Journal of the IPA

JIPAThe 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.

JIPA is especially concerned with the theory behind the International Phonetic Alphabet and publishes papers, known as Illustrations of the IPA, that use the alphabet for the analysis and description of the sound structures of a wide variety of languages. For more information about these, including how to access many Illustrations for free, click here. JIPA publishes online audio files to supplement the text of the Illustrations and encourages the submission of such supplementary materials for all contributions, including the submission of manuscripts with embedded audio files. JIPA is published by Cambridge University Press and is indexed in a number of leading databases, including Web of Science (AHCI & SSCI) and Scopus.

Submission

The JIPA has now moved to an online submission system for all new Research Articles, Illustrations and book reviews, including production files, which are to be submitted through JIPA's ScholarOne Manuscripts site: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jipa.

Prior to submission, please ensure you consult the revised Instructions for Contributors PDF documents available on the CambridgeCore (Cambridge University Press) website.

Subscription

Online access to the journal (volumes from 1971 to current) is a benefit of IPA membership (members need to log in to their IPA account in order to access this page).

For institutional subscriptions, please contact Cambridge University Press (Cambridge UK or New York).

Illustrations of the IPA

As of September 2016, the Association and Cambridge University Press is making freely available the online versions of all the "Illustrations of the IPA" published in the Journal of the IPA since 2001. In 2016, publications from 2001-2013 are freely available; after that, each year's publications will become freely available three years later. Both the text of the article, and the accompanying audio recordings, are accessible from CUP's new portal for the Journal. To download a zip file of the audio recordings, first click on the article title and then on the “Supplementary materials” tab.

Illustrations of the IPA are accounts of the sound structure of different languages, accompanied by audio recordings. While the scope of Illustrations has been changing over the years, and will doubtless continue to change in the future, they generally share certain elements. Using the Association's International Phonetic Alphabet, an Illustration describes the consonant and vowel phonemes and the prosody of a language, with consonant and vowel charts and near-minimal sets of example words. An illustrative passage in the language, usually a translation of the fable "The North Wind and the Sun", supplements the example words. Audio recordings of all example words and the passage, spoken by one or more native speakers of the language, accompany the article and are phonemically (sometimes also phonetically) transcribed. Articulatory and/or acoustic analysis of some sounds is often provided.

Illustrations are extensively used by researchers, instructors and students seeking information on a wide range of languages. Instructors and students of phonetics and phonology use them for real examples of sounds of a wide range of the world's languages. Instructors and students of individual languages use them for a first glimpse of the language, and for a systematic presentation of real examples of its sounds. Illustrations provide a first insight into a language for a wide variety of researchers on individual languages (for instance, for field linguists who might be going to work in a particular geographical area). Speaker communities of individual languages, who may even have contributed to the illustration, use them with pride as a reference about their language, one element in helping to keep the language alive within the culture. For example, they could provide basic examples for language instruction within local communities.

Many of those who find the Illustrations useful are not members of the IPA and thus do not have members' access to the material published in JIPA. The Association hopes that by making Illustrations freely available, they will be more widely used.

A map showing locations of languages currently covered by Illustrations, with links to the text and audio of each Illustration, is available here. Thanks to Marija Tabain, Richard Breare, and Casey Tait for this marvelous resource.