phonetic alphabets
Spelling over radio
Phonetic alphabets are standardized systems where each letter of the alphabet is represented by a code word, used to spell things clearly over radio or telephone.
The NATO phonetic alphabet—Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and so on—is the most widely known: That's T as in Tango, not D as in Delta.
The term also applies to systems like the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which uses symbols to represent speech sounds precisely, though this sense is more technical and less common in everyday use.
- code wordsSubstitute terms for secrecy
- pronunciationManner of speaking words
- accentRegional speech pattern
- IPASound notation system
- transcriptionWritten version of speech
articulation · speech · intonation · diction · diacritics · romanization · language learning · writing systems · syllable · radio communication · military jargon · tones · speech sounds · vowel sounds · allophones · syllable structure · diphthongs · prosody
phonetic alphabetsChinese characters
Logographic writing system
kanji · hieroglyphics · cuneiform · hanzi · Mayan glyphs
phonetic alphabetsstenography
Compressed symbolic writing system
shorthand · musical notation · mathematical notation · emoji · sign language
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