Kortmann, Schneider, Burridge, Mesthrie & Upton (2004).

2.9 Acknowledgements

An unnumbered section labelled ‘Acknowledgements’ (in bold) immediately follows the main text of the paper.

2.10 Appendix and supplementary materials online

Material not included in the main body of the paper may be included in an appendix. The unnumbered section should be labelled ‘Appendix’ (in bold) and an appendix should have a brief title, set in the form of a sub-subsection heading (i.e. normal text, no bold).

• Appendices and Supplementary Materials should be mentioned in the main body of the text at least once, to alert the reader to their existence.
• Appendix examples, tables and figures are numbered separately from the main-text sequences, e.g. examples (A1), (A2), etc.; Table/Figure A1, A2, etc. If two or more appendices are present, they should be labelled Appendix A, Appendix B, etc., each with its own brief title and example/table/figure numbering sequence.
• Supplementary materials may include video or audio files, scripts, and datasets. Such submissions that allow for greater scrutiny of published research are strongly encouraged. On requirements about sound files in particular, please see also section 10.

2.11 Footnotes

A list headed ‘Footnotes’ should start on a fresh page, immediately after References. 

• All material which is to appear as footnotes should be gathered as endnotes; they should be double-spaced and automatically numbered consecutively, starting at number 1. 
• As far as possible, the number and length of footnotes should be kept to a minimum. 
• Footnote markers in the text follow any punctuation, including the closing quotation mark. 
• Any displayed examples in footnotes are numbered with small Roman numerals in parentheses, i.e. (i), (ii), (iii), etc., starting at (i) in each new footnote.

2.12 Displayed examples

Examples which are displayed, i.e. set separately from the running text, may be numbered with Arabic numerals enclosed in parentheses, e.g. (1), starting at the left margin (i.e. no indent). 

• If several examples are cited together as a group, use a numeral enclosed in parentheses for the whole group and a lower-case letter of the alphabet followed by a full stop for each sub-example. 
• The sub-example letters and the first words of all examples should be vertically aligned by the use of small tabs (see Section 8.3 above on how to set small tabs). Please do not use automatic example numbering and automatic example cross-referencing function.
• In running text, examples should be referred to as (4a), (5b, c), (49a–c, e), (6b–e), (7)–(9) (not as (4)a, (5b–c), (6)b– e, (7–9)). Please note the use of a ‘long hyphen’ (en-dash) between numbers and letters, marking a span.
• Example-number mentions in the text should be stylistically integrated with the rest of the text; thus
  while postvocalic consonants can be transposed, as in (6a, b), prevocalic consonants cannot be altered, as seen in (6d).
  is preferred to
  while postvocalic consonants can be transposed (6a, b), prevocalic consonants cannot be altered, (6d).
  
• Displayed examples should be presented soon after they are first mentioned in the text rather than at the end of a paragraph. After an example has been introduced and displayed, detailed description and discussion then follows in the same paragraph. This is generally regarded reader-friendly and aids clarity of exposition.
• Please do not routinely indent the first text line immediately after a displayed example because a new paragraph may not be appropriate at each such point from the point of view of the logical organisation of the text.

2.13 Examples from languages other than Modern English

Sentences, phrases and words from languages other than Modern English which are set out as displayed examples are normally followed by a line of word-for-word (or morpheme-for-morpheme) gloss and a line of literary/idiomatic English translation (see Leipzig Glossing Rules at http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/resources/glossing-rules.php). 

The gloss is obligatory and translation may be omitted if the meaning is clear from the gloss. Glosses are fully aligned with the appropriate words or morphemes of the original, using small tabs (again, see Section 9.3 above on how to set small tabs). Proper names are glossed as in the original, and remain not translated in the example’s translation line; see examples below.

a. /à-lá-ìβ-à/                 → [àlêːβà]         (Bemba)
    3SG-HAB-steal-FV      ‘s/he steals’

b. /à-làː-ìs-à/                 → [àlàːìsà] *[àlèːsà]
    3SG-FUT-steal-FV        ‘s/he will come’

kanị       ọ                     wa-efe,              onye       ije                 e                     we    ẹkwa   (Ika Igbo)
kánɪ́     ɔ́                     wé/fé                  óɲé        íʤè                       é                  wè    ɛ́kwà
CONJ    3SG      PROG -blow      person travel   PROG    take         cloth
‘but the more he blew, the more the traveller used the cloth’

• If a paper includes examples from a variety of languages, the name of the language should be indicated at the end of each example, in parentheses. Grammatical category annotations are in small capitals, and the gloss starts with a lower-case letter (unless the first glossed word is a proper name).
• Forms in a language not written with the Latin alphabet must be transliterated or transcribed, in line with general conventions.
• Language forms cited in running text should be in italics. Non-italicised, phonetic representations should be included in square brackets [...] and phonemic representation between slant lines /.../; please always ensure that the brackets and the slants are used correctly as this is important for clarity. English glosses should be added directly after a cited non- English form between single quotes, e.g. adquirir [ad-kiˈɾiɾ] ‘acquire’.
• Reconstructed and non-occurring (ungrammatical) forms should be preceded by an asterisk *. 
• The grammatical category gloss, if present, is given in small capitals in parentheses and within the quotes, e.g. moja matka ‘my mother (NOM, 3SG, FEM)’. 
• The English gloss may sometimes be omitted after the first mention to avoid excessive repetition and redundancy, but please bear in mind that many of the readers are likely to be quite unfamiliar with the language being cited and so will most likely be grateful for some repetition and redundancy.

2.14 References

Correct and complete referencing is an author responsibility. A list headed ‘References’ (in bold) follows the main text, acknowledgements and appendix (if there is one), and precedes endnotes. Examples of major types of publications are provided below; for additional information, please consult a recent issue of the journal.

Abramson, Arthur S. 1999. Fundamental frequency as a cue to word-initial consonant length: Pattani Malay. In John J. Ohala, Yoko Hasegawa, Manjari Ohala, Daniel Granville & Ashlee C. Bailey (eds.), 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XIV), Berkeley, University of California, vol. 1, 591–594.

Bauer, Laurie & Paul Warren. 2004. New Zealand English phonology. In Bernd Kortmann, Edgar W. Schneider, Kate Burridge, Rajend Mesthrie & Clive Upton (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English: A multimedia reference tool, vol. 1, 580–602. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Boersma, Paul & David Weenink. 2006. Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (version 4.4.34). http://www.praat.org/ (accessed 24 May 2007).

Carlson, Barry F. & John H. Esling. 2003. Phonetics and physiology of the historical shift of uvulars to pharyngeals in Nuuchahnulth (Nootka). Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33(2), 183–193.

Docherty, Gerard J. & D. Robert Ladd (eds.). 1992. Papers in Laboratory Phonology II: Gesture, segment, prosody. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Harris, John. Wide-domain r-effects in English. Journal of Linguistics, doi:10.1017/S0022226712000369. Published online by Cambridge University Press, 5 December 2012.

IPA. 1999. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Liu Huiqiang. 2007. Ersuyu gaikuang [An outline of the Ersu language]. In Li Shaoming & Liu Junbo (eds.), Ersu Zangzu Yanjiu [Studies on the Ersu Tibetans], 462–500. Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe. [First published in 1983 in Sichuan sheng Minzu Yanjiusuo (eds.), Minzu yanjiu lunwenji [Collected papers on minority languages], vol. 1.]

O’Connor, J. D. & Gordon F. Arnold. 1973. Intonation of colloquial English, 2nd edn. London: Longman. Smiljanić, Rajka. 2002. Lexical, pragmatic and positional effects on prosody in two dialects of Croatian and

Serbian: An acoustic study. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Referencing unpublished work. Work which is under review, in revision or otherwise unpublished must be cited by the current date (year), as an unpublished manuscript rather than as ‘under’ review’, ‘in revision’, or ‘in preparation’. Work which is accepted for publication should be cited as ‘in press’, ‘to appear’ or ‘forthcoming’ and all available details of the publication should be included in the entry.

2.15 Tables and figures

For refereeing purposes, such objects are included in their intended position. When an accepted paper is submitted for publication, tables and figures must be submitted separately, as described below.

Tables

• Tables are single-spaced. 
• Only horizontal lines are normally used in tables. Both horizontal and vertical lines are acceptable in intricate tables
• Tables are numbered and have a caption at the top in 12 pt font size.

In the final submission, all tables are set in a SINGLE, separate file, single-spaced, with the caption just above each table. The file is named something like ‘Smith_Tables1-5’ (Word or equivalent and corresponding PDF file). In the main-text file, close to where a given table is intended to appear in the PDF version of the paper, there should be a line of text <Insert Table N about here>. This table placement marker should be left-aligned (i.e. not centred) and positioned between complete paragraphs (i.e. not within a paragraph). Each table should be explicitly mentioned in the text (e.g. ‘as seen in Table 1’) at least once, close to its intended location.

By convention, any explanation of the notation and abbreviations used in a table, and any footnotes pertaining to the contents of the table are presented immediately below the table, in smaller font size (10 pt). Table’s footnotes are usually marked with superscripted a, b, c, etc., tagged manually rather than electronically, always starting at ‘a’ in each table.

Figures

• Each figure is set in a separate file, named something like ‘Smith_Figure1’. 
• Figures should be in Word or equivalent format and corresponding PDF file; TIF, EPS and JPG file formats are also acceptable, in addition to PDF.
• Near to where a given figure is intended to appear in the PDF version of the paper, please position a left- aligned line of text between two paragraphs <Insert Figure 1 about here>. 
• Figure files should not include page numbers, figure numbers or captions. The identity of the figure should be clear from the file’s name (e.g. ‘Smith_Figure1’). 
• Figure captions will be listed in a SINGLE SEPARATE file, named ‘Smith_Captions’. 
• If a figure consists of a number of panels, all panels should be fitted on a single page and submitted in a single file. The panels may have to be labelled (a), (b), (c), etc. For further advice on figure files, please refer to the artwork guide.

Please ensure that figure axes are clearly labelled, and that a legend is included when appropriate. Avoid use of red and green in the same figure; when generating figures in programs like R, we recommend choosing a colour palette that is colourblind-friendly; see e.g. http://www.cookbook-r.com/Graphs/Colors_(ggplot2)/.

In Illustrations, maps appear as Figure 1; Consonant Tables and Vowel Diagrams are not labelled and not numbered as tables or figures, respectively; these objects are unlabelled and not numbered.

Alpha-numeric data and results
These should be presented in a consistent format throughout the paper. In particular, authors should be consistent in the use of italics for the expressions p, r, t, F1, F2, etc.; in the use of spaces immediately before and after the signs =, > and <, and elsewhere; and in the use of punctuation (commas, colons, semi-colons, and parentheses) marking sets and subsets of alpha-numeric information. 

• Where necessary, use parentheses within parentheses (rather than brackets within parentheses). 
• Avoid zero in front of the decimal if the number cannot be greater than 1.00, e.g. probability and correlation, p-values and r-values should not include pre- decimal zeros (e.g. p < .001, NOT p < 0.001). 
• In numbers with decimals, please use the decimal point rather than decimal comma (e.g. 90.6 ms, NOT 90,6 ms). 

Please consult the relevant feature in published JIPA papers if in doubt.

2.16 More typographic conventions

Table-specific and figure-specific footnotes and other annotations are set in font size 10 pt.

2.17 Special typefaces

SMALL CAPITALS
- important technical terms when first introduced
- emphasis in the main body of the text and footnotes (not italic or bold)
- the names of grammatical categories in the glosses of displayed examples and in-text examples
- column headings in displayed examples.

Italics
- language objects in running text
- titles of books, journals, conference proceedings and Ph.D. dissertations
- headings in numbered examples
- foreign words and expressions.

Bold
- section and subsection headings
- emphasis in numbered examples (the example only, not the corresponding gloss)
- the first part of table and figure captions.

‘Single quotation marks’
- meanings of words, phrases and sentences
- quotations in running text, direct speech 
- terms used in a semi-technical sense or terms whose validity is questioned. 

“Double quotation marks” 
For quotations within quotations only.

2.18 Special typographic symbols

Ampersand (&) is used instead of the word ‘and’ before the second/last surname of a co-author or co-editor in references as well as in the main text.

A ‘long hyphen’/en-dash (–) is used:

• to mark a ‘dash’ – it is then preceded and followed by a space
• in number spans, such as in page numbers, example numbers, etc. (e.g. 123–154, (5)–(7), (5a–c))
• to mark a relation or a sequence, e.g. ‘phonetics–phonology interface’, ‘consonant–vowel sequence’
• to mark the ‘minus’ sign, unless the special ‘minus’ sign from a Math font set is used; do not use the hyphen to mark negative numbers – in text, tables and especially figures.

3. Book Reviews

JIPA no longer accepts Book Reviews.

4. Illustrations of the IPA

Illustrations of the IPA are accounts of the phonetic structure of different languages accompanied by recordings. Both the descriptions and the recordings are extensively used by researchers, instructors and students seeking information on a wide range of languages. The IPA would like to make them as accurate and useful as possible. The following guidelines aim to help with this goal.

Please note that Illustrations of the IPA should include all the relevant features of the style and file format as described in the previous sections with the exceptions noted here. Please consult this webpage and recent Illustrations published in JIPA to pick up the essentials of the form and content of this unique type of contribution.

Manuscripts should be organised as discussed below.

4.1 Section headings

There are usually just two levels of section in Illustrations: sections and subsections (i.e. no sub- subsections). The headings are not numbered and are distinguished typographically only: section headings are set in bold, while subsection headings are not bolded.

4.2 Organisation of the manuscript

There is no set form for contributions to the series ‘Illustrations of the IPA’. Every language has its own peculiarities, and it is impossible to do more than suggest guidelines so that some uniformity is maintained. Although submissions to this section of JIPA can be relatively brief, fully-fledged articles on the sound system of the language described, providing additional detail (including supporting evidence from acoustics, articulation or perception), are strongly encouraged

Sections. Illustrations have usually five sections: 

1. Introduction (with no section heading) 
2. Consonants
3. Vowels
4. Prosody (or similar)
5. Illustrative passage in transcription. 

Further sections may be added, as appropriate, particularly if acoustic, articulatory or perceptual analysis of data is undertaken. 

Lexical tones are usually described in section (4) Prosody. However, contributors could consider describing the register/tone system between sections (1) Introduction and (2) Consonants if the tone contrasts interact with consonant and vowel contrasts; for example, if certain consonants only occur with specific tones, or if the tone contrasts are part of a broader register system that also affects other phonetic structures. In that case, we ask contributors to explain briefly why the tones are being described before the consonants.

Introduction. The introduction should, at a minimum, contain the following information: 

• the language’s name, including additional names by which the language may be known (e.g. exonyms and endonyms, where appropriate), its ISO-639 or its Glottocode and language family; 
• information on where the language is spoken accompanied by a (creative commons license) map (labelled as Figure 1) of the area where the language is primarily concentrated; 
• demographic details about the recorded speaker(s).

Main sections. The following two sections include, respectively, a consonant table and a vowel diagram for the language under analysis followed by lists of relevant examples (see also below). The final section includes appropriate passages in the orthographic and phonemic forms; a narrow phonetic transcription can also be added but is not necessary.

Consonant chart. The consonant chart, which goes unlabelled and unnumbered, should be at the head of the consonant section and should give a set of IPA symbols for the consonantal phonological contrasts, arranged as on the official IPA chart but using only such columns and rows as are needed. 

The headings for columns should be chosen from the following in the order shown (and with this use of capitals). However, it is recognized that this particular arrangement of places of articulation may not be the most suitable for a given language, and authors may wish to modify this system in order to more economically and accurately represent the places of articulation in the given language. For instance, authors may prefer to use a column labelled "alveolo-palatal", or to have a single column labelled "dental/alveolar" or a single column labelled "postalveolar/palatal". Any such modifications should be briefly explained and justified. If secondary articulations are listed in the table, they should follow the column with no secondary articulation, as exemplified by ‘(Labialized velar)’ in this list.

• Bilabial 
• Labiodental 
• Dental 
• Alveolar 
• Postalveolar 
• Retroflex 
• Palatal 
• Velar
• (Labialized velar) 
• Uvular 
• Pharyngeal 
• Glottal

The rows, in an order suggested by their order in the IPA chart, should be chosen from the following. Note that ‘Stop’, a generic term, is not used, and the row titles are given in the singular.

• Plosive
• Affricate
• Ejective
• Ejective affricate
• Ejective lateral
• Implosive
• Click
• Nasal
• Trill
• Tap or Flap
• Fricative
• Lateral fricative
• Approximant
• Lateral approximant

Table of words. The consonant chart should be followed by an unlabelled and unnumbered table of words illustrating the consonants. These words should form as minimal a set as possible; at the very least, each consonant should be followed by the same vowel. Each word should be given in IPA transcription and the local orthography (if any), and should be followed by an English gloss. 

The table should be followed by a more precise account of the consonants, using diacritics where necessary, and noting significant allophones. Additional acoustic, articulatory or perceptual evidence documenting and illustrating this description is strongly encouraged. 

Authors are also welcome to follow a less traditional phonological format if they wish, but they should provide a traditional segmental description in addition to their own formal description.

Vowels chart. Vowel symbols should be placed on a conventional IPA vowel chart, 3 units across the top, 4 down the side, and 2 across the bottom. This chart shouldn't be labelled or numbered. 

Vowels should be illustrated by near minimal sets of contrasts in the same way as consonants. The vowel chart should be followed by a discussion of the precise phonetic qualities of the vowels, and their principal allophones. 

Authors are strongly encouraged to include formant charts showing the mean values of the frequencies of the first and second formants of a number of speakers (or of one speaker if more speakers were not recorded). If a formant chart is provided it should have the origin at the top right, , with F2 on the x-axis and F1 on the y-axis. Both formants’ frequencies should appear in Hertz (Hz).

Prosody. Prosodic characteristics should be presented in the way that is most appropriate for the language. If there are lexical tones, they should be illustrated by minimal sets arranged in an unlabelled and unnumbered  table, in the same way as the tables illustrating vowels and consonants. 

By preference, IPA symbols for tone should be used; if a different set of conventions is widely adopted in the literature on the language being described, the phonetic value of the symbols used should be explained in the text or in a table showing equivalences with IPA symbols. Contrasting stress or pitch accents should be similarly illustrated. Prosodic features at the phrasal level should also be discussed if at all possible. Figures showing contours should be labelled appropriately (e.g. if the contour is presented in Hz, the label should be “(Hz)” not “pitch”). Contours should be drawn using the “speckle” method in Praat (or similar), rather than a method which interpolates between measurements (as doing so exaggerates extraction errors and microprosodic effects).

Transcription. A transcription of a short text should be included, preferably a translation of the fable of the North Wind and the Sun as reproduced below (or the South Wind and the Sun for languages spoken in the Southern Hemisphere). This passage is clearly inappropriate for some cultures, and may be replaced in whole or in part to make it more suitable for the particular linguistic community. There is, however, some value in having the same piece for as many languages as possible, and changes should not be made unnecessarily. 

The transcription should use only the symbols listed in the preceding sections. It should be followed by an orthographic version. As noted above, a narrow phonetic transcription can also be added but is not necessary. A literal, phrase by phrase, translation may be included if appropriate. 

Authors, even if they are speakers of the language themselves, should bear in mind that it is advisable to make a recording of a representative speaker first, and then transcribe that recording, rather than asking a speaker to read a passage that has already been transcribed.

4.3 IPA symbols, fonts and transcriptions

Phonetic transcriptions should make use of the symbols and conventions of the Association’s alphabet in its latest revision (available from the IPA’s site). 

• In IPA transcriptions, throughout the entire manuscript and all other files, please use a Unicode-compliant IPA serif (i.e. Times-like) font set which includes a full range of IPA symbols (e.g.Doulos SIL – downloadable from here – Charis, and LaserIPA Unicode). Fonts that are not Unicode-compliant (e.g. IPAKiel) should not be used
• Use the special IPA font type even for ordinary letter-like IPA symbols in strings where at least one symbol is drawn from the special IPA font set, e.g. [kæt]. This applies to all the symbols, including accent marks and slants and square brackets if they enclose a transcription string. 
• Please note that JIPA requires the phonetic symbol for the voiced velar plosive to be ɡ (i.e. Opentail G = IPA110, Unicode: U+0261), NOT g (i.e. Looptail G = IPA210, Unicode: U+0067), and the length mark to be ː (i.e. IPA503, Unicode: U+0061, NOT the ‘colon’ punctuation mark). This applies everywhere in the text, tables and figures.

4.4 Recordings of data

At submission, Illustrations should be accompanied by audio recordings of all words and narrative text in the target language, occurring anywhere in the Illustration (not just the transcription section). Authors are requested to specify, in the text, the recording equipment that was used to make the recordings for the Illustration (including make and model of recorder and microphone).

If an Illustration is accepted, the recordings are published online as Supplementary Materials, alongside the online version of the Illustration.

Requirements towards format and quality of the audio

• The file format has to be WAV (.wav) with at least 22 kHz sampling rate. Recordings will not be accepted in other formats, particularly lossy compression formats, such as mp3.
• The recordings need to be of high quality. Files need to be recorded in a quiet site that prevents extraneous noises from bleeding into the recordings and that shows low (to inaudible) levels of reverberation. On the technical side, the recordings must not clip nor contain strong pop-noises, and they should have a direct sound (meaning that the speaker should not be recorded from too far away). There should not be high levels of noise from the recording equipment itself.
• To avoid excessive file size, all audio files should be carefully edited to remove extended periods of silence (i.e. at the beginning or end of the file, and between any repetitions); a period of silence of 200 ms at the beginning and end of each file, as well as 400 ms between repetitions (if relevant) is recommended. This silence must be recorded silence as opposed to artificial absolute silence. All cuts need to be made at zero-crossings or have cross-fades to prevent transient noises.
• Files should be submitted in a mono-format. If recordings were made in true stereo, from every file the channel needs to be extracted that contains the higher quality signal (e.g. the one that has a better voice to noise ratio or is not clipping). As a last step before submission the files should be scaled to 70dB SPL. In very few cases this may lead to clipping. If so please submit the unscaled file.
• Authors should consider these requirements before collecting their data. The aim is to provide accurate and clear recordings of speech, that can be used for future research purposes.

The recordings must be submitted as one zipped folder. Each example should be in a separate audio file (though multiple repetitions of the same example should be in the same file). The audio files should be organised into folders, labelled Consonants, Vowels etc. (one folder per section of the Illustration). Within each folder, the audio files should be named using a number indicating their order of appearance in the text of the Illustration, followed by the English gloss; e.g. 01-flower.wav; 30-small_round_object.wav. The gloss may also appear in the target language, but only ASCII symbols are allowed.

Please note that the recordings must be provided via the ScholarOne upload facility at the time of submission. This is because the recordings are made available to the reviewers so that they can assess the accuracy and consistency of the transcriptions. To facilitate this part of the review process, the audio is checked for quality and completeness before an Illustration is sent to reviewers. Authors will be asked to provide supplementary files if recordings are missing or are not of acceptable quality, while overall poor audio quality will lead to desk rejection. 

We regret that JIPA cannot undertake the full organization and naming of Illustration audio files, or the sound editing necessary to bring the audio to acceptable quality. 

For further information on recording, please contact the Editorial Office, [email protected].

4.5 English version of the usual passage for recording and transcription

The North Wind and the Sun
The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveller came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveller take his cloak of should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveller fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shone out warmly, and immediately the traveller took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.

4.6 After acceptance

After an Illustration has been accepted for publication, authors must be prepared to submit it in accordance with the instructions in section 2. 

Most standard word-processing formats (for either PC or Mac) are supported, but please bear in mind that MS Word for PC is the most convenient once an article has been accepted for publication. 

Final submissions must also be sent in PDF format to ensure that all symbols are properly encoded.

Last updated: 30 November 2023