IPA keyboard layouts for Mac OS X. Chridd » Keyboard layouts » IPA. These are keyboard layouts to make it easier to type in the International Phonetic Alphabet. There are two layouts available, one based on QWERTY, the other on Dvorak. By default, these will function as a normal keyboard; however, if Caps Lock is on, instead of typing capital. Online keyboard to type the characters and symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) International Phonetic Alphabet. Alphabets diacritics. Type the diacritic sign after the character. To type directly with the computer keyboard. The Gujarati and Hindi Phonetic Keyboard Layout for Mac OS X. Download the Phonetic keyboard layouts for Mac OS X here. I created the Gujarati and Hindi Phonetic keyboard layouts exactly as the ones in Windows. The instruction on how to install are found here: How to Install Gujarati Phonetic Keyboard on Mac OS X. While the layout is the same.
The phonetic consonants are placed as according to Images 1 and 2 above. I also remapped the Gujarati numerals to coincide with the English numerals. There are a certain few exceptions to the phonetic placements because there are more Gujarati consonants than English consonants, but these can be learned easily and need no discussion. I will explain the placement of only certain special keys here.
Virama Accent (્)
The first key to familiarize is the VIRAMA accent (called halant in English), which looks like ્ on the layout. As you have learned this key allows us to type conjuncts without remembering any codes. It takes the place of the apostrophe key in an English keyboard, making it very accessible. In addition to forming conjuncts, this key also allows us to combine two consonants where the first doesn't have a 'half-looking' character. For example, half of an 'Ma' is મ્ , but what about ટ, ડ, and દ?
The virama is used as an accent in Gujarati to form conjuncts with consonants that do not have the half form. In the word ષટ્કોણ, 'ટ' doesn't have a half-form. Hence, we would use the virama to indicate it is in conjunction with 'ક'. The virama allows us to make as many conjuncts as needed, allowing words like ઈર્ષ્યા (ઈ + ર + ્ + ષ + ્ + ય + ા).
The virama is also used for full consonants when they are pronounced abruptly, especially at the end of a word in Sanskrit shlokas, as in the example:
સ એવ સાધુષુ કૃતો મોક્ષદ્વારમપાવૃતમ્ ॥
The final મ has a virama so it is pronounced abruptly. After learning the use of the virama key, everything else is simply familiarizing yourself with the keys placement.
Zero Width Joiner (ZWJ)
I'm going to interrupt a bit to introduce the 'zero width joiner'. This key is actually not a character used in writing, only in typing. The virama key automatically joins two characters if they are joinable. Sometimes, one needs to intentionally show the virama accent rather than join the characters to form a conjunct. This occurs with દ. When writing સદ્ગુરુ (sadguru), notice the funny-looking દ્ગ. That is actually a conjunct of દ and ગ. However, traditionally, we represent this conjunct separately with the virama. The preferred way of writing this would be સદ્ગુરુ. This is where the ZWJ comes in handy. This is a key that allows us to enter a zero-space entity between the virama and ગ so that they are not joined together; rather દ is joined to the zero-space. The key is assigned Ctrl+Shift+1 in the default layout and I have kept it the same.
Additionally, one can type half of a consonant with the virama followed by the zero width joiner: મ + ્ + Ctrl+Shift+1 = મ્ . (Note that you can't 'see' the ZWJ.) If we omit the ZWJ, then we would obtain મ્.
Vowels and Accents
Commonly used Gujarati vowels are placed according to the English vowels, as can be seen in the images above. The anomaly is the ા. Instead of assigning ી and િ to the I key, I put ા on the little 'i' key as it is on the Harikrishna font. It's a very often used key and there were keys lacking for this one. I moved the િ to Shift+8, right above the little 'i'. Both ઉ and ઊ are rarely used. As the 'W' has no equivalent in Gujarati, this seemed to be a natural fit.
There are two other accents worth noting. The first is the key that allows us to write conjuncts with 'Ru' as in કૃષ્ણ (Krushna) and વૃન્દાવન (Vrundavan). That key is for the VOCALIC RR (ૃ) and is assigned the uppercase Z just as in the Harikrishna font.
ANUSVARA
The ANUSVARA that is used to form conjuncts with 'N' or 'M' is the other notable punctuation. The alternate way of writing Vrundavan would be with an anusvara for the half ન: વૃંદાવન. The anusvara key is placed as Shift+Period just as in the Harikrishan font. It can be used alone or in conjunction with other punctuations.
- સંસ્થા = sanstha; used alone to form N
- સંપ્રદાય = sampraday; used alone to form M
- ચરણાર્વિંદ = charanarvind; used with other punctuations
The anusvara is also used for Gujarati verbs. The English combination of [to + verbs] such as 'to drink,' 'to eat,' and 'to play' are translated as ખાવું, પીવું, and રમવું. When verbs are written this way, the anusvara is added at the end. Seemingly silent, it's pronunciation is the nasal 'n'. રમવું would be pronounced 'ramavun'.
Candra Vowels and Vowel Signs
There are 2 special vowels, called the CANDRA vowels, that are often used in Gujarati. Shown in Table 4 on the Unicode page, these are used for pronunciations that do not fit the 'E' or 'O' quite perfectly. For example, if we were to write the English word 'magazine' in Gujarati, we would have to account for the difference in pronunciation of 'ma' and 'ga.' મેગેઝીન does not quite fit the pronunciation as it's not really મે. The correct way would be મૅગેઝીન. Similarly, doctor is not written ડોક્ટર, but as ડૉક્ટર. ઍ and ઑ are the candra vowels and their accents are the vowel signs, respectively. These keys are found in the Shift state and Ctrl+Alt state as the less than sign and back slash.
Miscellaneous
The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator also lets us assign multiple keystrokes to a key. Hence, 'J' is actually a combination of જ + ી = જી. This follows the Harikrishna font. The other keys that are shared with Harikrishna font are M, H, x, X, V, and #, which are
- હ્મ = હ + ્ + મ
- હ્ય = હ + ્ + ય
- ક્ષ = ક + ્ + ષ
- જ્ઞ = જ + ્ + ઞ
- શ્વ = શ + ્ + વ
- ત્ર = ત + ્ + ર
Order Matters
Aside from what you have learned, there is nothing more to typing Gujarati. One only needs to know which individual characters form the conjuncts and the order in which they are pronounced. The order is easily discernible in most cases. For consonants, the one that is pronounced first is written first. For punctuations, they always go last. Here are some more examples (not showing the virama):
- ઈર્ષ્યા --> ર then ષ then ય
- પ્રમુખ --> પ then ર
- ભક્તિ --> ક then ત then punctuation િ
- સમર્પીત --> ર then પ then ી
- માહાત્મ્ય --> ત then મ then ય
And that should conclude the methods of typing in Gujarati. Next, I'll show you how to install Gujarati language support in Windows. You can also download my Gujarati Phonetic keyboard layout.
Will StylerAssistant Teaching Professor - UC San Diego
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This was originally posted on my blog, Notes from a Linguistic Mystic in 2007, but is kept updated here for the internet’s use. At this point, it works for any version of MacOS including 11.1 ’Big Sur”. The last update was January 2021. See all posts
As a linguist, you find yourself using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) incredibly frequently. Some of the characters are easy enough to use without any special work (ŋ, ə), as most fonts already include them. However, to get the more cool/obscure characters and diacritics, or to stack diacritics (placing, for instance, a tone marking above a nasal marking), you need special fonts, layouts and setup. In this post, I’m going to explain, as simply as possible, how to go about finding the files and setting this up, all without paying a dime for specialty software.
Getting the fonts and layout
The beauty of this method is that it uses software built into Mac OS X, and that you can use IPA fonts in any application that supports Unicode (translation: lots of them), not just specific programs. You also don’t need to install a separate program to clutter up your computer, just a few free fonts and a keyboard layout. So, here’s your freeware shopping list:
Necessary files:
Charis SIL IPA Font - The best free IPA font out there (in my opinion) because it has bold, italic, and all sorts of other characters outside of IPA. The download link is around halfway down the page, grab the file with “(Windows, Macintosh and Linux)” next to it. Thanks to the Summer Institute of Linguistics, it’s completely free!
The Unicode IPA Keyboard Layout for OS X - SIL has created a comprehensive and modern version with every key you can imagine and more at The IPA-SIL key layout site. This layout is excellent as it allows you to type regularly, but by using “deadkeys” (a key that you press before another which chooses the output), you can add any IPA key you’d like. Make sure you have the latest version (1.5, at time of update) installed, as some strange encoding issues were happening with newer OSes and version 1.4.
Optional Extra IPA fonts:
Doulos SIL - A differently styled IPA font from SIL, missing the bold and italic forms that Charis has. Install this at the same time you install the Charis SIL font below, using the same instructions.
SILIPA93 Fonts - These are desperately outdated, but occasionally necessary when reading other people’s old IPA. Install this at the same time you install the Charis SIL font below, using the same instructions.
So, download save them to your desktop (or a location of your choosing), and then proceed to the next step.
Power User’s Summary: Download the Charis SIL IPA Font and the IPA-SIL keyboard Layout from the above links and save them someplace you can find them.
Installing the font and keyboard layout
Now, double-click the CharisSIL(version).zip file that you saved to your desktop. It’ll unzip into a similarly named folder on your desktop. Take the CharisSILfontdocumentation.pdf file and move it to a safe place, it’s a handy guide to have around, and feel free to take a look at the readme and license files in the folder.
It’s time to install the font and layout themselves:
English Phonetic Alphabet Pdf
If you’re using OS X 10.7 “Lion” or later, Apple has hidden the /Users/yourname/Library (~/Library) folder from you by default. If you’re on Mavericks or later (10.9+), go to your Home folder (/Users/yourname) and then to the “View” menu, then “Show View Options”, then check “Show Library Folder”. Otherwise, you can use “Go” -> “Go to Folder” and type in (~/Library).
Place the four font files from the folder (CharisSILB.ttf, CharisSILBI.ttf, CharisSILI.ttf, CharisSILR.ttf) along with any of the optional fonts you’re installing into the ~/Library/Fonts folder (the “Fonts” folder inside the “Library” folder in your user directory.
Now, the layout. First, Double click “IPA-MACkbd.dmg” on your desktop. Now click the newly opened “Keyboard” Disk Image on the desktop and examine the contents.
Save “IPA Unicode (some version numbers) MAC Keyboard.pdf”! In fact, frame it. Wallpaper your wall with copies of it. Get a version tattooed on your chest. Just make sure you have it. Without this, you’ll have trouble figuring out exactly which keypresses result in which characters, and this method won’t work very well at all.
Now, drag “IPA Unicode (Version) MAC.keylayout” into the “Keyboard Layouts” in your username/Library folder. Also, if there is no “Keyboard Layouts” folder, you might have to create it yourself (File -> New Folder, then name it “Keyboard Layouts”)
You’re done! You might want to restart your computer, then everything will be all set.
Power User’s Summary: Install the font into /Users/you/Library/Fonts, and put the keyboard layout into /Users/you/Library/Keyboard Layouts. Make sure to save “IPA Unicode (version) MAC Keyboard.pdf” from the layout folder someplace accessible. Restart.
Setting up IPA Text Input on OS X 10.6-10.8
Once you’ve restarted, go to the System Preferences Application. Click the “Language and Text” (“International” on older versions), then, click the “Input Sources” (or “Input Menu”) tab inside the Language and Text Pane, and you’ll be presented with a window like this:
In this window, make sure and select “Keyboard & Character Viewer” (to see what symbols are where at a glance) and “Show input menu in menu bar”. Also, feel free to change the shortcut to switch input methods to make things faster for you down the road.
Setting up IPA Text Input on OS X 10.9 or higher
Once you’ve restarted, go to the System Preferences Application. Click the “Keyboard” Option. First, check “Show Keyboard and Character Viewers in the Menu Bar”, then, click the “Input Sources” (or “Input Menu”) tab inside the Keyboard Pane.
Then, click the “+” button in the bottom left of the window, Choose “Others” in the left pane, and then “IPA Unicode 6.2(v.X)”, and check “Show input menu in menu bar”.
Also, feel free to change the shortcut to switch input methods to make things faster for you down the road, under “Shortcuts”.
/hɛloʊ wɜ˞ld/!
Now that you’ve done that, you should have a little American flag in your menu bar. Congratulations! You’re now set up to use the IPA on your mac.
To test it out, fire up any text editor (OpenOffice, TextEdit, or even MS Word, if you insist) and open a document. Be very sure to select Charis SIL for your font in the document.
Now, click the little menu in the menubar and select IPA Unicode (Version) MAC:
Start typing and you’ll find yourself typing IPA symbols! You’ll slowly learn the reasonably intuitive set of key sequences (e.g: > then n for Angma, > then r for Alveolar Tap), and soon, you’ll be typing in IPA nearly effortlessly in nearly any application.
“But I don’t use IPA that often, and can’t memorize the keystrokes!”
Ipa Phonetic Symbols Keyboard
Since Mavericks (10.9), Apple has stealthily included another way to input IPA characters which is far less efficient for regular, long-form IPA entry, but good if all you need is the occasional character. To enable this option, first, go through the steps above to get the font and keyboard set up, making extra sure to enable “Show input menu in menu bar”.
Once you’ve done this, go to the little input menu in the menu bar, then click “Show Emoji and Symbols”. To enable IPA, click the Gear in the top left corner of that window, then “Customize List”, then scroll down and check the box for “Phonetic Alphabet”.
Now, you can use that symbol picker menu to insert IPA by clicking “Phonetic Alphabet” and double-clicking the character you’d like. To add diacritics, just click the base character, then the diacritic which modifies it. Again, though, this will only work when you’re using an IPA-friendly font.
Using IPA in the Mac OS X World
With either of these methods, you can use IPA in any application, from email to messages, and it should display fine for any of your linguist friends who have suitable fonts installed.
That said, Microsoft Word, even the latest (2015) version, doesn’t always play nicely with this sort of input. I’d highly recommend that if you have troubles, you try using TextEdit (built in), Pages, or the free Office suite for OS X, LibreOffice, all of which I’ve tried and know to work fairly well. If you’re serious about IPA, though, and want your work to look good, there’s only one approach, which is to use TeX. It’s complicated, with a sharp initial learning curve, but with XeLaTeX (which allows Unicode entry) and this keyboard layout and font, you’ll have absolutely flawless IPA, all with all the numerous other benefits of using TeX.
But the very least, you should be able to copy/paste your IPA text into a word document, or hopefully even make the switch entirely to a better word processor. Although MS Word may be the most well known word processor, it’s far from being the best on OS X, and I highly encourage you to check out all the options.
Regardless, thanks to these free and open source fonts and layouts, you’ll never need to write a Word macro again on OS X. /oʊ, wʌɾə wʌndə˞fl̩ wɜ˞ld/!
Phonetic Alphabet Keyboard Machine
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