Chinese linguists use a number of additional phonetic symbols that are not part of the standardInternational Phonetic Alphabet.^[1][2] These symbols are commonly encountered in introductory textbooks of Chinese phonetics and in introductorydescriptive works of any Chinese "dialects".^[1] Many Western linguists who work in the field of Chinese linguistics also use these symbols,^[1] for instance, Loggins (2022) writes "[to] introduce the general reader to what they may encounter should they consult one of such publications, I am using the IPA-castaways [ʅ] and [ɿ]".^[3]

The following vowel letters are used by those who want to specify more equally-spaced symbols in the IPA vowel space.^[4] They derive from the Americanistproposal by Bloch & Trager. In addition, ⟨ɩ⟩ and ⟨ɷ⟩ may differ slightly from theirold IPA usage.^[4]

The following letters derive fromKarlgren, from the 'long i' and 'long y' of theSwedish Dialect Alphabet, with a terminal added to resemble a turned iota⟨℩⟩. While they are frequently called "apical vowels" (derivative from their name in Chinese tradition), they are typically analyzed assyllabic rhoticapproximants or (lenited)syllabic fricatives inmanner, and may be apical,laminal, or apicolaminal (simultaneously apical and laminal) inplace, depending on the language.^[6][7][8] Some authors have also described them to exhibit vowel coloring.^[9] Note that thelabialized examples below are somewhat simplified transcriptions for demonstrative purposes.

The following consonant letters are featural derivatives of ⟨ɕ⟩ and ⟨ʑ⟩, though which in the Sinological literature often stand forpalato-alveolar[ʃ] and[ʒ] rather thanalveolo-palatal[ɕ] and[ʑ] of the IPA. Aside from the aforementioned consonants, the others listed below are always intended to be alveolo-palatal.

Unicode supports modifier (superscript) variants of the IPA symbols and composite ⟨o̧⟩. For the remainder of the symbols in angled brackets above, support for modifier variants was approved in 2025 for inclusion in Unicode 18.^[10]

Sinologists tend to use superscriptChao tone numerals rather than theChao tone letters of the IPA, even though the numerals conflict with their values in other parts of the world. The correspondence is 1 for extra-low pitch and 5 for extra-high; single digits are frequently doubled to prevent confusion withtone numbers, though sometimes a single digit is used with a short vowel and a double digit with along vowel.

TheUniversal Phonetic Symbol Set in China is a set of nationally recognized phonetic symbols based on the IPA. It consists of the following sets of symbols,^[11]

• the full set of IPA consonant, vowel andtone letters, as well as a substantial fraction of historical and ext-IPA;
• the Sinological letters listed above;
• the affricate ligaturesʦʣ,ʧʤ,𝼜𝼙,ʨʥ,ꭧꭦ, plus analogous ligatures forpɸbβ,pfbv,tθdð,cçɟʝ,kxɡɣ/gɣ,qχɢʁ, of which tθ dð are scheduled for Unicode 18;
• Americanist notation noted in the IPA handbook such asč andƛ; Greek letters commonly substituted for IPA such asγ andη;ψ ofUPA, andþ
• the IPA variants schwa with the hook of anr, gelded question mark, and baby gamma;
• an ʅ-ʯ ligature, which is scheduled for Unicode 18, and what looks like an ι-ɕ ligature;
• tone letters include both generic◌˥◌˦◌˧◌˨◌˩ and tone-sandhi◌꜒◌꜓◌꜔◌꜕◌꜖, and the various combinations they form; the neutral-tone letters◌꜈◌꜉◌꜊◌꜋◌꜌ and sandhi◌꜍◌꜎◌꜏◌꜐◌꜑, and the traditional tone marks of yin ꜀píng, ꜂shǎng, qù꜄, ruʔ꜆ and yang ꜁píng, ꜃shǎng, qù꜅, ruʔ꜇;
• the full set of IPA combining and spacing diacritics, including old IPA / Sinological⟨ʻ⟩ for aspiration, as well as some historical and ext-IPA diacritics;
• the Sinological dot⟨ꞏ⟩;
• the arrows↑↓↗↘⤴⤵↕ and the inverse of ↕ [two arrows facing each other vertically];
• ≺ for inhalation and thenull symbol ⟨∅⟩.

The affricate ligatures, ι-ɕ ligature, and facing vertical arrows are not planned for Unicode.

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