Using tikz and tipa packages

Question

I'm using the packages tipa and tikz in the document class beamer. However, I'm having a hard time trying to combine them when drawing arrows. Look at the MWE below:

\documentclass{beamer}

\usepackage{tipa}
\usepackage{tikz} % if i remove package from preamble i get error message


\begin{document}
    
    \tikzstyle{every picture}+=[remember picture]
    \tikzstyle{na} = [shape=rectangle,inner sep=0pt,text depth=0pt]
    
    \begin{frame}

        \centering
        
        Text [ t ] more text [ \textsubbridge{t} ]
        
        \vspace{2em}
        
        symbol 1 and symbol 2
    
    \end{frame}
    
    \begin{frame}

        \centering
        
        Text [ \tikz\node[na](t1){t}; ] more text [ \tikz\node[na](t2){\textsubbridge{t}}; ]
        
        \vspace{2em}
        
        \tikz\node[na](n1){symbol 1}; and \tikz\node[na](n2){symbol 2};
        
        \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay]
            \path[->,red,thick](n1) edge (t1);
            \path[->,red,thick](n2) edge (t2);
        \end{tikzpicture}
        
    \end{frame}
\end{document}

Slide with no arrows:

Slide with arrows:

As you can see, when I add the arrow, it blocks part of the symbol, which is an important part of the symbol. How can I lower the arrow so that it doesn't cover any part of the second symbol?

PS: I know that beamer automatically loads the tikz package. However, for this MWE I kept getting an error if I don't load it manually. I believe it has to do with the definition of the tikzstyle{na}, but if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me.

Answer 1

• The beamer class doesn't load tikz automatically, which explains why it has to be loaded.

• \tikzstyle is deprecated in favor of \tikzset.

• Your problem is caused by text depth=0pt. Probably you do that to align the characters on the baseline, but this can be achieved using the baseline option.

• To make text elements the source or target of arrows, you can use the \tikznode command described here. It corresponds roughly to your \tikz\node[na] (with the above problems removed).

• To keep a bit of distance between the arrows and their targets, you can use the options shorten <=1pt,shorten >=1pt.

• You might prefer other arrow heads, like \tikzset{>=stealth}.

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{tipa}
\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand\tikznode[3][]%
   {\tikz[remember picture,baseline=(#2.base)]
      \node[minimum size=0pt,inner sep=0pt,#1](#2){#3};%
   }
\tikzset{%
   every picture/.append style={remember picture},
   >=stealth  
}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\centering
Text [ \tikznode{t1}{t} ] more text [ \tikznode{t2}{\textsubbridge{t}} ]
\vspace{2em}
        
\tikznode{n1}{symbol 1} and \tikznode{n2}{symbol 2}
        
\begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,shorten >=1pt,shorten <=1pt]
   \path[->,red,thick](n1) edge (t1);
   \path[->,red,thick](n2) edge (t2);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{frame}
\end{document}