Finno-Ugric transcription

Finno-Ugric transcription (FUT), or the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet (UPA), is a phonetic transcription or notational system used predominantly for the transcription and reconstruction of Uralic languages. It was first published in 1901 by Eemil Nestor Setälä, a Finnish linguist; it was somewhat modified in the 1970s.

FUT differs from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) notation in several ways, notably in exploiting italics or boldface rather than using brackets to delimit text, in the use of small capitals for devoicing, and in more frequent use of diacritics to differentiate places of articulation.

The basic FUT characters are based on the Finnish alphabet where possible, with extensions taken from Cyrillic and Greek orthographies. Small-capital letters and some novel diacritics are also used.

Unlike the IPA, which is usually transcribed in Roman typeface, FUT is transcribed in italic and bold typeface. Its extended characters are found in the Phonetic Extensions and Phonetic Extensions Supplement blocks. Computer font support is available through many font for phonetic transcription, though some lower-case and small-capital letters may not be visibly distinct in instances such as o.

Vowels

Several vowel transcription systems have been used in FUT; the chart below is just one example. A vowel to the left of a dot is illabial (unrounded); to the right is labial (rounded). The open-mid row may be omitted for certain lects.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:UPA • Template:UPA	Template:UPA • Template:UPA	Template:UPA • Template:UPA
Close-mid	Template:UPA • Template:UPA	Template:UPA • Template:UPA	Template:UPA • Template:UPA
Open-mid	Template:UPA • Template:UPA	Template:UPA • Template:UPA	Template:UPA • Template:UPA
Open	Template:UPA • Template:UPA	Template:UPA • Template:UPA	Template:UPA • Template:UPA

In addition:

• Template:UPA and Template:UPA may be used for close front and central rounded Template:UPA and Template:UPA.
• Template:UPA may be used for the vowel between Template:UPA and Template:UPA; Template:UPA between Template:UPA and Template:UPA; Template:UPA between Template:UPA and Template:UPA.
• Template:UPA (or Template:UPA when other diacritics are present) may be used for rounded open vowels instead of Template:UPA.
• Template:UPA may be used for open-mid rounded vowels instead of Template:UPA; Template:UPA for open unrounded vowels instead of Template:UPA.
• FUT has dedicated characters for wildcards or to denote a vowel of uncertain quality:
  • Template:UPA (or in some sources Template:UPA) denotes any vowel.
  • Template:UPA (in some sources with the top ring closed) denotes any back vowel.
  • Template:UPA denotes any front vowel.
  • Template:UPA may denote any central vowel, though more typically denotes a reduced Template:UPA.
  • Template:UPA may denote any devoiced vowel in systems which do not use it for rounded open-mid vowels.

Consonants

The following table describes the consonants of FUT. The following can be noted:

• A 'spirant' in this usage is a non-sibilant fricative.
• Under 'approximants', Template:UPA and their voiceless counterparts are 'semivowels', while Template:UPA are 'vibrationless rhotics'.
• Palatalized consonants are indicated with an acute accent. Only a few are shown in the table; the velar letters with an acute are commonly used for palatal consonants.
• A few obvious expansions have been made, such as voiceless Template:UPA to pair with voiced Template:UPA, and the fully expanded affricate series.

FUT consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar		Palatalised alveolar		Retroflex		Palatal (prevelar)	Palatalised velar	Velar	Postvelar	Uvular	Glottal
Plosive	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA
	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA
	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA
Spirant fricative	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA			Template:UPA	Template:UPA			Template:UPA
	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA			Template:UPA	Template:UPA			Template:UPA
Sibilant fricative				Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA
				Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA
				Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA
Sibilant affricate				Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA
				Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA
				Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA
Approximant	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA						Template:UPA				Template:UPA	Template:UPA
	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA						Template:UPA				Template:UPA	Template:UPA
Lateral				Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA				Template:UPA
				Template:UPA	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA				Template:UPA
Trill	Template:UPA			Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA						Template:UPA
	Template:UPA			Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA						Template:UPA
Flap				Template:UPA										Template:UPA
				Template:UPA										Template:UPA
Nasal	Template:UPA			Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA			Template:UPA	Template:UPA
	Template:UPA	Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA		Template:UPA			Template:UPA	Template:UPA

File:UPA sc and lc Cyrillic L.svg

Small-cap (voiceless) and lower-case (voiced) л are distinct when italic.

When there are two consonants in a given space, the bottom row is voiced and the top row is voiceless; when there are three, the centre row is lenis or partially devoiced, and the top row is fortis or fully devoiced (tenuis). Some sources add a second middle row for the plosives and affricates with small capitals of the voiceless consonants, so that a four way distinction between fortis, lenis, partially voiced, and fully voiced is maintained.

Template:UPA (not shown in the table) are lateral fricatives. Template:UPA and Template:UPA in the table are also fricatives derived from letters for approximants.

Other sources have Template:UPA and Template:UPA (Template:UPA) for fricative Template:UPA, Template:UPA for the uvular trills, and Template:UPA for the glottal stop Template:UPA.

The Uralic languages transcribed with this system do not contain non-pulmonic consonants except paralinguistically, thus only clicks are supported by FUT. There are two conventions: a leftward arrow, for Template:UPA etc., and Greek letters, for Template:UPA etc. Nasal clicks can presumably be written Template:UPA etc. under the first convention.

Modifiers

From extremely short (superscript) to extra-long (circumflex), length of vowels and consonants is indicated as follows:

ᵃ ă a a˴ à a͐ ā â

FUT modifier characters

Example	Description	Use
Template:UPA	diaeresis above	'Palatal' (front) vowel; interdental consonant (e.g. Template:UPA interdental t)
Template:UPA	dot below	'Velar' (back) vowel; 'cacuminal' (retroflex) consonant
Template:UPA	diaeresis below	Uvular consonant
Template:UPA	macron	Long form of a vowel or consonant
Template:UPA	doubled character
Template:UPA	left arrowhead below	Retracted form of a vowel or consonant (e.g. Template:UPA post-alveolar t)
Template:UPA	right arrowhead below	Advanced form of a vowel or consonant (e.g. Template:UPA pre-alveolar t)
Template:UPA	circumflex below	Raised variant of a vowel
Template:UPA	caron below	Lowered variant of a vowel
Template:UPA	caron above	Fricative variant of an approximant; 'wide' variant of a sibilant
Template:UPA	breve	Shorter or reduced vowel
Template:UPA	breve below	Central vowel
Template:UPA	inverted breve below	Non-syllabic variant of a vowel
Template:UPA	acute accent	Palatalized variant of a consonant; may be moved to the right of letters with an ascender, as with Template:UPA.
Template:UPA	small capital	Unvoiced or lenis variant of a sound
Template:UPA	superscripted character	Very short sound
Template:UPA	subscripted character	Coarticulation due to surrounding sounds, or intermediate sound
Template:UPA	rotated character	Reduced form of sound. Letters ambiguous when rotated 180° are rotated 90°, as with Template:UPA.

For diphthongs, triphthongs and prosody, Finno-Ugric transcription uses several forms of the tie or double breve:

• The triple inverted breve or triple breve below indicates a triphthong
• The double inverted breve, also known as the ligature tie, marks a diphthong
• The double inverted breve below indicates a syllable boundary between vowels
• The undertie is used for prosody
• The inverted undertie is used for prosody.

Differences from IPA

A major difference is that IPA notation distinguishes between phonetic and phonemic transcription by enclosing the transcription between either brackets or slashes . FUT instead uses italic typeface for the former and bold typeface for the latter.

For phonetic transcription, numerous small differences from IPA come into relevance:

• For the voiced dental fricative, FUT uses a Greek delta Template:UPA, while IPA uses the letter eth . In FUT, eth Template:UPA stands for an alveolar tap, IPA .
• FUT uses Greek chi χ for the voiceless velar fricative. In IPA, stands for a voiceless uvular fricative, while the velar counterpart is (not used in FUT except as a wildcard for any consonant).
• FUT uses small caps for devoiced sounds (Template:UPA etc.), while IPA uses a ring diacritic.

Examples:

Sound	FUT	IPA
Alveolar tap	Template:UPA	[ɾ]
Voiced dental fricative	Template:UPA	[ð]
Voiceless alveolar lateral approximant	Template:UPA	[l̥]
Velar lateral approximant	Template:UPA	[ʟ]
Voiceless alveolar nasal	Template:UPA	[n̥]
Uvular nasal	Template:UPA*	[ɴ]
Voiceless alveolar trill	Template:UPA	[r̥]
Uvular trill	Template:UPA	[ʀ]

*Not recognized in any sources, shown for example purposes.

Encoding

The IETF language tags register fonupa as a subtag for text in this notation.

Font support

Few system fonts support the small capitals. Support is available through any good phonetics font, such as (among free fonts) Gentium, Andika, Noto, Segoe and EB Garamond, though lower-case and small-capital ᴄ, л, o, v, w and z may not be distinct in italic typeface and are rarely distinct in bold. DejaVu and EB Garamond do not support the stacked diacritics in Template:UPA. EB Garamond includes the Unicode small capitals in its roman typeface but not in italic or bold, so automated formatting is applied, which makes the small capitals more distinct. Following are pairs of small capital and lower case in these fonts; the fonts must be installed on your computer or phone to display here.

Comparison of free fonts

Browser default font	italic	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
	bold	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
Gentium	italic	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
	bold	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
Andika	italic	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
	bold	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
Noto Serif	italic	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
	bold	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
Noto Sans	italic	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
	bold	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
Segoe UI	italic	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
	bold	ᴄ c	ᴫ л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
EB Garamond	italic	ᴄ c	- л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́
	bold	ᴄ c	- л	ᴏ o	ᴜ u	ᴠ v	ᴡ w	ᴢ z	š́ ž́

Sample

This section contains some sample words from both Uralic languages and English (using Australian English) along with comparisons to the IPA transcription.

Sample FUT words

Language	FUT	IPA	Meaning
English	Template:UPA		'ship'
English	Template:UPA		'ran'
English	Template:UPA		'bored'
Moksha	Template:UPA		'I sow'
Udmurt	Template:UPA		'to wash'
Forest Nenets	Template:UPA		'nostril'
Hill Mari	Template:UPA		'pine'
Skolt Sami	Template:UPA		'ermine'

See also

• Americanist phonetic notation

Bibliography

• Setälä, E. N. (1901). "Über transskription der finnisch-ugrischen sprachen". Finnisch-ugrische Forschungen (in German) (1). Helsingfors, Leipzig: 15–52.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Sovijärvi, Antti; Peltola, Reino (1970). "Suomalais-ugrilainen tarkekirjoitus" (PDF). Helsingin Yliopiston Fonetiikan Laitoksen Julkaisuja (in Finnish) (9). University of Helsinki. hdl:10224/4089.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
• Posti, Lauri; Itkonen, Terho (1973). "FU-transkription yksinkertaistaminen. Az FU-átírás egyszerűsítése. Zur Vereinfachung der FU-Transkription. On Simplifying of the FU-transcription". Castrenianumin Toimitteita (7). University of Helsinki. ISBN 951-45-0282-5. ISSN 0355-0141.
• Ruppel, Klaas; Aalto, Tero; Everson, Michael (2009-01-27). "L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet" (PDF). Unicode.