Spelling alphabet

A spelling alphabet, radio alphabet, or telephone alphabet is a set of words which are used to stand for the letters of an alphabet. Each word in the spelling alphabet typically replaces the name of the letter with which it starts (acrophony). It is used to spell out words when speaking to someone not able to see the speaker, meaning there are no visual cues which assist the listener. Giving one's name over the telephone is a common scenario where a spelling alphabet is often used. Spelling alphabets are often called phonetic alphabets. These are not to be confused with phonetic transcription systems, such as the International Phonetic Alphabet, which are designed to record detailed information about the sounds of human speech.

Voice procedure

See also: Voice procedure

Spelling alphabets are especially useful when speaking in a noisy environment when clarity and promptness of communication is essential, for example during two-way radio communication between an aircraft pilot and air traffic control, or in military operations. Whereas the names of many letters sound alike, the set of replacement words can be selected to be as distinct from each other as possible, to minimise the likelihood of ambiguity or mistaking one letter for another. For example, if a burst of static cuts off the start of an English-language utterance of the letter J, it may be mistaken for A or K. In the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet (or NATO phonetic alphabet), the sequence J-A-K would be pronounced Juliet-Alpha-Kilo. Some voice procedure standards require numbers to be spelled out digit by digit, so some spelling alphabets replace confusable digit names with more distinct alternatives; for example, the NATO alphabet has "niner" for 9 to distinguish it better from 5 and the German word "nein".

History

On the Western Front of the First World War, British Army signallers developed "signalese", a way of spelling out over the landlines in use to communicate. This gave rise to phrases such as "ack-ack" from AA for anti-aircraft, and "pip-emma" for pm.

Examples

The following examples are from various languages and time periods:

Letter	NATO & Aviation	British Forces 1952	RAF 1942–43	Police	French	German (DIN 5009)	Dutch	Italian	Spanish	Swedish	Danish/Norwegian	Finnish	Turkish
A	Alpha	Abel	Apple	Adam	Anatole	Anton	Anna	Ancona	Antonio	Adam	Alfa	Aarne	Aydın
Ä	-	-	-	-	-	Ärger	-	-	-	Ärlig	-	Äiti	-
B	Bravo	Baker	Beer	Boy	Berthe	Berta	Bernard	Bologna	Barcelona	Bertil	Bravo	Bertta	Bekir
C	Charlie	Charlie	Charlie	Charlie	Célestin	Cäsar	Cornelis	Como	Carmen	Ceasar	Charlie	Celsius	Cemal
Ch	-	-	-	-	-	Charlotte	-	-	Chocolate	-	-	-	-
D	Delta	Dog	Dog	David	Désiré	Dora	Dirk	Domodossola	Dolores	David	Delta	Daavid	Deniz
E	Echo	Easy	Edward	Edward	Eugène	Emil	Eduard	Empoli	Enrique	Erik	Echo	Eemeli	Engin
F	Foxtrot	Fox	Freddy	Frank	François	Friedrich	Ferdinand	Firenze	Francia	Filip	Foxtrot	Faarao	Fener
G	Golf	George	George	George	Gaston	Gustav	Gerard	Genova	Gerona	Gustav	Golf	Gideon	Gazi
H	Hotel	How	Harry	Henry	Henri	Heinrich	Hendrik	Hotel	Historia	Helge	Hotel	Heikki	Halat
I	India	Item	In	Ida	Irma	Ida	Izaak	Imola	Inés	Ivar	India	Iivari	İstif
J	Juliet	Jig	Jug / Johnny	John	Joseph	Julius	Jan	I lunga	José	Johan	Juliet	Jussi	Jale
K	Kilo	King	King	King	Kléber	Kaufmann	Karel	Kursaal	Kilo	Kalle	Kilo	Kalle	Kilo
L	Lima	Love	Love	Lincoln	Louis	Ludwig	Lodewijk	Livorno	Lorenzo	Ludvig	Lima	Lauri	Liman
Ll	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Llobregat	-	-	-	-
M	Mike	Mike	Mother	Mary	Marcel	Martha	Maria	Milano	Madrid	Martin	Mike	Matti	Merih
N	November	Nan	Nuts	Nora	Nicolas	Nordpol	Nico	Napoli	Navarra	Niklas	November	Niilo	Neptün
Ñ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ñoño	-	-	-	-
O	Oscar	Oboe	Orange	Ocean	Oscar	Otto	Otto	Otranto	Oviedo	Olof	Oscar	Otto	Oruç
Ö	-	-	-	-	-	Ökonom	-	-	-	Östen	-	Öljy	-
P	Papa	Peter	Peter	Paul	Pierre	Paula	Pieter	Padova	París	Petter	Papa	Pekka	Pilot
Q	Quebec	Queen	Queen	Queen	Quintal	Quelle	Quotiënt	Quadro	Querido	Quintus	Quebec	Kuu	-
R	Romeo	Roger	Roger / Robert	Robert	Raoul	Richard	Rudolf	Roma	Ramón	Rudolf	Romeo	Risto	Roket
S	Sierra	Sugar	Sugar	Sam	Suzanne	Samuel	Simon	Savona	Sábado	Sigurd	Sierra	Sakari	Süngü
Sch	-	-	-	-	-	Schule	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
ß	-	-	-	-	-	Eszett	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
T	Tango	Tare	Tommy	Tom	Thérèse	Theodor	Teunis	Torino	Tarragona	Tore	Tango	Tyyne	Türk
U	Uniform	Uncle	Uncle	Union	Ursule	Ulrich	Utrecht	Udine	Ulises	Urban	Uniform	Urho	Ulu
Ü	-	-	-	-	-	Übermut	-	-	-	Übel	-	-	-
V	Victor	Victor	Vic	Victor	Victor	Viktor	Victor	Venezia	Valencia	Viktor	Victor	Vihtori	Vatan
W	Whiskey	William	William	William	William	Wilhelm	Willem	Washington	Washington	Wilhelm	Whiskey	Wiski	-
X	X-ray	X-ray	X-ray	X-ray	Xavier	Xanthippe	Xanthippe	Ics, xeres	Xiquena	Xerxes	X-ray	Äksä	-
IJ	-	-	-	-	-	-	IJmuiden	-	-	-	-	-	-
Y	Yankee	Yoke	Yoke / Yorker	Yellow	Yvonne	Ypsilon	Ypsilon	York, yacht	Yegua	Yngve	Yankee	Yrjö	Yavuz
Z	Zulu	Zebra	Zebra	Zebra	Zoé	Zacharias	Zaandam	Zara	Zaragoza	Zäta	Zulu	Tseta	Zeybek
Æ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ægir/Ærlig	-
Ø	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ødis/Østen	-	-
Å	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Åke	Åse	Åke	-

See also

• Category:Spelling alphabets

External links

• Phonetic/spelling Alphabets for various languages from Brian Kelk's website
• Spelling alphabet creator - utility to automatically spell out a text in one of 12 radio alphabets
• Spelling alphabets from around the world by WorldAlphabets.info
• Online Spelling Alphabet Tool at Linefeed.be (12 languages)