The International Phonetic Association is an organization that promotes the scientific study of phonetics and practical applications of that science. It started in Paris in 1886. It developed the International Phonetic Alphabet—a standard for the phonetic representation of all languages. The acronym IPA refers to both the association and the alphabet. On 30 June 2015, it was incorporated as a British private company limited by guarantee. Its offices are in London.^[1]