spelling out

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 (the McGurk effect). 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. However, phonetic transcription systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet are designed to record detailed information about the sounds of human speech. As written representations of spoken sounds, they are utterly different from spelling alphabets, which are spoken representations of written symbols.

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 Juliett-Alpha-Kilo. Some voice procedure standards require numbers to be spelled out digit by digit; 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. Pip-emma for pm.

Examples

The following examples are from various languages and time periods:

Letter	NATO & Aviation	British Forces 1952	RAF 1942-43	NY Police	French	German	Italian	Spanish	Swedish
A	Alpha	Abel	Apple	Adam	Anatole	Anton	Ancona	Antonio	Adam
Ä	-	-	-	-	-	Ärger	-	-	Ärlig
B	Bravo	Baker	Beer	Boy	Berthe	Berta	Bologna	Barcelona	Bertil
C	Charlie	Charlie	Charlie	Charlie	Célestin	Cäsar	Como	Carmen	Ceasar
Ch	-	-	-	-	-	Charlotte	-	Chocolate	-
D	Delta	Dog	Dog	David	Désiré	Dora	Domodossola	Dolores	David
E	Echo	Easy	Edward	Edward	Eugène	Emil	Empoli	Enrique	Erik
F	Foxtrot	Fox	Freddy	Frank	François	Friedrich	Firenze	Francia	Fredrik
G	Golf	George	George	George	Gaston	Gustav	Genova	Gerona	Gustav
H	Hotel	How	Harry	Harry	Henri	Heinrich	Hotel	Historia	Helge
I	India	Item	In	Ida	Irma	Ida	Imola	Inés	Ivar
J	Juliet	Jig	Jug / Johnny	John	Joseph	Julius	I lunga	José	Johan
K	Kilo	King	King	King	Kléber	Kaufmann	Kilo	Kilo	Kalle
L	Lima	Love	Love	Larry	Louis	Ludwig	Livorno	Lorenzo	Ludvig
Ll	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Llobregat	-
M	Mike	Mike	Mother	Mary	Marcel	Martha	Milano	Madrid	Martin
N	November	Nan	Nuts	Nora	Nicolas	Nordpol	Napoli	Navarra	Niklas
Ñ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Ñoño	-
O	Oscar	Oboe	Orange	Ocean	Oscar	Otto	Otranto	Oviedo	Olof
Ö	-	-	-	-	-	Ökonom	-	-	Östen
P	Papa	Peter	Peter	Peter	Pierre	Paula	Padova	París	Petter
Q	Quebec	Queen	Queen	Queen	Quintal	Quelle	Quarto	Querido	Quintus
R	Romeo	Roger	Roger / Robert	Robert	Raoul	Richard	Roma	Ramón	Rudolf
S	Sierra	Sugar	Sugar	Sam	Suzanne	Samuel	Savona	Sábado	Sigurd
Sch	-	-	-	-	-	Schule	-	-	-
ß	-	-	-	-	-	Eszett	-	-	-
T	Tango	Tare	Tommy	Tom	Thérèse	Theodor	Torino	Tarragona	Tore
U	Uniform	Uncle	Uncle	Union	Ursule	Ulrich	Udine	Ulises	Urban
Ü	-	-	-	-	-	Übermut	-	-	Übel
V	Victor	Victor	Vic	Victor	Victor	Viktor	Venezia	Valencia	Viktor
W	Whiskey	William	William	William	William	Wilhelm	Washington	Washington	Wilhelm
X	X-ray	X-ray	X-ray	X-ray	Xavier	Xanthippe	Ics	Xiquena	Xerxes
Y	Yankee	Yoke	Yoke / Yorker	Young	Yvonne	Ypsilon	York	Yeguna	Yngve
Z	Zulu	Zebra	Zebra	Zebra	Zoé	Zeppelin	Zara	Zaragoza	Zäta