The spelling of the word "Niquita" can be explained using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The first syllable, "Ni", is pronounced as /ni/, with a short "i" sound. The second syllable, "qui", is pronounced as /ki/, with a hard "k" sound and a short "i" sound. The final syllable, "ta", is pronounced as /tə/, with a short "u" sound and a neutral vowel sound at the end. Therefore, the phonetic transcription for "Niquita" is /niː.ki.tə/.