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

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

Phonetic Symbols (IPA)

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}

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)

Suprasegmentals and Prosodic Notation

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

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 .)}

Linguistic Examples

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.'

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}

Morphological Analysis

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}

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}

Syntax Trees

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$_j$ ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ]

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}

Phonological Rules

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\}

Optimality Theory

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

Historical Linguistics

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}

Sociolinguistics

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}

Acoustic Phonetics

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)

Language Typology

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

Writing Systems

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)

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

Common Abbreviations

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

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

Further Reading