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Short URL: http://scripts.sil.org/UniIPAKeyboard
IPA Unicode Keyboards
Windows Keyboards
IPA Keyman Keyboard
Keyman Download
IPA MSKLC Keyboard
MSKLC Download
IPA FreeKey Keyboard (using AutoHotkey)
Other (non-SIL) Windows Keyboards
Related Windows Resources
Linux Keyboards
Mac OS X Keyboards
IPA Unicode 5.1 Macintosh Keyboard v1.4
Download
Other Mac OS X Keyboards
Related Mac OS X Resources
Page History for Mac OS X Keyboards
Related Resources
Page History
Note
The name and version number for the SIL keyboards have changed in order to comply with SIL’s PUA deprecation policy. To find out more, you can also read SIL PUA version — what is that?. Documentation for SIL’s Corporate PUA, along with version numbers, can be found here: SIL Corporate PUA Assignments
Windows Keyboards
On Windows, three keyboarding options are available: an IPA Keyman keyboard and keyboards which work through the Windows keyboarding system (MSKLC) for US and UK keyboard layouts. A third option is now available using the AutoHotkey program.
IPA Keyman Keyboard
This keyboard requires Tavultesoft Keyman: 
http://www.tavultesoft.com/
The “IPA Unicode 5.1 (ver 1.2) KMN” keyboard, developed by Martin Hosken, is a mnemonic compiled Keyman 6 keyboard. It is intended to provide a text input method for Unicode-based applications, in order to access IPA characters. Although greatly expanded, the keyboard layout is similar to that provided for the old pre-Unicode SIL IPA93 fonts. Compiled with Keyman 6, this keyboard will also work with Keyman 7.
The keyboard layout is included in the documentation which is a part of this package.
This software and documentation is copyright ©2002-2008 by SIL International. It is distributed under the X11 free software license; see SIL International X11-style License for more information.
Note
The keyboard in its present state is specific to the “Doulos SIL” and "Charis SIL" fonts, in that it references characters in the private use area. In future releases of Doulos SIL and Charis SIL, a number of these characters are expected to appear in standard positions according to the newest Unicode specification, and the keyboard (and encodings of any documents using those characters) will have to be changed accordingly. This note does not, of course, affect standard (non-PUA) Unicode IPA characters. The keyboard supports up to Unicode 5.1.
Keyman Download
| IPA Unicode 1.2 | Beginning with version 1.1.4, this keyboard contains a fix for the problem of fast typing reordering keystrokes when using Keyman with TSF. The basic effect of this is to make Keyman do all text input using TSF, rather than a mixture of TSF and ordinary keyboard events. If you use |
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If you download this package, you must have Keyman already installed. You can just double-click IPAUni12.kmp to install the keyboard package. The keyboard layout is available in the IPA Unicode 5.1 (ver 1.2) KMN.pdf and will be available from the menu once you have installed the package. | ||
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Download this zip file if you prefer to download a zip file rather than a Keyman installer. Keyman must be installed and then you can double-click IPAUni12.kmx to install the keyboard. The keyboard layout is available in the IPA Unicode 5.1 (ver 1.2) KMN.pdf. Full installation instruction are available in welcome.htm (however, the method described in this document may not work if you have a non-US keyboard with an Alt-Gr key). | ||
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You may also download the source files for this package in the event that you wish to modify the keyboard. If you plan to redistribute your modified keyboard you must rename it. | ||
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You may just download the documentation if you wish. In an appendix, this document contains a chart of all IPA characters, IPA numbers and, where available, their Unicode equivalences. It is made available as a separate download for those who wish to use this resource without the keyboard. |
Old versions
IPA Unicode Windows Keyboards - old versions
IPA MSKLC Keyboard
This keyboard uses The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC): http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/msklc.mspx
It was designed to be similar to SIL's IPA Unicode Keyman Keyboard, in that the keystrokes follow a similar layout. In many cases keystrokes are merely reversed. That is, instead of typing n> to get a U+014B , you would type >n. This system is not always possible to maintain using MSKLC since the Keyman keyboard often used more than two keystrokes and this is not allowed using MSKLC. Please read IPA Unicode 5.1 (ver 1.2) MSK.pdf (in the download package) for installation instructions and the keyboard layout. Make sure that you reboot after installing the keyboard.
There are two keyboards, one is based on the US English keyboard layout and the other is based on the UK English keyboard layout. If you are using a French or German keyboard (or something else), it might still work. You will need to relearn where keys are though. However, we offer no guarantees or user support.
Note
The keyboard in its present state is specific to the “Doulos SIL” and "Charis SIL" fonts, in that it references characters in the private use area. In future releases of Doulos SIL and Charis SIL, a number of these characters are expected to appear in standard positions according to the newest Unicode specification, and the keyboard (and encodings of any documents using those characters) will have to be changed accordingly. This note does not, of course, affect standard (non-PUA) Unicode IPA characters. The keyboard supports up to Unicode 5.1.
MSKLC Download
This software and documentation is copyright ©2007-2008 by SIL International. It is distributed under the X11 free software license; see SIL International X11-style License for more information.
| IPA Unicode 5.1 (ver. 1.2) MSK | Changes to this keyboard:
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Choose which download you wish, either the US or UK keyboard layout. Download and unzip the zip file to an easy-to-remember location on your hard drive (if you are uncertain what to do with a .zip file, see Decompression Utilities, Downloading & Installation Tips). Installation instructions and the keyboard layout are available in the IPA Unicode 5.1 (ver 1.2) MSK.pdf. If you installed keyboard you must follow the uninstall instructions and reboot your computer before you install this keyboard. | ||||
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You may also download the source files for this package in the event that you wish to modify the keyboard. If you plan to redistribute your modified keyboard you must rename it. | ||||
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You may just download the documentation if you wish. In an appendix, this document contains a chart of all IPA characters, IPA numbers and, where available, their Unicode equivalences. It is made available as a separate download for those who wish to use this resource without the keyboard. |
Old versions
IPA Unicode Windows Keyboards - old versions
IPA FreeKey Keyboard (using AutoHotkey)
The Free Keyboard System is based on “AutoHotkey” ( http://www.autohotkey.com) which is an open source project, therefore, it can be used and distributed free of charge.
 | FreeKey SIL IPA keyboard (based on AutoKey) Hans Schaumberger, 2009-06-02 Download "FreeKey SIL IPA setup.exe", Windows application, 619KB [737 downloads] |
This documentation file is a part of the IPA FreeKey package, but is available as a separate download in case you wish to read about it before installing the package.
 | Free Keyboard System Hans Schaumberger, 2009-06-04 Download "FreeKeyDocumentation.pdf", Acrobat PDF document, 96KB [778 downloads] |
Other (non-SIL) Windows Keyboards
Unicode Phonetic Keyboard from the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics at University College London. This is an installable keyboard for Windows which uses SAMPA key coding for the SIL Unicode Roman fonts.
http://www.rejc2.co.uk/ipakeyboard/ this is a Windows keyboard layout (using MSKLC) for typing all the characters from the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Related Windows Resources
Some tools and resources for character inputLinks to useful tools for character input.
Tavultesoft KeymanKeyman is a keyboard management utility that makes it practical to input many different languages in almost any Windows application. Keyman allows you to have arbitrarily long input sequences and to have diacritics typed after the base character.
The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC)
Linux Keyboards
This keyboard uses Keyboard Mapping for Linux (KMFL): http://kmfl.sourceforge.net/
It uses the same source file as SIL's IPA Unicode Keyman Keyboard. The keystrokes for both packages are the same.
This software and documentation is copyright ©2002-2008 by SIL International. It is distributed under the X11 free software license; see SIL International X11-style License for more information.
Note
The keyboard in its present state is specific to the “Doulos SIL” and "Charis SIL" fonts, in that it references characters in the private use area. In future releases of Doulos SIL and Charis SIL, a number of these characters are expected to appear in standard positions according to the newest Unicode specification, and the keyboard (and encodings of any documents using those characters) will have to be changed accordingly. This note does not, of course, affect standard (non-PUA) Unicode IPA characters. The keyboard supports up to Unicode 5.1.
 | IPA Unicode 5.1 (ver 1.2) KMFL - debian package Martin Hosken and Lorna A. Priest, 2008-10-01 Download "kmfl-keyboard-ipa_1.2-1_all.deb", Debian Linux Package, 40KB [876 downloads] |
Mac OS X Keyboards
These downloads contain Macintosh keyboards for typing IPA characters, compatible with Unicode 5.1. These keyboards are for Mac OS X and above. Documentation is included in some packages.
IPA Unicode 5.1 Macintosh Keyboard v1.4
This software and documentation is distributed as freeware. You may modify it, but please change the filename(s).
Note
The IPA Unicode 5 Macintosh Keyboard in its present state is specific to the “Doulos SIL” and "Charis SIL" fonts, in that it references characters in the private use area. In future releases of Doulos SIL and Charis SIL, a number of these characters are expected to appear in standard positions according to the newest Unicode specification, and the keyboard (and encodings of any documents using those characters) will have to be changed accordingly. This does not, of course, affect standard (non-PUA) Unicode IPA characters. The keyboard now supports Unicode 5.1.
Download
The IPA Unicode 5.1 Macintosh Keyboard layout is based upon the IPA MSKLC Keyboard layout found here: IPA Unicode Keyboards.
 | IPA Unicode 5.1 Macintosh Keyboard v1.4 Joan Wardell, 2009-06-02 Download "IPA-MACkbd.dmg", Mac OS X disk image, 832KB [13388 downloads] |
Below are the source files if you wish to adapt the Macintosh keyboard or documentation for your own use. The application for creating the keyboard is KeyLayoutMaker: or Ukelele. See Related Packages.
| IPA Unicode 5.1(v1.4) MAC keyboard sources Joan Wardell, 2009-06-02 Download "IPA-MACSource.dmg", Mac OS X disk image, 183KB [2732 downloads] |
Other Mac OS X Keyboards
Dvorak layout of the above keyboard. Unzip and drop in ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/. No documentation. Use the Macintosh Show Keyboard Viewer to see layout.
| IPA Unicode 5.1(v1.4) Dvorak.keylayout Joan Wardell, 2009-06-02 Download "IPA_Dvorak.dmg", Mac OS X disk image, 34KB [1618 downloads] |
IPAkeys IPA Unicode keyboard layout for Mac OS X.
IPA Palette IPA Unicode Input Method for Mac OS X 10.2 (‘Jaguar’) and later. A free Unicode character palette input method for the International Phonetic Alphabet. This palette is compatible with the Hiragino font shipped with Mac OS, the (Doulos SIL) font supplied by SIL, and other IPA Unicode fonts. The software enables point-and-click character entry into Unicode-compliant software under Mac OS X.
Related Mac OS X Resources
KeyLayoutMaker:KeyLayoutMaker is a Perl script designed to create Mac OS X keyboard layout files, based on simple lists of keystrokes and required Unicode characters. It is particularly suited to creating layouts for syllabic scripts.
UkeleleUkelele is a Unicode keyboard layout editor for Mac OS X versions 10.2 and later. A fifth beta release of version 2.0 is available for download, and can be used on Mac OS X 10.4 and later. The current stable release of Ukelele, version 1.8.4 (universal binary) is still available for download. This version works on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) as well as earlier versions.
Page History for Mac OS X Keyboards
2009-06-02 JW: both v1.4 updated 4 PUA characters to Unicode 5.1 and corrected to add barred-o on =O. Dvorak now has barred-o on ~s
2008-12-12 JW: v1.3 updated for Leopard
2008-04-01 JW: added Lane Schwartz' Dvorak keyboard
2007-08-20 JW: v1.2 corrected documentation for right hook to \[
2007-08-17 JW: v1.2 corrected =# to match documentation
2007-06-15 JW: v1.1 corrected |z |Z to match documentation, installation instructions
2007-06-04 LP: removed version number of IPA MSKLC
2004-03-17 JK: Page creation
Related Resources
IPA Transcription with SIL FontsSIL International has produced several font sets over the years that allow for the transcription of linguistic data using the International Phonetic Alphabet. This page should help the user to decide whether to use Unicode fonts or whether to use the SIL IPA or SIL IPA93 fonts. It provides links to many relevant resources with regard to the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Some tools and resources for character inputLinks to useful tools for character input.
Page History
2009-06-04 LP: added FreeKey Windows package
2008-10-6 LP: added debian package
2008-10-1 LP: fixed typo in pdf for both KMN and MSK packages (no other changes)
2008-06-18 LP: included mac keyboards on this page
2008-05-16 LP: updated IPA KMN and IPA MSK packages for Unicode 5.1
2008-02-12 LP: updated IPA KMN US and IPA MSK US packages
2007-10-16 JW: added IPA MSKLC UK keyboard and source packages
2007-09-24 LP: updated IPA Unicode 5.0c (ver 1.1.4) KMN keyboard package
2007-09-14 LP: Reverted back to IPA Unicode 5.0c (ver 1.1.2) KMN keyboard package as the previous "fix" broke the keyboard.
2007-09-10 LP: updated IPA Unicode 5.0c (ver 1.1.3) KMN keyboard package
2007-06-18 LP: updated IPA Unicode 5.0c (ver 1.1.2) KMN keyboard package
2007-05-30 LP: updated IPA Unicode 5.0c (ver 1.0) MSK keyboard package
2007-05-23 LP: added UK keyboard information
2007-05-14 LP: added information to IPA MSKLC regarding non-US English keyboard use
2007-05-03 LP: added IPA MSKLC 0.6 keyboard
2007-04-09 LP: updated documentation in IPA MSKLC 0.5 keyboard package
2007-04-03 LP: moved old downloads to a separate page
2007-03-30 LP: added IPA MSKLC 0.5 keyboard
2007-03-06 LP: updated to IPA Unicode 1.1.1 Keyman 6 Keyboard
2007-01-30 LP: updated to IPA Unicode 1.1 Keyman 6 Keyboard
2006-04-10 LP: updated to IPA Unicode 1.0.6 Keyman 6 Keyboard
2004-10-11 - added IPA Unicode 1.0.5 Keyman 6 Keyboard
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