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THE PHONETIC ALPHABET.

Communication in a noisy environment has given rise to numerous aids to improve intelligibility, examples of these are the CB radio ten-code, Q codes in amateur radio and aviation, police codes, etc., and other jargon.

Use of phonetic alphabets has been documented since the first world war when the RAF used a succession of radiotelephony spelling alphabets to aid effective communication. These phonetic alphabets aren't strictly speaking 'phonetic' as this term really describes a technique of pronunciation of unfamiliar words, whereas the phonetic alphabet for telephony utilises familiar words in place of individual letters to improve readability.

During the Nineteen-fifties, NATO developed the "NATO phonetic alphabet" (actually the ICAO alphabet) to replace the numerous other variants to ensure that the token words would be understood and intelligible (and also pronounceable) to all NATO allies in the heat of battle.

There have been numerous and often short lived variants, but the NATO alphabet has been most enduring.

The first alphabet owes a lot to World War I Western Front trench slang. Using token words such as Ack, Gee Emma and Esses - although as yet, I have been unable to determine the entire alphabet. (If there ever was an entire alphabet - May've only been used for certain letters, where considered necessary)

Further examples may be seen in the table below, although this is not an exhaustive collection as there are many more for different languages around the globe, including one for 'Esperanto'

Further resources:

On the 7th Apr' 2006 (& 20th Dec' 2006), Radio 4 broadcast a half-hour programme about the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, called Alpha Bravo Yankee Zulu.
This may be repeated on Radio four on a future date. (Worth checking schedules)

Char NATO Pronunciation
(NATO)		 '43-'56 '42-'43 '24-'42 WW1
A Alfa AL-FAH Able/Affirm Apple Ace Ack/Apples
B Bravo BRAH-VOH Baker Beer Beer Butter
C Charlie CHAR-LEE Charlie Charlie Charlie  
D Delta DELL-TAH Dog Dog Don Duff
E Echo ECH-OH Easy Edward Edward Emma
F Foxtrot FOKS-TROT Fox Freddy Freddie  
G Golf GOLF George George George Gee
H Hotel HOH-TEL How Harry Harry  
I India IN-DEE-AH Item/Interrogatory In Ink  
J Juliet JEW-LEE-ETT Jig/Johnny Jug/Johnny Johnnie  
K Kilo KEY-LOH King King King  
L Lima LEE-MAH Love Love London  
M Mike MIKE Mike Mother Monkey  
N November NO-VEM-BER Nab/Negat Nuts Nuts  
O Oscar OSS-CAH Oboe Orange Orange  
P Papa PAH-PAH Peter/Prep Peter Pip Pudding
Q Quebec KEH-BECK Queen Queen Queen Queenie
R Romeo ROW-ME-OH Roger Roger/Robert Robert  
S Sierra SEE-AIR-RAH Sugar Sugar Sugar  
T Tango TANG-GO Tare Tommy Toc Tommy
U Uniform YOU-NEE-FORM Uncle Uncle Uncle  
V Victor VIK-TAH Victor Vic Vic Vinegar
W Whisky WISS-KEY William William William Willie
X X-Ray ECKS-RAY X-ray X-ray X-ray Xerxes
Y Yankee YANG-KEY Yoke Yoke/Yorker Yorker Yellow
Z Zulu ZOO-LOO Zebra Zebra Zebra  

N.B. Different sources on the Internet show variations on these Alphabets, therefore the accuracy of older alphabets cannot be assured.


Numerals may be expressed thus (NATO):
1 - One - WUN 2 - Two - TOO 3 - Three - TREE 4 - Four - FOW-ER
5 - Five - FIFE 6 - Six - SIX 7 - Seven - SEV-EN 8 - Eight - AIT
9 - Nine - NIN-ER 0 - Zero - ZEE-RO    

The information contained upon this page is supplied in good faith, and to the best of my knowledge is accurate.
However, I accept no responsibility for damage or injury, however caused, due to the use of this data.