Here is a chart of the International Phonetic Alphabet (click to enlarge). The IPA is an invaluable tool for both singers and vocal coaches in that it provides a clear frame of reference when dealing with a large number of sounds--nearly all books on diction for singers use the IPA as their standard. Although the full chart lists the full range of consonants (pulmonic, non-pulmonic, and co-articulated), vowels, suprasegmentals, and diacritics, most singers and coaches will only need to know the pulmonic consonant and vowel charts.Here are some useful links for further reading on this subject:
- Wikipedia has many relevant articles, including ones on the International Phonetic Alphabet, Place of Articulation, and Linguistics.
- From UCLA, a chart from Peter Ladefoged that includes sound files.
- An online IPA keyboard.
- From antimoon.com, the Sounds of English in the IPA.
- The homepage of the International Phonetic Association.
