NATO phonetic alphabet
NATO phonetic alphabet
The pronunciation of the codes for the letters of the alphabet and for the digits varies according to the language habits of the speaker. To eliminate wide variations in pronunciation, posters illustrating the pronunciation desired by the ICAO are available.[4] However, there are still differences in pronunciation between the ICAO and other agencies, and the ICAO has conflicting Roman-alphabet and IPA transcriptions. Also, although all codes for the letters of the alphabet are English words, they are not in general given English pronunciations. Assuming that the transcriptions are not intended to be precise, only 11 of the 26—Bravo, Echo, Hotel, Juliet(t), Kilo, Mike, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Whiskey, and Zulu —are given English pronunciations by all these agencies, though not always the same English pronunciations.
[edit ] Letters
Letter
Code
word
Pronunciation
US Army standard [6] ICAO [4]
and ITU Roman standard [7]
FAA
standards [8
][9]
ICAO IPA standard [4] Consolidate
d
transcripti on A
Alfa
(ICAO, ITU,
IMO, FAA)
Alpha (ATIS)
AL fah AL FAH
AL FAH or
AL-FAH
??lfɑ
/??lf ɑ?/ AL -fah B
Bravo BRAH voh BRAH VOH BRAH VOH or
BRAH-VO
?br ɑ??vo
/?br ɑ?vo ?/
BRAH -voh or /?br ɑ??vo ?/
BRAH-VOH
C
Charli e CHAR lee CHAR LEE
or
SHAR LEE
CHAR LEE or CHAR-LEE or SHAR-LEE ?t ?ɑ?li or ??ɑ?li /?t ?ɑr li ?/ CHAR -lee
or
/?t ?ɑ?li
?/
CHAH -lee or
/??ɑr li ?/ SHAR -lee or
/??ɑ?li ?/ SHAH -lee
D Delta DEL tah DELL TAH DELL TAH or
DELL-TAH ?delt ɑ
/?d ?lt ɑ?/ DEL -tah E Echo
EKK oh ECK OH
ECK OH or
ECK-OH
?eko
/??ko ?/ EK -oh F
Foxtro t FOKS trot
FOKS TROT
FOKS TROT or FOKS-TROT ?f ?kstr ?t /?f ?kstr ?t / FOKS -trot G Golf Golf GOLF
GOLF
ɡ?lf [sic ]
/?ɡ?lf/ GOLF or /?ɡ?lf/ GULF H
Hotel HO tell HOH TELL HOH TELL or HOH-TELL ho ??tel
/ho ??t ?l/ hoh-TEL or /?ho ?t ?l/ HOH -tel I
India IN dee ah IN DEE AH IN DEE AH or
IN-DEE-AH ?indi ?ɑ
/??ndi ɑ?/ IN -dee-ah J
Juliet t
(ICAO, ITU, IMO, FAA) Juliet (ATIS)
JEW lee ett JEW LEE ETT JEW LEE ETT
or JEW-LEE-ET T
?d ?u ?li ??e
t
/?d ?u ?li ?t/
JEW -lee-et
or
/?d ?u ?
li ??t/
JEW -lee-ET K Kilo KEY loh KEY LOH KEY LOH or
KEY-LOH
?ki ?lo
/?ki ?lo ?/ KEE -loh L Lima LEE mah LEE MAH LEE MAH or
LEE-MAH ?li ?m ɑ
/?li ?m ɑ?/ LEE -mah M
Mike
Mike
MIKE
MIKE
m ɑik
/?ma ?k/ MYK N
Novemb er NOH vem ber NO VEM
BER
NO VEM BER
or NO-VEM-BER
no ?vemb ?
/no ??v ?mb ?/
noh-VEM -b ? or
/?no ?v ?mb ?r/
NOH -vem-b ?r
[10]
O Oscar OSS car OSS CAH
OSS CAH or
OSS-CAH ??sk ɑ
/??sk ɑ?/ OS -kah or
/??sk ɑr / OS -kar P Papa PAH pah PAH PAH
PAH PAH or
PAH-PAH
p ??p ɑ
/p ɑ??p ɑ?/ pah-PAH or /p ??p ɑ?/ p ?-PAH or /?p ɑ?p ɑ?/ PAH -pah Q Quebec keh BECK KEH BECK KEH BECK or
KEH-BECK ke ?bek
/k ??b ?k/ ke-BEK R
Romeo ROW me oh ROW ME OH ROW ME OH or
ROW-ME-OH ?ro ?mi ?o
/?ro ?mio ?/ ROH -mee-oh S Sierra see AIR ah SEE AIR
RAH
SEE AIR AH
or SEE-AIR-AH si ?er ɑ
/si ??r ɑ?/ see-ERR -ah T
Tango TANG go TANG GO
TANG GO or
TANG-GO
?t?nɡo
/?t ??ɡo ?/ TANG -goh U
Unifor m YOU nee form YOU NEE FORM or OO NEE FORM YOU NEE
FORM or
YOU-NEE-FO
RM or
OO-NEE-FOR
M
?ju ?nif ??m
or
?u ?nif ?rm
/?ju ?nif ?rm/
EW -nee-form or /?ju ?nif ??m/
EW -nee-fawm or /?u ?nif ?rm/
OO -nee-form
V
Victor VIK ter VIK TAH
VIK TAH or
VIK-TAH
?vikt ɑ
/?v ?kt ɑ?/ VIK -tah or /?v ?kt ?r/ VIK -t ?r W
Whiske y WISS key WISS KEY WISS KEY or
WISS-KEY ?wiski
/?w ?ski/ WIS -kee X
X-ray or Xray EKS ray ECKS RAY ECK SRAY [sic ] or ECKS-RAY ?eks ?rei /??ksre ?/ EKS -ray or /??ks ?re ?/ EKS-RAY Y Yankee YANG kee YANG KEY YAN GKEY
[sic ] or YANG-KEY ?j?nki
/?j ??ki/ YANG -kee Z
Zulu
ZOO loo ZOO LOO ZOO LOO or ?zu ?lu ?
/?zu ?lu ?
ZOO-LOO /ZOO-loo
(hyphe n) Dash
/?d??/
DASH
[edit] Digits
Digit Code word Pronunciation Wikipedia transcription
0Zero (FAA)
Nadazero (ITU,
IMO)
ZE-RO (ICAO), ZE RO or
ZEE-RO (FAA)
NAH-DAH-ZAY-ROH (ITU,
IMO)
/?z?ro?/ZERR-oh or /?zi
?ro?/ZEE-roh
/?nɑ??dɑ??ze??ro?/
NAH-DAH-ZAY-ROH
1One (FAA)
Unaone (ITU,
IMO)
WUN (ICAO, FAA)
OO-NAH-WUN (ITU, IMO)
/?w?n/WUN
/?u??nɑ??w?n/
OO-NAH-WUN
2Two (FAA)
Bissotwo (ITU,
IMO)
TOO (ICAO, FAA)
BEES-SOH-TOO (ITU, IMO)
/?tu?/TOO
/?bi??so??tu?/
BEE-SOH-TOO
3Three (FAA)
Terrathree
(ITU, IMO)
TREE (ICAO, FAA)
TAY-RAH-TREE (ITU, IMO)
/?tri?/TREE
/?te??rɑ??tri?/
TAY-RAH-TREE
4Four (FAA)
Kartefour
(ITU, IMO)
FOW-ER (ICAO), FOW ER
(FAA)
KAR-TAY-FOWER (ITU,
IMO)
/?fo?.?r/FOH-?r
/?kɑr?te??fo?.?r/
KAR-TAY-FOH-?r
5Five (FAA)
Pantafive
(ITU, IMO)
FIFE (ICAO, FAA)
PAN-TAH-FIVE (ITU, IMO)
/?fa?f/FYF[11]
/?p?n?tɑ??fa?v/
PAN-TAH-FYV
6Six (FAA)
Soxisix (ITU,
IMO)
SIX (ICAO, FAA)
SOK-SEE-SIX (ITU, IMO)
/?s?ks/SIKS
/?s?k?si??s?ks/
SOK-SEE-SIKS
7Seven (FAA)
Setteseven
(ITU, IMO)
SEV-EN (ICAO), SEV EN
(FAA)
SAY-TAY-SEVEN (ITU,
IMO)
/?s?v?n/SEV-en
/?se??te??s?v?n/
SAY-TAY-SEV-en
8Eight (FAA)
Oktoeight
(ITU, IMO)
AIT (ICAO, FAA)
OK-TOH-AIT (ITU, IMO)
/?e?t/AYT
/??k?to??e?t/
OK-TOH-AYT
9Niner (FAA)
Nine or niner
(ICAO)
Novenine (ITU,
NIN-ER (ICAO), NIN ER
(FAA)
NO-VAY-NINER (ITU, IMO)
/?na?n?r/NY-n?r[12]
/?n?v?e??na?n?r/
NOV-AY-NY-n?r
IMO)
100 Hundred (ICAO) HUN-dred (ICAO) /?h ?ndr ?d/ HUN -dred 1000
Thousand (ICAO)
TOU-SAND (ICAO)
/?ta ??s ?nd/ TOW-SAND (??)
. (decimal point) Point (FAA)
Decimal (ITU, ICAO) DAY-SEE-MAL (ITU) (ICAO)
/?de ??si ??m ?l/
DAY-SEE-MAL
. (full
stop)
Stop (ITU)
STOP (ITU)
/?st ?p/ STOP
[edit ] Other words
Main article: Voice procedure
Several important short words and responses have set equivalents designed to make them more reliably intelligible, and are used in the same situations as the NATO alphabet .
For "yes" and "no", radio operators say affirmative and negative , though to avoid possible confusion affirm is sometimes used for affirmative "Help" is mayday – emergency , often shortened to mayday ; this "mayday" is based on French m'aidez 'help me!'.
Acknowledgement of a message is expressed with roger message , often shortened to roger ; "roger " was the WWII-era word for R (modern 'romeo'), which stood for "received".
Ending a turn is signaled by over , short for over to you ; the end of a message is signaled by out .
Telegraphese is used, with functions words like the, a/an, and is/are dropped, and contractions are avoided for full forms such as do not (don't ). And, as noted above, stop is used to end a sentence, contrasting with decimal for a decimal point in a number.
[edit ] Pronunciation
Pronunciations are somewhat uncertain because the agencies, while ostensibly using the same pronunciations, give different transcriptions, which are often inconsistent from letter to letter. The ICAO gives different pronunciations in IPA transcription than in respelling, and the
FAA also gives different pronunciations depending on the publication consulted, the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual(§ 4-2-7), the FAA Flight Services manual (§ 14.1.5), or the ATC manual (§ 2-4-16). ATIS gives English spellings, but does not give pronunciations or numbers. The ICAO, NATO, and FAA use modifications of English numerals, with stress on one syllable, while the ITU and IMO compound pseudo-Latinate numerals with a slightly different set of modified English numerals, and with stress on each syllable. Numbers 10–99 are spelled out (that is, 17 is "1-7" and 60 is "6-0"), while for hundreds and thousands the English words hundred and thousand are used.[4][5][7][8][9][13]
The short set of digit words consistently differ from English at 3, 4, 5, and 9. These are pronounced tree, fower, fife,and niner. 3 is specified as tree so that it is not pronounced "sri"; the long pronunciation of 4 (still found in some English dialects) keeps it somewhat distinct from for; 5 is pronounced with a second "f" because the normal pronunciation with a "v" is easily confused with "fire" (a command to shoot); and 9 has an extra syllable to keep it distinct from German nein 'no'.
Only the ICAO prescribes pronunciation with the IPA, and then only for letters.[4]Several of the pronunciations indicated are slightly modified from their normal English pronunciations: /??lfɑ, ?brɑ??vo, ??ɑ?li, ?deltɑ, ?f?kstr?t, ɡ?lf, ?li?mɑ, ??skɑ, si?erɑ, ?t?nɡo,
?u?nif?rm, ?viktɑ, ?j?nki/, partially due to the substitution of final schwas with the ah vowel; in addition, the intended distinction between the short vowels /o ɑ ?/ and the long vowels /o?ɑ???/ is obscure, and has been ignored in the consolidated transcription above. Both the IPA and respelled pronunciations were developed by the ICAO before 1956 with advice from the governments of both the United States and United Kingdom,[14] so the pronunciations of both General American English and British Received Pronunciation are evident, especially in the rhotic and non-rhotic accents. The respelled version is usually at least consistent with a rhotic accent ('r' pronounced), as in CHAR LEE, SHAR LEE, NO VEM BER, YOU NEE FORM, and OO NEE FORM, whereas the IPA version usually specifies a non-rhotic accent ('r' pronounced only before a vowel), as in ?t?ɑ?li, ??ɑ?li, no?vemb?, and ?ju?nif??m. Exceptions are OSS CAH, VIK TAH and ?u?nif?rm. The IPA form of Golf implies it is pronounced gulf, which is not either General American English or British Received Pronunciation. Different agencies assign different stress patterns to Bravo, Hotel, Juliett, November, Papa, X-ray; the ICAO has different stresses for Bravo, Juliett, X-ray in its respelled and IPA transcriptions. The mid back [?] vowel transcribed in Oscar and Foxtrot is actually a low vowel in both Received British and General American, and has been interpreted as such above. Furthermore, the pronunciation
prescribed for "whiskey" agrees with General American but not with RP, in which the h of wh- is pronounced.
[edit ] History
The first internationally recognized spelling alphabet was adopted by the ITU during 1927. The experience gained with that alphabet resulted in several changes being made during 1932 by the ITU. The resulting alphabet was adopted by the International Commission for Air Navigation, the predecessor of the ICAO , and was used for civil aviation until World War II.[14] It continued to be used by the IMO until 1965:
Amsterdam Baltimore Casablanca Denmark Edison Florida Gallipoli Havana Italia Jerusalem Kilogramme Liverpool Madagascar New_York Oslo Paris Quebec Roma Santiago Tripoli Upsala Valencia Washington Xanthippe Yokohama Zurich
Military alphabets before 1956
Royal Navy
Western Front slang
or "signalese"
RAF phonetic alphabet
U.S. phonetic alphabet 1914–1918 (WWI) 1924–1942
1943–1956
1941–1956 Apples Butter Charlie Duff Edward Freddy George Harry Ink Johnnie King London Monkey Nuts Orange Pudding Queenie Robert Sugar Tommy Uncle
Ack Beer Charlie Don Edward Freddie Gee Harry Ink Johnnie King London Emma Nuts Oranges Pip Queen Robert Essex Toc Uncle
Ace Beer Charlie Don Edward Freddie George Harry Ink Johnnie King London Monkey Nuts Orange Pip Queen Robert Sugar Toc Uncle Able/Affirm Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox George How Item/Interrogatory Jig/Johnny King Love Mike Nab/Negat Oboe Peter/Prep Queen Roger Sugar Tare Uncle
Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox George How Item Jig King Love Mike Nan Oboe Peter Queen Roger Sugar Tare Uncle
Vinegar Willie Xerxes Yellow Zebra
Vic
William
X-ray
Yorker
Zebra
Vic
William
X-ray
Yorker
Zebra
Victor
William
X-ray
Yoke
Zebra
Victor
William
X-ray
Yoke
Zebra
For military use, British and American armed forces each developed their spelling alphabets before both forces adopted the ICAO alphabet during 1956. British forces adopted the RAF phonetic alphabet, which is similar to the phonetic alphabet used by the Royal Navy during World War I. The U.S. adopted the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet during 1941 to standardize systems among all branches of its armed forces. The U.S. alphabet became known as Able Baker after the words for A and B. The United Kingdom adapted its RAF alphabet during 1943 to be almost identical to the American
Joint-Army-Navy (JAN) one.
After World War II, with many aircraft and ground personnel from the allied armed forces, "Able Baker" continued to be used for civil aviation. But many sounds were unique to English, so an alternative "Ana Brazil" alphabet was used in Latin America. But the International Air Transport Association (IATA), recognizing the need for a single universal alphabet, presented a draft alphabet to the ICAO during 1947 that had sounds common to English, French, and Spanish. After further study and modification by each approving body, the revised alphabet was implemented on 1 November 1951 for civil aviation (but it may not have been adopted by any military):[14]
Alfa Bravo Coca Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliett Kilo Lima Metro Nectar Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Union Victor Whisky Extra Yankee Zulu
Problems were soon found with this list. Some users believed that they were so severe that they reverted to the old "Able Baker" alphabet. To identify the deficiencies of the new alphabet, testing was conducted among speakers from 31 nations, principally by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States. Confusion among words like Delta, Nectar, Victor, and Extra, or the unintelligibility of other words during poor receiving conditions were the main problems. After much study, only the five words representing the letters C, M, N, U, and X were replaced. The final version given in the table above was implemented by the ICAO on 1 March 1956,[14]and the ITU adopted it no later than 1959 when they mandated its usage via their official publication, Radio Regulations.[15] Because the ITU governs all international radio communications, it was also adopted by all radio operators, whether military, civilian, or amateur (ARRL). It was finally adopted by the IMO in 1965. During 1947 the ITU
adopted the compound number words (Nadazero Unaone, etc.), later adopted by the IMO during 1965.