IPA Symbols

Question

I teach phonetics and phonology and regularly use the IPA for in class work, quizzes, and exams. I have searched everywhere and cannot find them even using the unicode fonts. I have had no luck finding a solution online either. Does anyone have any idea what I can do or where I should be looking so that I can use them in my documents?

Answer 1

If you want to try the Edit>Emoji & Symbols command, you can find the IPA characters, though it's anything but intuitive:

1. In Word, make the text where you want the IPA characters to appear a Unicode font. Cambria is one. Leave the cursor blinking there.
2. Choose Edit>Emoji & Symbols.
3. The scroll bar on the right appears to be at the top, but it's not. Push it further up, right to the top. Now the dialog expander icon is visible in the upper right corner. Click on it.
4. In the search field (upper right in the expanded dialog), type schwa. In the main window, the schwa-related characters are shown in the Unicode Name area. As an alternative, you can also search by Unicode hex number. Type U+0259, a schwa will appear in the Character code area.
5. Double-click on the one you want to insert. It appears where your cursor was blinking.

Answer 2

The normal way to input these things is just to use the Character Viewer.  Its unlikely that you need any extra fonts or keyboards.  To make sure you have access to all characters in Character Viewer, click on the gear wheel and choose customize to add extra stuff.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18443

Answer 3

Thank you for the reply. I came across this one and like you I found it a bit much. And again as you said, the fonts that contain these symbols are there. I do appreciate your help. I guess it may be my only option for now.

Answer 4

Here's a page about setting up and using IPA symbols under OS X: IPA fonts in OS X To me, this seemed a little over-elaborate, since many Unicode fonts already contain IPA characters, including the Arial Unicode MS that comes with Office 2016. But the write has more expertise in the subject, so I'll defer.