The power of adaptation: Multilingual localisation of extIPA for clinical phonetics and cross-linguistic speech assessment.

Abstract

The Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet (extIPA) support clinical transcription of atypical and disordered speech, but their chart metalanguage is primarily available in English. This article presents a feasibility study of multilingual extIPA localisation as clinical phonetic infrastructure rather than as an outcome intervention. A version-specified, language-agnostic workflow was developed and implemented across six languages: Croatian, French, German, Greek, Italian, and Welsh. The workflow decomposed extIPA chart metalanguage into 78 conceptual units, yielding 624 target-language string instances, coordinated through a translation management environment and reinserted into fixed-layout chart outputs. Process evidence from language-team review and translator comments identified recurring constraints involving source-version control, chart-cell space, orthography, technical terminology, abbreviations, and retention of English labels. The study demonstrates the feasibility of coordinated, traceable, and maintainable multilingual extIPA localisation while making no claims about effects on transcription accuracy, clinical usability, or training outcomes.