Spelling alphabet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A spelling alphabet, radio alphabet, or telephone alphabet is a set of words which are used to stand for the letters of an alphabet. Each word in the spelling alphabet typically replaces the name of the letter with which it starts (acrophony). It is used to spell out words when speaking to someone not able to see the speaker, meaning there are no visual cues which assist the listener. Giving one's name over the telephone is a common scenario where a spelling alphabet is often used. Spelling alphabets are often called phonetic alphabets. However, phonetic transcription systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet are designed to record detailed information about the sounds of human speech. As written representations of spoken sounds, they are utterly different from spelling alphabets, which are spoken representations of written symbols.
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[edit] Voice procedure
Spelling alphabets are especially useful when speaking in a noisy environment when clarity and promptness of communication is essential, for example during two-way radio communication between an aircraft pilot and air traffic control, or in military operations. Whereas the names of many letters sound alike, the set of replacement words can be selected to be as distinct from each other as possible, to minimise the likelihood of ambiguity or mistaking one letter for another. For example, if a burst of static cuts off the start of an English-language utterance of the letter J, it may be mistaken for A or K. In the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet (or NATO phonetic alphabet), the sequence J-A-K would be pronounced Juliett-Alpha-Kilo. Some voice procedure standards require numbers to be spelled out digit by digit; some spelling alphabets replace confusable digit names with more distinct alternatives: for example, the NATO alphabet has "niner" for 9 to distinguish it better from 5 and the German word "nein".
[edit] History
On the Western Front of the First World War British Army signallers developed "signalese", a way of spelling out over the landlines in use to communicate. This gave rise to phrases such as "Ack-Ack" from AA for anti-aircraft. Pip-emma for pm.
[edit] Examples
The following examples are from various languages and time periods:[1][2]
Letter | NATO & Aviation | British Forces 1952 | RAF 1942–43 | NY Police | French | German (DIN 5009) | Dutch | Italian | Spanish | Swedish | Danish | Turkish |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | Alpha | Abel | Apple | Adam | Anatole | Anton | Anna | Ancona | Antonio | Adam | Alfa | Aydın |
Ä | - | - | - | - | - | Ärger | - | - | - | Ärlig | - | - |
B | Bravo | Baker | Beer | Boy | Berthe | Berta | Bernard | Bologna | Barcelona | Bertil | Bravo | Bekir |
C | Charlie | Charlie | Charlie | Charlie | Célestin | Cäsar | Cornelis | Como | Carmen | Ceasar | Charlie | Cemal |
Ch | - | - | - | - | - | Charlotte | - | - | Chocolate | - | - | - |
D | Delta | Dog | Dog | David | Désiré | Dora | Dirk | Domodossola | Dolores | David | Delta | Deniz |
E | Echo | Easy | Edward | Edward | Eugène | Emil | Eduard | Empoli | Enrique | Erik | Echo | Engin |
F | Foxtrot | Fox | Freddy | Frank | François | Friedrich | Ferdinand | Firenze | Francia | Fredrik | Foxtrot | Fener |
G | Golf | George | George | George | Gaston | Gustav | Gerard | Genova | Gerona | Gustav | Golf | Gazi |
H | Hotel | How | Harry | Henry | Henri | Heinrich | Hendrik | Hotel | Historia | Helge | Hotel | Halat |
I | India | Item | In | Ida | Irma | Ida | Izaak | Imola | Inés | Ivar | India | İstif |
J | Juliet | Jig | Jug / Johnny | John | Joseph | Julius | Jan | I lunga[3] | José | Johan | Juliet | Jale |
K | Kilo | King | King | King | Kléber | Kaufmann | Karel | Kilo | Kilo | Kalle | Kilo | Kilo |
L | Lima | Love | Love | Larry | Louis | Ludwig | Lodewijk | Livorno | Lorenzo | Ludvig | Lima | Liman |
Ll | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Llobregat | - | - | - |
M | Mike/Mama | Mike | Mother | Mary | Marcel | Martha | Maria | Milano | Madrid | Martin | Mike | Merih |
N | November | Nan | Nuts | Nora | Nicolas | Nordpol | Nico | Napoli | Navarra | Niklas | November | Neptün |
Ñ | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Ñoño | - | - | - |
O | Oscar | Oboe | Orange | Ocean | Oscar | Otto | Otto | Otranto | Oviedo | Olof | Oscar | Oruç |
Ö | - | - | - | - | - | Ökonom | - | - | - | Östen | - | - |
P | Papa | Peter | Peter | Peter | Pierre | Paula | Pieter | Padova | París | Petter | Papa | Pilot |
Q | Quebec | Queen | Queen | Queen | Quintal | Quelle | Quotiënt | Quarto | Querido | Quintus | Quebec | - |
R | Romeo | Roger | Roger / Robert | Robert | Raoul | Richard | Rudolf | Roma | Ramón | Rudolf | Romeo | Roket |
S | Sierra | Sugar | Sugar | Sam | Suzanne | Samuel | Simon | Savona | Sábado | Sigurd | Sierra | Süngü |
Sch | - | - | - | - | - | Schule | - | - | - | - | - | - |
ß | - | - | - | - | - | Eszett[3] | - | - | - | - | - | - |
T | Tango | Tare | Tommy | Tom | Thérèse | Theodor | Teunis | Torino | Tarragona | Tore | Tango | Türk |
U | Uniform | Uncle | Uncle | Union | Ursule | Ulrich | Utrecht | Udine | Ulises | Urban | Uniform | Ulu |
Ü | - | - | - | - | - | Übermut | - | - | - | Übel | - | - |
V | Victor | Victor | Vic | Victor | Victor | Viktor | Victor | Venezia | Valencia | Viktor | Victor | Vatan |
W | Whiskey | William | William | William | William | Wilhelm | Willem | Washington | Washington | Wilhelm | Whiskey | - |
X | X-ray | X-ray | X-ray | X-ray | Xavier | Xanthippe | Xanthippe | Ics[3] | Xiquena | Xerxes | X-ray | |
IJ | - | - | - | - | - | - | IJmuiden | - | - | - | - | - |
Y | Yankee | Yoke | Yoke / Yorker | Young | Yvonne | Ypsilon[3] | Ypsilon[3] | York | Yeguna | Yngve | Yankee | Yavuz |
Z | Zulu | Zebra | Zebra | Zebra | Zoé | Zacharias | Zaandam | Zara | Zaragoza | Zäta[3] | Zulu | Zeybek |
Æ | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Ægir | - |
Ø | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Ødis | - |
Å | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Åke | Åse | - |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "The International Phonetic Alphabet for Radio Communications". Communications Specialists. http://www.comm-spec.com/phonetic-alphabet.php. Retrieved on 2009-02-27.
- ^ tr:Fonetik abece tablosu
- ^ a b c d e f This is simply the ordinary name of the letter.
[edit] External links
- Phonetic/spelling Alphabets for various languages from Brian Kelk's website
- Spelling alphabet creator - utility to automatically spell out a text in one of 12 radio alphabets
- Spelling alphabets from around the world by WorldAlphabets.info
- Online Spelling Alphabet Tool at Linefeed.be (12 languages)