Learn how to typeset linguistic notation, phonetic symbols, and syntactic structures professionally in LaTeX.

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Essential Linguistics Packages

\usepackage{tipa}           % Phonetic symbols (IPA)
\usepackage{linguex}        % Example numbering
\usepackage{gb4e}           % Alternative example numbering
\usepackage{qtree}          % Syntax trees
\usepackage{forest}         % Advanced tree diagrams
\usepackage{tikz-qtree}     % TikZ-based trees
\usepackage{covington}      % Linguistic examples
\usepackage{vowel}          % Vowel charts

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Phonetic Symbols (IPA)

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Consonants

% Stops
\textipa{p b t d \:t \:d c \textbardotlessj k g q \textscg ?}

% Fricatives
\textipa{f v T D s z S Z s\super h z\super h C j\super h x G X R h H}

% Nasals
\textipa{m M n n\super h \:n N n\super G}

% Liquids
\textipa{l l\super h \:l L r r\super h \:r R}

% Approximants
\textipa{B j M\super j w \textbeltl}

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Vowels

% Front vowels
\textipa{i I e E a}

% Central vowels
\textipa{1 @\super r @ 6 a}

% Back vowels
\textipa{u U o O A Q}

% Additional vowels
\textipa{y Y 2 9 O/ \textbari \textschwa}
Rendered output:
\textipa{p}→p (voiceless bilabial stop)
\textipa{T}→θ (voiceless dental fricative)
\textipa{S}→ʃ (voiceless postalveolar fricative)
\textipa{@}→ə (schwa)

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Suprasegmentals and Prosodic Notation

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Stress and Tone

% Stress
\textipa{"kA:l@} % Primary stress
\textipa{%kA:l@} % Secondary stress

% Tone markings
\textipa{\`a}    % Low tone
\textipa{\'a}    % High tone
\textipa{\^a}    % Rising tone
\textipa{\v a}   % Falling tone
\textipa{\~a}    % Mid tone

% Tone letters
\textipa{ma\tone{51}}  % High falling
\textipa{ma\tone{35}}  % Mid rising
\textipa{ma\tone{214}} % Low falling-rising

% Length
\textipa{a:}     % Long
\textipa{a\super h} % Half-long

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Syllable Structure

% Syllable boundaries
\textipa{sI.l@.b@l}

% Prosodic word boundaries
\textipa{|| wO:d || bawn.d@.ri ||} 

% Phonological phrases
\textipa{( f@"nA.l@.dZI.k@l ) ( "freI.z@z )}

% Metrical feet
\textipa{(. "stres.t@d .) (. sI"la.b@l .)}

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Linguistic Examples

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Numbered Examples with linguex

\ex. This is a simple example.

\ex. \a. This is a subexample.
     \b. This is another subexample.
     \c. And yet another one.

\ex. \label{important-ex}
     This example has a label for referencing.

% Referencing
As shown in (\ref{important-ex}), we can reference examples.

% Glossed examples
\ex. \gll Mary-ga hon-o yonda.
         Mary-NOM book-ACC read.PAST
     \glt 'Mary read a book.'

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Glossed Examples with gb4e

\begin{exe}
\ex This is an example.

\ex \begin{xlist}
    \ex First subexample
    \ex Second subexample
    \end{xlist}

\ex \gll Dies ist ein Beispiel.
        this is a example
    \glt 'This is an example.'

\ex \glll María le-yó el libro.
         María 3.DAT-read.3SG.PAST the book
         Maria to.him-read the book
    \glt 'Maria read the book to him.'
\end{exe}

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Morphological Analysis

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Morpheme Boundaries

% Morpheme boundaries
un-break-able
re-write-ing
cat-s

% Allomorphs
\{Z\} $\rightarrow$ [s] / [+voiceless]
\{Z\} $\rightarrow$ [z] / [+voiced]
\{Z\} $\rightarrow$ [@z] / [+sibilant]

% Morphological rules
\textsc{plural}: N $\rightarrow$ N + \{Z\}

% Feature structures
\begin{tabular}{l}
[+animate] \\
[+human] \\
[-definite]
\end{tabular}

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Autosegmental Representation

% Tone spreading
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node at (0,0) {k};
\node at (1,0) {a};
\node at (2,0) {l};
\node at (3,0) {a};
\draw (0.5,1) node {H} -- (1,0);
\draw (0.5,1) -- (2,0);
\draw (2.5,1) node {L} -- (3,0);
\end{tikzpicture}

% Multiple tiers
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.8]
% Segmental tier
\node at (0,0) {k};
\node at (1,0) {a};
\node at (2,0) {l};
\node at (3,0) {a};
% Tonal tier
\node at (0,1) {H};
\node at (2,1) {L};
% Association lines
\draw (0,1) -- (1,0);
\draw (2,1) -- (3,0);
\end{tikzpicture}

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Syntax Trees

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Simple Trees with qtree

% Basic tree
\Tree [.S [.NP [.Det The ] [.N cat ] ]
           [.VP [.V sat ] [.PP [.P on ] [.NP [.Det the ] [.N mat ] ] ] ] ]

% With movement
\Tree [.CP [.C$'$ [.C that ] 
                  [.IP [.NP$_i$ Mary ] 
                       [.I$'$ [.I -ed ] 
                              [.VP [.V think ] 
                                   [.CP [.NP$_j$ what ] 
                                        [.C$'$ [.C ∅ ] 
                                               [.IP [.NP t$_i$ ] 
                                                    [.VP [.V bought ] 
                                                         [.NP t$_j$ ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ]

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Advanced Trees with forest

\begin{forest}
[S
  [NP
    [Det [the]]
    [N [student]]
  ]
  [VP
    [V [read]]
    [NP
      [Det [a]]
      [N [book]]
    ]
  ]
]
\end{forest}

% With features
\begin{forest}
[S
  [NP,roof
    [John]]
  [VP
    [V
      [believes]]
    [CP
      [C
        [that]]
      [S
        [NP,roof
          [Mary]]
        [VP
          [V
            [left]]]]]]]
\end{forest}

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Phonological Rules

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Rule Notation

% Basic rule format
A $\rightarrow$ B / C \_ D

% Specific examples
/t/ $\rightarrow$ [t\super h] / \_ [+vowel]

/n/ $\rightarrow$ [N] / \_ [+velar]

% Feature-based rules
[+consonant] $\rightarrow$ [+voice] / [+voice] \_ [+voice]

% Syllable-based rules
V $\rightarrow$ V: / \_ C\$ (vowel lengthening before coda)

% Optional rules
/t/ $\rightarrow$ (∅) / V \_ V (optional /t/ deletion)

% Multiple environments
/k/ $\rightarrow$ [c] / \_ \{i, e\}

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Optimality Theory

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Tableaux

\begin{tabular}{|l||c|c|c|}
\hline
Input: /kata/ & \textsc{NoCoda} & \textsc{Max} & \textsc{Dep} \\
\hline\hline
a. [kata] & *! & & \\
\hline
b. [kat] & & *! & \\
\hline
c. ☞ [ka.ta] & & & * \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

% Ranking
\textsc{NoCoda} $\gg$ \textsc{Max} $\gg$ \textsc{Dep}

% Violation marks
* violation
*! fatal violation
☞ optimal candidate

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Historical Linguistics

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Sound Changes

% Regular sound changes
Proto-Indo-European *p > Germanic f

% Conditioned changes
PIE *k > Latin c / \_ [+front vowel]
PIE *k > Latin qu / \_ [+back vowel]

% Merger and split
Middle English /a:/ > Modern English /eI/ (name)
Middle English /a:/ > Modern English /A:/ (father)

% Comparative method
\begin{tabular}{lll}
\textbf{English} & \textbf{German} & \textbf{Proto-Germanic} \\
father & Vater & *faðer- \\
mother & Mutter & *mo:ðer- \\
brother & Bruder & *broðer- \\
\end{tabular}

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Sociolinguistics

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Variation and Variables

% Variables
(ing): [IN] vs. [In]
(th): [T] vs. [f] vs. [d]

% Variable rules
(r) $\rightarrow$ ∅ / V \_ \# (r-dropping)
Probability: 0.8 (working class), 0.2 (middle class)

% Correlation tables
\begin{tabular}{|l|c|c|}
\hline
\textbf{Social Class} & \textbf{[IN]\%} & \textbf{[In]\%} \\
\hline
Upper Middle & 95 & 5 \\
Lower Middle & 75 & 25 \\
Working & 25 & 75 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

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Acoustic Phonetics

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Spectrograms and Formants

% Formant notation
F1 = \SI{500}{Hz}, F2 = \SI{1500}{Hz}, F3 = \SI{2500}{Hz}

% Vowel formant space
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=0.8]
\draw[->] (0,0) -- (4,0) node[right] {F2 (Hz)};
\draw[->] (0,0) -- (0,3) node[above] {F1 (Hz)};
\node at (0.5,0.5) {i};
\node at (3.5,0.5) {u};
\node at (2,2.5) {a};
\node at (1.5,1) {e};
\node at (2.5,1) {o};
\end{tikzpicture}

% VOT measurements
VOT = \SI{+15}{ms} (aspirated)
VOT = \SI{+5}{ms} (unaspirated)
VOT = \SI{-85}{ms} (voiced)

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Language Typology

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Typological Features

% Word order typology
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\textbf{Type} & \textbf{Example} \\
SOV & Japanese, Turkish \\
SVO & English, Mandarin \\
VSO & Welsh, Irish \\
VOS & Malagasy \\
OVS & Hixkaryana \\
OSV & Warao \\
\end{tabular}

% Implicational universals
If a language has dual number, then it has plural number.
If SOV $\rightarrow$ then postpositions (generally)

% Morphological typology
\textbf{Analytic}: Vietnamese, Chinese
\textbf{Synthetic}: Latin, Russian  
\textbf{Agglutinative}: Turkish, Finnish
\textbf{Polysynthetic}: Mohawk, Inuktitut

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Writing Systems

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Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondences

% English spelling
\textipa{/naIt/} $\leftrightarrow$ \textit{night, knight}
\textipa{/tu:/} $\leftrightarrow$ \textit{two, too, to}

% Arabic transliteration
\textarabic{kitAb} ← k-t-b (root)
\textarabic{kAtib} ← writer (active participle)

% Chinese characters
汉字 hànzì (Chinese characters)
人 rén (person) + 木 mù (tree) = 休 xiū (rest)

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Best Practices

Consistent IPA Usage

Use the same IPA conventions throughout your document

Clear Example Formatting

Number and format linguistic examples consistently

Proper Glossing

Follow Leipzig Glossing Rules for morpheme-by-morpheme translation

Tree Readability

Keep syntax trees simple and well-spaced for clarity

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Common Abbreviations

AbbreviationMeaning
NOMNominative
ACCAccusative
DATDative
GENGenitive
1SGFirst person singular
3PLThird person plural
PASTPast tense
PRESPresent tense
PERFPerfect aspect
PROGProgressive aspect

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Troubleshooting

Common issues:
  • Missing TIPA fonts: Install the tipa package properly
  • Tree alignment: Use appropriate tree packages for complex structures
  • IPA rendering: Some symbols require special font handling
  • Example numbering: Don’t mix linguex and gb4e in the same document

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Further Reading

Music Notation

Musical symbols and notation

Creating Diagrams

Advanced TikZ diagrams for syntax trees

Symbol Reference

General symbol reference

Advanced Formatting

Text formatting techniques