IPA
The International Phonetic Alphabet, used as the standard phonetic writing system.
Different languages generally use a different [see page 9, subset] of the IPA.
The IPA is [see page 11, divided] into:
- consonants
- vowels
- Non-pulmonic consonants (don't use lungs), (eg. clicks)
- Suprasegmentals - Stress, Accent, Tone
- Diacritics - Find phonetic detail
- : - to indicate the previous value is a long vowel, not a short one (eg. eh vs ee).
- ' (diacratic) - to [see page 9, indicate] a position of Lexical Stress.
IPA also allows you to specify the [see page 15, strength] of the word your pronouncing (Note in the eg. hold your hand to your mouth and notice the difference in the strength of the speech and peach. This is because we build up energy to say splosives and most of the energy in speech is absorbed by the s).
Why don't all languages adopt Phonetic Writing Systems?
Because people speak differently. The writing systems they have allow them to communicate the same meanings despite different phonetic pronunciations.