NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO phonetic alphabet, more formally the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet, is the most widely used spelling alphabet. Though often called "phonetic alphabets", spelling alphabets have no connection to phonetic transcription systems like the International Phonetic Alphabet. Instead, the NATO alphabet assigns code words to the letters of the English alphabet acrophonically so that critical combinations of letters (and numbers) can be pronounced and understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of their native language, especially when the safety of navigation or persons is essential. The paramount reason is to ensure intelligibility of voice signals over radio links. It is used by many national and international organizations, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). It is a subset of the much older International Code of Signals (INTERCO), which originally included visual signals by flags or flashing light, sound signals by whistle, siren, foghorn, or bell, as well as one, two, or three letter codes for many phrases.^[1] The same alphabetic code words are used by all agencies, but each agency chooses one of two different sets of numeric code words. NATO uses the normal English numeric words (Zero, One, with some alternative pronunciations), whereas the IMO uses compound numeric words (Nadazero, Unaone).

The alphabet's common name (NATO phonetic alphabet) arose because it appears in Allied Tactical Publication ATP-1, Volume II: Allied Maritime Signal and Maneuvering Book used by all allied navies in NATO, which adopted a modified form of the International Code of Signals. Because the latter allows messages to be spelled via flags or Morse code, it naturally called the code words used to spell out messages by voice its "phonetic alphabet". The name NATO phonetic alphabet became widespread because the signals used to facilitate the naval communications and tactics of the United States and NATO have become global.^[2] However, ATP-1 is marked NATO Confidential (or the lower NATO Restricted) so it is not publicly available. Nevertheless, a NATO unclassified version of the document is provided to foreign, even hostile, militaries, even though they are not allowed to make it publicly available.

Alphabet and pronunciation

The pronunciation of the words in the alphabet as well as numbers may vary according to the language habits of the speakers. In order to eliminate wide variations in pronunciation, posters illustrating the pronunciation desired are available from the ICAO.

Unless otherwise specified, the spelling and pronunciation given is that officially prescribed by the ICAO, ITU, IMO, and the FAA. The ICAO indicates unstressed numeric syllables in lower case (stressed in UPPER CASE), unlike its own alphabet, where stressed syllables are UNDERLINED UPPER CASE (unstressed in UPPER CASE). In the interests of uniformity, the IMO/FAA style of stressed syllables in BOLD will be used here (underlines might be confused with links).

Wherever the agencies (ICAO, ITU, IMO, FAA, ANSI) differ, each agency's preferred pronunciations or spellings are also given in the table. The ICAO, ITU, and IMO give an alternate pronunciation for a couple of letter-words. The FAA gives the alternate pronunciations in one publication as shown by the image on this page, but in other publications it does not. The FAA gives different spellings for their pronunciations depending on the publication consulted. These are from the FAA Flight Services manual (§ 14.1.5) and the ATC manual (§ 2-4-16). ANSI gives English spellings, but does not give pronunciations or numbers. The ICAO, NATO, and FAA use the common English number words (with stress), which are also the second component of the more complex ITU and IMO number words (no stress).^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Only the ICAO prescribes any kind of IPA pronunciation (and then only for letters, not numbers). It is a broad transcription because many different pronunciations of each code word is allowed, depending on the language habits of the speakers. Thus only a generic 'e' is indicated, rather than its various shades; 'r' indicates an English r, rather than a trilled r; 'i' indicates either a long or short i. Several differences are apparent between the Latin alphabet pronunciation and the IPA pronunciation (indicated via sic): no 'r' is shown in the IPA forms of CHAR LEE, SHAR LEE, NOVEMBER, or YOU NEE FORM, but is shown in OO NEE FORM; the ŋ phoneme ('ng') in the IPA forms of TANG GO and YANG KEE is shown as an 'n'; the IPA form of GOLF implies it is pronounced 'gulf'; and the IPA form of BRAH VOH has both syllables stressed. These alternatives may indicate the wide variations in pronunciation that are acceptable.^[3]

The pronunciation of the number nine was changed to niner to avoid confusion with the German word for no, 'nein', and to make sure that it is not confused with 'one' (which can sound similar when spoken over a radio).

History

The first internationally recognized alphabet was adopted by the ITU in 1927. The experience gained with that alphabet resulted in several changes being made in 1932 by the ITU. The resulting alphabet was adopted by the International Commission for Air Navigation, the predecessor of the ICAO, and was used in civil aviation until World War II. It continued to be used by the IMO until 1965:

Amsterdam Baltimore Casablanca Denmark Edison Florida Gallipoli Havana Italia Jerusalem Kilogramme Liverpool Madagascar New_York Oslo Paris Quebec Roma Santiago Tripoli Upsala Valencia Washington Xanthippe Yokohama Zurich

During World War II (specifically in 1941), the requirements of joint Allied operations led to the development of the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet:

Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox George How Item Jig King Love Mike Nan Oboe Peter Queen Roger Sugar Tare Uncle Victor William X-ray Yoke Zebra

Several RAF phonetic alphabets were also used. After the war, with many aircraft and ground personnel drawn from the allied armed forces, "Able Baker" continued to be used in civil aviation. But many sounds were unique to English, so an alternative "Ana Brazil" alphabet was used in Latin America. But the International Air Transport Association (IATA), recognizing the need for a single universal alphabet, presented a draft alphabet to the ICAO in 1947 which had sounds common to English, French, and Spanish. After further study and modification by each approving body, the revised alphabet was implemented November 1, 1951:

Alfa Bravo Coca Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliett Kilo Lima Metro Nectar Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Union Victor Whisky Extra Yankee Zulu

Immediately, problems were found with this list—some users felt they were so severe that they reverted to the old "Able Baker" alphabet. To identify the deficiencies of the new alphabet, testing was conducted among speakers from 31 nations, principally by the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States. Confusion among words like Delta, Nectar, Victor, and Extra, or omission of other words under poor receiving conditions were the main problems. After much study, only five words representing the letters C, M, N, U, and X were replaced. The final version given in the table above was implemented by the ICAO on March 1, 1956,^[8] and was undoubtedly adopted shortly thereafter by the ITU, because it appears in the 1959 Radio Regulations as an established phonetic alphabet.^[9] Because the ITU governs all international radio communications, it was also adopted by all radio operators, whether military, civilian, or amateur (ARRL). It was finally adopted by the IMO in 1965. In 1947 the ITU adopted the compound number words (Nadazero Unaone, etc.), later adopted by the IMO in 1965.

Usage

The alphabet is used to spell out parts of a message or call sign that are critical or otherwise hard to recognize during voice communication. For instance the message "proceed to map grid DH98" could be transmitted as "proceed to map grid Delta-Hotel-Niner-Eight" and a C-130 Hercules plane directly ahead might be described as a "Charlie One Three Zero in your twelve o'clock". Several letter codes and abbreviations using the phonetic alphabet have become well-known, such as Bravo Zulu (letter code BZ) for "well done",^[10] Checkpoint Charlie (Checkpoint C) in Berlin, and Zulu for Greenwich Mean Time or Coordinated Universal Time. In SWAT units, Tango is used for terrorists, Sierra for a Sniper etc.

In addition to the traditional military usage, civilian industry uses the alphabet to combat similar problems in the transmission of messages over telephone systems. For example, it is often used in the retail industry where customer or site details are spoken over the telephone (in order to authorize a credit agreement or confirming stock codes). It has found heavy usage in the information technology industry to accurately and quickly communicate serial/reference codes (which can be and are frequently extremely long) or other specialised information by voice.

Most of the words are recognizable by native English speakers because English must be used upon request for communication between an aircraft and a control tower whenever two nations are involved, regardless of their native languages. English is not required domestically, thus if both parties to a radio conversation are from the same country, then another phonetic alphabet of that nation's choice may be used.

In most versions of the alphabet, the non-English spellings Alfa and Juliett are found. Alfa is spelled with an f as it is in most European languages. The English and French spelling alpha would not be properly pronounced by speakers of other languages—native speakers of those languages may pronounce ph as if it were a p, ignoring the h. Juliett is spelled with a tt for the benefit of native French speakers because they will treat a single t as silent—the English word Juliet is Juliette in French, but the ICAO did not adopt the final e because it might be misunderstood by native Spanish speakers as indicative of a final syllable teh. In English versions of the alphabet, like that from ANSI, one or both may revert to their standard English spelling.

Additions in German, Danish and Norwegian

The German-speaking people are accustomed to writing some vowels in their language with umlauts. Each of their countries has had its own radiotelephonic alphabet containing words for these vowels decades before the ICAO had their alphabet. To the above NATO series has been added Ärger ("anger") for <Ä>, Öse ("grommet") for <Ö>, and Übel ("evil") for <Ü>. These additions are not in the ICAO alphabet and are used only in the German-speaking world. Three other special words commonly used in German radiotelephonic alphabets were not added: one for <Ch>, one for <Sch>, and one for <ß>, which is instead encoded as <s><s>. This phonetic alphabet was largely popularised by the German version of the TV gameshow Wheel of Fortune.

Denmark is also a member of NATO, and according to Gwillim Law, its military has added Ægir for <Æ>, Ødis for <Ø>, and Åse for <Å>, which in its alphabet are separate letters that follow <Z>. The Norwegian phonetic alphabet uses Ærlig ("honest") for <Æ>, Østen ("the East") for <Ø>, and Åse for <Å>.

Variants

At several United States airports, the use of "Delta" for the letter D is avoided because it is also the callsign for Delta Air Lines. "Dixie" seems to be the most common substitute.

"Foxtrot" is commonly abbreviated to "Fox" at North American airports.

For Japanese speakers, "Bravo" is difficult to pronounce so in Japan, "Baker" is frequently used instead.

Amateur radio and Citizens' band radio operators will occasionally use Kilowatt in lieu of simply Kilo, and Radio instead of Romeo.

In the Philippines, the word "Hawk" is sometimes used for the letter H, rather than "Hotel".

In Indonesia, the word "Lima" for letter L is seldom used since the word "lima" means number five (5) in Indonesian. Instead, "London" is most often used for letter L.

In Brazil, the word "Xingu" replaces X-ray for the letter X. Xingu is a river of the Amazon River system.

Many unofficial phonetic alphabets are in use that are not based on a standard, but are based on words the transmitter can easily remember. Often, such ad-hoc phonetic alphabets are based on (mostly) men's names, such as Alan Bobby Charlie David Edward Frederick George Howard Isaac James Kevin Larry Michael Nicholas Oscar Peter Quincy Robert Stephen Trevor Ulysses Vincent William Xavier Yaakov Zebedee, or on a mixture of names and other easily recognizable (and locally understandable) proper nouns, such as U.S. states, local cities and towns, etc.

Older phonetic alphabets

In addition to the alphabets referred to above, numerous other phonetic alphabets have been used in the past.

• World War I western front trench slang: Ack Beer Charlie Don Edward Freddie Gee Harry Ink Johnnie King London Emma Nuts Oranges Pip Queen Robert Esses Toc Uncle Vic William X-ray Yorker Zebra
  This appears to be the origin of the RAF slang phrases such as ack emma for morning, pip emma for afternoon and ack-ack for anti-aircraft. Ack Emma was also used for 'Air Mechanic' in the Royal Flying Corps (1914-18). An oft-quoted origin regarding the term "Ack Ack" is that it comes from the German 'acht-acht' (for "88",) but since the phrase originated in WWI when the Germans employed mainly 75mm anti-aircraft guns (as opposed to the 88 mm guns of WWII,) it would seem to be nothing more than an attractive myth.

• British Royal Navy during World War I: Apples Butter Charlie Duff Edward Freddy George Harry Ink Johnnie King London Monkey Nuts Orange Pudding Queenie Robert Sugar Tommy Uncle Vinegar Willie Xerxes Yellow Zebra

Phonetic alphabet in popular culture

The phonetic alphabet is frequently used in popular culture to evoke a military environment or situation. For example, in the movie Meet the Parents, Robert de Niro plays a former CIA operative who repeatedly utters phrases using the phonetic alphabet.

In the movie "Tommy Boy" Richard asks Tommy, "Did I hear a 'Niner' in there? Were you calling from a walkie-talkie?"

During the Vietnam War, soldiers of the Viet Cong and the group itself were referred to as VC, or Victor Charlie; the name "Charlie" has thus become synonymous with this enemy force.

Other notable examples of usage include the UK television series Juliet Bravo which wasn't the character's name but her callsign, and Robert Ludlum's novel The Bourne Identity which repeatedly uses the system - the phrase Cain is for Charlie and Delta is for Cain is repeated, always italicised, to symbolise the messages relayed to the main character during the Vietnam War.

Slang uses include sometimes humorous euphemisms for swear words, such as Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ("What the Fuck?"), Charlie Foxtrot (American Military slang referring to any sort of mass confusion as a "cluster fuck" or "completely fucked"), Foxtrot Uniform ("Fuck Up"), Tango Uniform ("Tits Up", meaning dead or broken), and Foxtrot Oscar ("Fuck Off"). In Australia the term overtime is often abbreviated to OT and is therefore tagged Oscar Tango.

In European history, Checkpoint Charlie became an icon of the Cold War. It was a crossing point between East and West Berlin while the city was divided by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989). There were Checkpoints Alpha and Bravo in other parts of Germany, named after the phonetic alphabet for "A", "B", and "C" respectively.

Spoof band The Bloodhound Gang released an album in 2005, entitled Hefty Fine. The first single on the album is called "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo", the phonetic spelling for the word "fuck"; the song's lyrics contain multiple euphemisms for sex.

The title of Wilco's 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was inspired by recordings of shortwave radio Numbers Stations which broadcast coded messages using the NATO phonetic alphabet.

Recordings

References

1. ^ International Code of Signals (2.7MB pdf file), United States Edition, 1969 Edition (Revised 2003), Chapter 1, pages 18-19, 148.
2. ^ Globalization and Sea Power
3. ^ ^{a b} Aeronautical Telecommunications: Annex 10 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Volume II, Chapter 5.
4. ^ ITU Phonetic Alphabet and Figure Code
5. ^ ICAO Phonetics by the FAA
6. ^ American National Standard T1.523-2001, Telecom Glossary 2000
7. ^ ICAO phonetic alphabet by Canada
8. ^ L.J. Rose, "Aviation's ABC: The development of the ICAO spelling alphabet", ICAO Bulletin 11/2 (1956) 12-14.
9. ^ International Telecommunication Union, "Appendix 16: Phonetic Alphabet and Figure Code", Radio Regulations (Geneva, 1959) 430-431.
10. ^ Where does the term "Bravo Zulu" originate?

See also

• International maritime signal flags
• Prowords

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