Topic-165: Explaining the IPA One evidence that the IPA chart is based on linguistic phonetics is the description of the blank cells on the chart (those neither shaded nor containing a symbol) that indicate the combinations of categories that are humanly possible but have not been observed so far to be distinctive in any language (e.g., a voiceless retroflex lateral fricative is possible but has not been documented so far, so it is left blank. The shaded cells, on the other hand, exhibit the sounds not possible at these places. Further, below the consonant chart is a set of symbols for consonants made with different airstream mechanisms (clicks, voiced implosives, and ejectives). All these descriptions reflect the potentialities of human speech sounds as a linguistic community) not only showing the possible segments but also the suprasegmental features and points related to the possible airstream mechanisms and even the diacritics for various types co- articulations and secondary articulatory gestures. The IPA chart is carefully documented (by experts) and is continuously revised and updated.
