P.S. This may be a more elegant solution : \documentclass{article} \usepackage{xltxtra} %or xunicode \usepackage{linguex} \setmainfont{Charis SIL} \begin{document} \def\implementTIPAtextx#1{\scantokens{#1\endinput}\egroup} \ex. \textipa{DOES THIS WORK?} \end{document} ** Phil.