The International Phonetic Alphabet is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language; the IPA is used by lexicographers, foreign language students and teachers, speech-language pathologists, actors, constructed language creators and translators. The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are part of oral language: phones, phonemes and the separation of words and syllables. To represent additional qualities of speech, such as tooth gnashing and sounds made with a cleft lip and cleft palate, an extended set of symbols, the extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet, may be used. IPA symbols are composed of one or more elements of two basic types and diacritics. For example, the sound of the English letter ⟨t⟩ may be transcribed in IPA with a single letter, or with a letter plus diacritics, depending on how precise one wishes to be.

Slashes are used to signal broad or phonemic transcription. Letters or diacritics are added, removed or modified by the International Phonetic Association; as of the most recent change in 2005, there are 107 letters, 52 diacritics and four prosodic marks in the IPA. These are shown in the current IPA chart posted below in this article and at the website of the IPA. In 1886, a group of French and British language teachers, led by the French linguist Paul Passy, formed what would come to be known from 1897 onwards as the International Phonetic Association, their original alphabet was based on a spelling reform for English known as the Romic alphabet, but in order to make it usable for other languages, the values of the symbols were allowed to vary from language to language. For example, the sound was represented with the letter ⟨c⟩ in English, but with the digraph ⟨ch⟩ in French. However, in 1888, the alphabet was revised so as to be uniform across languages, thus providing the base for all future revisions.

The idea of making the IPA was first suggested by Otto Jespersen in a letter to Paul Passy. It was developed by Alexander John Ellis, Henry Sweet, Daniel Jones, Passy. Since its creation, the IPA has undergone a number of revisions. After revisions and expansions from the 1890s to the 1940s, the IPA remained unchanged until the Kiel Convention in 1989. A minor revision took place in 1993 with the addition of four letters for mid central vowels and the removal of letters for voiceless implosives; the alphabet was last revised in May 2005 with the addition of a letter for a labiodental flap. Apart from the addition and removal of symbols, changes to the IPA have consisted of renaming symbols and categories and in modifying typefaces. Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet for speech pathology were created in 1990 and adopted by the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association in 1994; the general principle of the IPA is to provide one letter for each distinctive sound, although this practice is not followed if the sound itself is complex.

This means that: It does not use combinations of letters to represent single sounds, the way English does with ⟨sh⟩, ⟨th⟩ and ⟨ng⟩, or single letters to represent multiple sounds the way ⟨x⟩ represents /ks/ or /ɡz/ in English. There are no letters that have context-dependent sound values, as do "hard" and "soft" ⟨c⟩ or ⟨g⟩ in several European languages; the IPA does not have separate letters for two sounds if no known language makes a distinction between them, a property known as "selectiveness". The alphabet is designed for transcribing sounds, not phonemes, though it is used for phonemic transcription as well. A few letters that did not indicate specific sounds have been retired, though one remains: ⟨ɧ⟩, used for the sj-sound of Swedish; when the IPA is used for phonemic transcription, the letter–sound correspondence can be rather loose. For example, ⟨c⟩ and ⟨ɟ⟩ are used in the IPA Handbook for /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/. Among the symbols of the IPA, 107 letters represent consonants and vowels, 31 diacritics are used to modify these, 19 additional signs indicate suprasegmental qualities such as length, tone and intonation.

These are organized into a chart. The letters chosen for the IPA are meant to harmonize with the Latin alphabet. For this reason, most letters modifications thereof; some letters are neither: for example, the letter denoting the glottal stop, ⟨ʔ⟩, has the form of a dotless question mark, derives from an apostrophe. A few letters, such as that of the voiced pharyngeal fricative, ⟨ʕ⟩, were inspired by other writing systems. Despite its preference for harmonizing with the Latin script, the International Phonetic Association has admitted other letters. For example, before 1989, the IPA letters for click consonants were ⟨ʘ⟩, ⟨ʇ⟩, ⟨ʗ⟩, ⟨ʖ⟩, all of which were derived either from existing IPA letters, or from Latin and Greek letters. However, except for ⟨ʘ⟩, none of these letters were used among Khoisanists or Bantuists, as a result they were replaced by the more widespread symbols ⟨ʘ⟩, ⟨ǀ⟩, ⟨ǃ⟩, ⟨ǂ⟩, ⟨ǁ⟩ at the IPA Kiel Convention in 1989. Although the IPA diacritics are featural, there is littl

The Ministry of Finance is a ministry of Bangladesh. The ministry is responsible for state finance, including the state budget and economic policy in Bangladesh, it is led by the Finance Minister of Bangladesh. The department must report to the Parliament of Bangladesh, it contains four divisions: Finance Division Economic Relations Division Internal Resources Division Bank and Financial Institutions Division i) Finance Division: Office of the Controller General of Accounts Investment Corporation of Bangladesh The Security Printing Corporation Ltd. Financial Management Reform Program Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation Pay and Services Commission 2013 National Savings Certificate ii) Economic Relations Division iii) Internal Resources Division Bangladesh Customs Chittagong Custom House National Board of Revenue National Savings Directorate Dhaka Custom Houseiv) Bank and Financial Institutions Division Chittagong Stock Exchange Dhaka Stock Exchange Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management Bangladesh Bank Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission Bangladesh Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority Microcredit Regulatory Authority Sonali Bank Limited Agrani Bank Limited Rupali Bank Limited Janata Bank Limited Bangladesh Krishi Bank Rajshahi Agricultural Development Bank Sadharan Bima Corporation Jiban Bima Corporation Khandaker Asaduzzaman Motiul Islam Kafil Uddin Mahmud Abul Khair M. Syeduzzaman Mustafizur Rahman Golam Kibria M. K. Anwar Khorshed Alam Nasimuddin Ahmed Akbar Ali Khan Zakir Ahmed Khan Siddique ur Rahman Chowdhury Dr. Mohammed Tareq Fazle Kabir Mahbub Ahmed Hedayetullah Al Mamoon Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury Abdur Rouf Talukder Financial Management Reform Programme

Charles David Houston was an American country music singer. His peak in popularity came between the mid-1960s through the early 1970s. Houston was born in Bossier City in northwestern Louisiana on December 9, 1935, he was a descendant of Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas and Confederate General Robert E. Lee, his godfather was 1920s pop singer Gene Austin, no relation to Stephen F. Austin, another founder of Texas. Like Austin, Houston lived as a youth in a house at the intersection of Marshall and Goodwill streets in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. Another musician from Minden, Tommy Tomlinson, collaborated with Houston in the single "Mountain of Love". Houston was one of the earliest artists with National Recording Corporation in Georgia. In 1963, he rose to national stardom with "Mountain of Love". Another song, "Livin' in a House Full of Love", did just as well. In 1966, Houston recorded his breakthrough secular smash, "Almost Persuaded."

This song, unrelated to the Philip Paul Bliss hymn of the same title, is the tale of a married man managing to resist a temptress he meets in a tavern. Houston's recording of it rocketed to number one that August spending nine weeks atop Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart. For 46 years, no song equaled or bettered Houston's feat until Taylor Swift matched the nine-week record of "Almost Persuaded" on December 15, 2012, with "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together." Houston was awarded 2 Grammy Awards for Best Country & Western Recording and Best Country & Western Performance, Male in 1967 for "Almost Persuaded". "Almost Persuaded" began a string of top five Houston singles through 1973, including six more number ones: "With One Exception" and "You Mean the World to Me". In years, Houston dueted with Barbara Mandrell on several of her early hits, most notably 1970's "After Closing Time" and 1972's "I Love You, I Love You". Houston's last Top 10 country hit came in 1974 with "Can't You Feel It", though he continued making records until 1989.

Houston died of a brain aneurysm on November 30, 1993, in Bossier City, one week before his 58th birthday. He had been residing in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, is now interred in the Rose-Neath Funeral Home Cemetery in Bossier City. Houston is survived by his only child, David L. Houston, who resides in Shreveport. A"Almost Persuaded" peaked at No. 45 on the RPM Top Singles chart in Canada. Missing from David Houston's 45 Discography are "We Got Love" and "My Little Lady". Roy, Don.. "David Houston". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. P. 249. David Houston at Discogs David Houston at Find a Grave