Revision of the IPA: Do you know the onion chart?

Abstract

Quite rightly, the question is being posed: For whom is the IPA chart to be of service, (a) chiefly, (b) at all? Yet regardless of who the main beneficiaries may be, an issue on which I intend to imitate the (in)action of the mugwumps, I suggest that pedagogic principles are of the greatest importance in the creation of a chart to replace the existing amalgam. That is to say, a future chart must be so designed as to be not merely a statement of the situation but also a ‘guide, philosopher and friend’ for the user, from whatever walk of life. Users may be taking their first steps in acquiring proficiency in the use of a tool that has to be at the service of an increasingly varied range of people. Viewed thus, the chart must not be a simple systematised aggregation of facts, but also a methodical presentation of the same.

5. Individual symbols and diacritics

“…It is hoped that the agreed symbols for phonation types and suprasegmental features will appear on the same chart as the symbols and diacritics, but space may be critical when all the working groups report, and we may have to opt for an 'onion chart' (cf. Baurley 1987).…”