Phonetic Transcription

Question

I need to write some phonetic transcription in my article, but the compiler can not run it properly. MWE is below,

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|}
    \hline
    Words & Phonetics & Students Pronounced & Source \\
    \hline 
    Language &  /’læƞgwIdʒ/ & /leƞgwIdʒ/   & S1,S2,S4,S5,S6\\
    Important&  /Im’pᴐ:tnt/ & /Im’pᴐ:tent/ & S1,S2,S3,S5,S8,S9\\
    \hline 
\end{tabular}

but compiler replace all non-standard character into a question mark (?). This probably because I copy and paste the text. But when I type by using Cyrillic letter symbols from side panel, my code generates errors.

Language - /’l\cyrae \ng{}gwId\cyrabhdze/ - /’l\cyre \ng{}gwId\cyrabhdze/

resulting in

"error undefined control sequenced".

What does it mean?

please always post a complete (small) test document, in particular here the behaviour depends on information not shown, what encoding did you use to save the file, and what encoding did you specify with the inputenc package? — David Carlisle, Nov 10 '17 at 15:26
Have you considered using the tipa package for your phonetic symbols? It has a pretty comprehensive collection. Full documentation is here, or a list of phonetic symbols can be found in table 11 of the Comprehensive Symbol List. — Sandy G, Nov 10 '17 at 15:31
Also, to be clear, a "Minimal Working Example" (MWE) shoud start with \documentclass, include all relevant \usepackage commands, end with \end{document} and compile without errors, even if it does not produce your desired output. — Sandy G, Nov 10 '17 at 15:39

egreg · Answer 1 · 2017-11-10T17:43:05.383

You can do it in pdflatex, but you need some work if you want to use Unicode characters.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tipa}

\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{02C8}{\textprimstress}
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{026A}{\textsci}
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{0292}{\textyogh}
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{0254}{\textopeno}
\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{02A4}{\textdyoghlig}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|}
    \hline
    Words & Phonetics & Students Pronounced & Source \\
    \hline 
    Language &  \textipa{/ˈlæŋgwɪʤ/} & \textipa{/ˈleŋgwɪʤ/}   & S1,S2,S4,S5,S6\\
    Important&  \textipa{/ɪmˈpɔ:tnt/} & \textipa{/ɪmˈpɔ:tent/} & S1,S2,S3,S5,S8,S9\\
    \hline 
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

I fixed the symbols used.

In order to use Cyrillic letters, you have to enable them with fontenc, see https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/215678/4427

You can make the example compilable also with XeLaTeX:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{ifxetex}

\ifxetex
  \usepackage{fontspec}
  \setmainfont{CMU Serif}
\else
  \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
  \usepackage{tipa}
\fi

\ifxetex
  \providecommand{\textipa}[1]{#1}
\else
  \DeclareUnicodeCharacter{02C8}{\textprimstress}
  \DeclareUnicodeCharacter{026A}{\textsci}
  \DeclareUnicodeCharacter{0292}{\textyogh}
  \DeclareUnicodeCharacter{0254}{\textopeno}
  \DeclareUnicodeCharacter{02A4}{\textdyoghlig}
\fi

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|}
    \hline
    Words & Phonetics & Students Pronounced & Source \\
    \hline 
    Language &  \textipa{/ˈlæŋgwɪʤ/} & \textipa{/ˈleŋgwɪʤ/}   & S1,S2,S4,S5,S6\\
    Important&  \textipa{/ɪmˈpɔ:tnt/} & \textipa{/ɪmˈpɔ:tent/} & S1,S2,S3,S5,S8,S9\\
    \hline 
\end{tabular}

\end{document}

Just out of idle curiosity: Why did you change two of the three instances of I in the second row to ɪ? — Mico, Nov 10 '17 at 16:41
@Mico Consistency. The input I in \textipa produces the small caps I. — egreg, Nov 10 '17 at 16:44

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 10 '17 at 15:41

If you're free to switch to LuaLaTeX, simply use an OpenType font, such as Junicode, that provides the phonetic glyphs.

% !TEX TS-program = lualatex
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\setlength\extrarowheight{2pt} % for a more "open" look

\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Junicode} % or any other font that provides the glyphs

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|}
    \hline
    Words & Phonetics & Students Pronounced & Source \\
    \hline 
    Language &  /’læƞgwIdʒ/ & /leƞgwIdʒ/   & S1,S2,S4,S5,S6\\
    Important&  /Im’pᴐ:tnt/ & /Im’pᴐ:tent/ & S1,S2,S3,S5,S8,S9\\
    \hline 
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Phonetic Transcription

2 Answers2

Linked