It is often desirable to distinguish an IPA symbol from the sound it is intended to represent, since there is not a one-to-one correspondence between symbol and sound in broad transcription. The symbol's names and phonetic descriptions are described in the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. The symbols also have nonce names in the Unicode standard. In some cases, the Unicode names and the IPA names do not agree. For example, IPA calls ɛ "epsilon", but Unicode calls it "small letter open E".
Letters
The traditional names of the Latin and Greek letters are used for unmodified symbols. In Unicode, some of the symbols of Greek origin have Latin forms for use in IPA[clarification needed]; the others use the symbols from the Greek section.
↑The Latin phi; the old-style or Greek phi (φ) is used in linguistics to mark prosodic units (foot).
↑The Latin upsilon is frequently called "horseshoe u" in order to distinguish it from the Greek upsilon (υ). Historically, it derives from a Latin small capital U. Greek upsilon is also an IPA symbol, called "Cursive V" in the Handbook.
The IPA standard includes some small capital letters, such as ʀ and ɢ, although it is common to refer to these symbols as simply "capital" or "cap" letters, because the IPA standard does not include any full-size capital letters.
Cursive-based letters
A few letters have the forms of cursive or script letters. Examples:
↑This IPA symbol is often called by the name of the corresponding Arabic letter, ayin.[citation needed]
A couple letters are inverted (flipped on a horizontal axis): ʁinverted small capital R and the obsolete ʖinverted glottal stop. (ʍ could also be called an inverted w, but turned w is more common.)
Letters with extra lines, curls and serifs
When a horizontal stroke is added, it is called a crossbar, as in ħbarred h, ɵbarred o, ʢreversed barred glottal stop or barred ayin, and ɟbarred dotless j or barred gelded j (apparently never 'turned f').
One letter instead has a slash through it: øslashed o.
The implosives have hook tops: ɓhook-top b, ɗhook-top d, etc., as does ɦhook-top h.
Such an extension at the bottom of a letter is called a tail. It may be specified as left or right depending on which direction it turns, as in ɳright-tail n, ɻright-tail turned r, ɲleft-tail n, ʐtail z (or just retroflex z), etc. Note that ŋ is called eng or engma, ɱmeng, and ꜧheng.
When the tail loops over itself, it's called curly: ʝcurly-tail j, ɕcurly-tail c.
There are also a few unique modifications: ɬbelted l, ɞclosed reversed epsilon (there was once also a ɷclosed omega), ɰright-leg turned m, ɺturned long-leg r (there was once also a long-leg r), ǁdouble pipe, and the obsolete ʗstretched c.
Several non-English letters have traditional names: çc cedilla, ðeth (also spelled edh), ŋengma or eng, əschwa (also spelled shwa), ǃexclamation mark, ǀpipe.
Other symbols are unique to the IPA, and have developed their own quirky names: ɾfish-hook r, ɤram's horns, ʘbull's eye, ʃesh (apparently never 'stretched s'), ʒezh (sometimes confused with yogh), ɧhook-top heng.
The ʔ is usually called by the sound it represents, glottal stop. This is not normally a problem, because this symbol is seldom used to represent anything else. However, to specify the symbol itself, it is sometimes unofficially called a gelded question mark. This latter name is derived from its original form as a dotless question mark in a fashion reminiscent of gelding.
Diacritics are alternately named after their function. This would mean that the bridge is called the dental sign, the under-stroke is the syllabicity sign, and the up tack is the raising sign.
References
Pullum, Geoffrey K., and William A. Ladusaw. 1996. Phonetic Symbol Guide, 2nd edn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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