X-sampa

The Extended SAM Phonetic Alphabet (X-SAMPA) is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London. It was designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
    
The result is a SAMPA-inspired recasting of the IPA into 7-bit ASCII.

Summary

Notes

  • The IPA symbols that are ordinary lower-case letters have the same value in X-SAMPA as they do in the IPA.
  • X-SAMPA uses a following backslash as an escape character to create a new symbol. For example O is a distinct sound from O\, to which it bears no relation.
  • X-SAMPA diacritics follow the symbols they modify. Except for ~ for nasalization, = for syllabicity, and ` for retroflexion and rhotacization, diacritics are joined to the character with the underscore character _.
  • The numbers _1 through _6 are reserved diacritics as shorthand for language-specific tone numbers.

Lowercase symbols

XS !! IPA !! IPA !! Description !! Examples
a open front unrounded vowel Australian English father faD@, French dame dam, Spanish padre " title=""padre">"padre
b voiced bilabial plosive English bed bEd, French bon bO~
b_< voiced bilabial implosive  
c voiceless palatal plosive Hungarian latyak lAcAk
d voiced alveolar plosive English dig dIg, French doigt dwa
d` voiced retroflex plosive Svealand Swedish hord hu:d`
d_< voiced alveolar implosive  
e close-mid front unrounded vowel French ses se
f voiceless labiodental fricative English five faIv, French femme fam
g voiced velar plosive English game geIm, French longue lO~g
g_< voiced velar implosive  
h voiceless glottal fricative English house haUs
h\ voiced glottal fricative  
i close front unrounded vowel English be bi:, French oui wi, Spanish si si
j palatal approximant English yes jEs, French yeux j2
j\ voiced palatal fricative  
k voiceless velar plosive English cat k{t, Spanish carro " title=""kar:o">"kar:o
l alveolar lateral approximant English lay leI, French mal mal
l` retroflex lateral approximant Svealand Swedish sorl so:l`
l\ alveolar lateral flap Japanese phoneme /r/
m bilabial nasal English mouse maUs, French homme Om
n alveolar nasal English nap n{p, French non nO~
n` retroflex nasal Svealand Swedish hrn h2:n`
o close-mid back rounded vowel French gros gRo
p voiceless bilabial plosive English leap li:p, French pose poz, Spanish perro " title=""per:o">"per:o
p\ voiceless bilabial fricative Japanese fuku p\M_0kM, Scanian sju p\@}
q voiceless uvular plosive Arabic qasbah " title=""qQs_Gba">"qQs_Gba
r alveolar trill Spanish perro " title=""per:o">"per:o
r` retroflex flap  
r\ alveolar approximant English red r\Ed
r\` retroflex approximant  
s voiceless alveolar fricative English seem si:m, French session se.sjO~
s` voiceless retroflex fricative Svealand Swedish mars mas`
s\ voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative Polish świerszcz s\virStS
t voiceless alveolar plosive English too tu:, French rat Rate, Spanish tuyo tujo
t` voiceless retroflex plosive Svealand Swedish mrt m2t`
u close back rounded vowel English boom bu:m, Spanish su su
v voiced labiodental fricative English vest vEst, French voix vwa
v\ (or P) labiodental approximant  
w labial-velar approximant English west wEst, French oui wi
x voiceless velar fricative Scots loch lQx
x\ voiceless postalveolar and velar fricative Swedish sjal x\A:l
y close front rounded vowel French tu ty German ber " title="y"b@r">y"b@r
z voiced alveolar fricative English zoo zu:, French azote azOt
z` voiced retroflex fricative  
z\ voiced alveolo-palatal fricative Polish źrebak z\rEbak

Uppercase symbols

XS !! IPA !! IPA !! Description !! Example
A open back unrounded vowel English father (r\)" title=""fA:D@(r\)">"fA:D@(r\) (RP and Gen.Am.)
B voiced bilabial fricative  
B\ bilabial trill Reminiscent of shivering ("brrr")
C voiceless palatal fricative German ich IC, English human " title=""Cum@n">"Cum@n (broad transcription uses hj-)
D voiced dental fricative English then DEn
E open-mid front unrounded vowel French même mEm, English met mEt
F labiodental nasal English emphasis " title=""EFf@sIs">"EFf@sIs (spoken quickly, otherwise uses Emf-)
G voiced velar fricative Greek γονία " title="Go"nia">Go"nia
G\ voiced uvular plosive  
G\_< voiced uvular implosive  
H labial-palatal approximant French huit Hi
H\ voiceless epiglottal fricative  
I near-close near-front unrounded vowel English kit kIt
I\   central lax close unrounded vowel, not in IPA  
J palatal nasal Spanish año aJo, English canyon " title=""k{J@n">"k{J@n (broad transcription uses -nj-)
J\ voiced palatal plosive Hungarian egy EJ\
J\_< voiced palatal implosive  
K voiceless alveolar lateral fricative Welsh llaw KaU_^
K\ voiced alveolar lateral fricative  
L palatal lateral approximant Italian famiglia famiLa, Castilian llamar " title="La"mar">La"mar, English million " title=""mIL@n">"mIL@n (broad transcription uses -lj-)
L\ velar lateral approximant English phoneme /5/
M close back unrounded vowel Korean (eu)
M\ velar approximant Spanish fuego fweM\o
N velar nasal English thing TIN
N\ uvular nasal Japanese san saN\
O open-mid back rounded vowel British English thought TO:t, American English off O:f
O\ bilabial click  
P (or v\) labiodental approximant Dutch phoneme /w/, allophone of English phoneme /r\/
Q open back rounded vowel British English lot lQt
R voiced uvular fricative French roi Rwa
R\ uvular trill German phoneme /r/
S voiceless postalveolar fricative English ship SIp
T voiceless dental fricative English thin TIn
U near-close near-back rounded vowel English foot fUt
U\   central lax close rounded vowel, not in IPA  
V open-mid back unrounded vowel English strut str\Vt
W voiceless labial-velar fricative Scots when WEn
X voiceless uvular fricative Welsh bach baX
X\ voiceless pharyngeal fricative Arabic ha’ X\?
Y near-close near-front rounded vowel German hbsch hYbS
Z voiced postalveolar fricative English vision " title=""vIZ@n">"vIZ@n

Other symbols

XS !! IPA !! IPA !! Description !! Example
. syllable break  
" primary stress  
% secondary stress  
' (or _j) palatalized  
: long  
:\ half long Estonian differentiates three vowel lengths
-   separator  
@ schwa English banana " title="b@"nAn@">b@"nAn@ (RP) or " title="b@"n{n@">b@"n{n@ (Gen.Am.)
@\ close-mid central unrounded vowel  
{ near-open front unrounded vowel English trap tr\{p
} close central rounded vowel Swedish sju x\}:
1 close central unrounded vowel Welsh tu t1, English rose's r\oUz1z
2 close-mid front rounded vowel French deux d2
3 open-mid central unrounded vowel English nurse n3:s (RP) or n3`s (Gen.Am.)
3\ open-mid central rounded vowel  
4 alveolar flap Spanish pero pe4o, American English better " title=""bE4@`">"bE4@`
5 velarized alveolar lateral approximant; also see _e English milk mI5k
6 open schwa German besser bEs6, New England English winter " title=""wInt6">"wInt6
7 close-mid back unrounded vowel Estonian kik k7ik, Occurs in Vietnamese
8 close-mid central rounded vowel Swedish buss b8s
9 open-mid front rounded vowel French neuf n9f
& open front rounded vowel Danish drmme dR&m
*   undefined escape character, SAMPA's "conjunctor"  
/   indeterminacy in French vowels  
<   begin nonsegmental notation (eg. SAMPROSA)  
<\ voiced epiglottal fricative  
>   end nonsegmental notation  
>\ epiglottal plosive  
? glottal stop German Verein, Danish stød, Cockney English bottle " title=""bQ?l">"bQ?l
?\ voiced pharyngeal fricative Arabic ayn
^ upstep  
! downstep  
!\ postalveolar click  
| minor (foot) group  
|\ dental click  
|| major (intonation) group  
|\|\ lateral alveolar click  
=\ palatal click  
-\ linking mark  

Diacritics

XS !! IPA !! IPA !! Description
_" centralized
_+ advanced
_- retracted
_/   rising tone
_0 voiceless
_<   implosive (IPA uses separate symbols for implosives)
= (or _=) syllabic
_> ejective
_?\ pharyngealized
_\   falling tone
_^ non-syllabic
_} no audible release
` rhotacization in vowels, retroflexion in consonants (IPA uses separate symbols for consonants, see t` for an example)
~ (or _~) nasalization
_A advanced tongue root
_a apical
_B extra low tone
_B_L low rising tone
_c less rounded
_d dental
_e velarized or pharyngealized; also see 5
<F> global fall
_F falling tone
_G velarized
_H high tone
_H_T high rising tone
_h aspirated
_j (or ') palatalized
_k creaky voice
_L low tone
_l lateral release
_M mid tone
_m laminal
_N linguolabial
_n nasal release
_O more rounded
_o lowered
_q retracted tongue root
<R> global rise
_R rising tone
_R_F rising falling tone
_r raised
_T extra high tone
_t breathy voice
_v voiced
_w labialized
_X extra-short
_x mid-centralized

Wikipedia usage

In Wikipedia the usage of IPA instead of X-SAMPA is recommended — see .

See also

External links

 

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