Translate. Free Text-to-Voice translation demo by SitePal – Virtual talking people. ESL Desk. Language Learning with Livemocha. International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Origin The IPA was first published in 1888 by the Association Phonétique Internationale (International Phonetic Association), a group of French language teachers founded by Paul Passy.
The aim of the organisation was to devise a system for transcribing the sounds of speech which was independent of any particular language and applicable to all languages. A phonetic script for English created in 1847 by Isaac Pitman and Henry Ellis was used as a model for the IPA. Uses.