1 : X-SAMPA
2 : Summary
2.1 : Notes
2.2 : Lowercase symbols
2.3 : Uppercase symbols
2.4 : Other symbols
2.5 : Diacritics
3 : External Links
The Extended SAM Phonetic Alphabet (X-SAMPA) is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by J. 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 rhoticity, 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
{| border="2"
! XS !! IPA !! IPA !! Description !! Examples
|-
| a || a || || open low front unrounded vowel || French dame [dam], Spanish padre
|-
| b || b || || voiced bilabial plosive || English bed [bEd], French bon [bO~]
|-
| b_< || ɓ || || bilabial voiced impolosive ||
|-
| c || c || || unvoiced palatal plosive || Hungarian latyak [lAcAk]
|-
| d || d || || voiced alveolar plosive || English dog [dQg], French doigt [dwa]
|-
| d` || ɖ || || voiced retroflex plosive ||
|-
| d_< || ɗ || || dental/alveolar voiced implosive ||
|-
| e || e || || close-mid front unrounded vowel || French ses [se]
|-
| f || f || || unvoiced labiodental fricative || English five [faIv], French femme [fam]
|-
| g || g || || voiced velar plosive || English go [g@U], French longue [lO~g]
|-
| g_< || ɠ || || voiced velar implosive ||
|-
| h || h || || unvoiced glottal fricative || English house [haUs]
|-
| h\ || ɦ || || voiced glottal fricative ||
|-
| i || i || || tense close front unrounded vowel || English be [bi:], French oui [wi], Spanish si
|-
| j || j || || palatal approximant || English yes [jEs], French yeux [j2]
|-
| j\ || ʝ || || voiced palatal fricative ||
|-
| k || k || || unvoiced velar plosive || English cat [k{t], Spanish carro
|-
| l || l || || alveolar lateral approximant || English lay [leI], French mal [mal]
|-
| l` || ɭ|| || retroflex lateral approximant ||
|-
| l\ || ɺ || || voiced alveolar lateral flap ||
|-
| m || m || || bilabial nasal || English mouse [maUs], French homme [Om]
|-
| n || n || || alveolar nasal || English no [n@U], French non [nO~]
|-
| o || o || || close-mid back rounded vowel || French gros [gRo]
|-
| p || p || || unvoiced bilabial plosive || English hop [hQp], French pose [poz] Spanish perro
|-
| p\ || φ || || voiceless bilabial fricative ||
|-
| q || q || || unvoiced uvular plosive ||
|-
| r || r || || alveolar trill || Spanish perro
|-
| r` || ɽ || || retroflex tap or flap ||
|-
| r\ || ɹ || || voiced (post-)alveolar approximant ||
|-
| r\` || ɻ || || retroflex approximant ||
|-
| s || s || || unvoiced alveolar fricative || English seem [si:m], French '''sess'''ion [se.sjO~]
|-
| s` || ʂ || || unvoiced retroflex fricative ||
|-
| s\ || ɕ || || voiceless alveolopalatal fricative ||
|-
| t || t || || unvoiced alveolar plosive || English too [tu:], French raté [Rate], Spanish tuyo
|-
| t` || ʈ || || unvoiced retroflex plosive ||
|-
| u || u || || tense close back rounded vowel || English boom [bu:m], Spanish su
|-
| v || v || || voiced labioldental fricative || English vest [vEst], French voix [vwa]
|-
| v\ (or P) || ʋ || || labiodental approximant ||
|-
| w || w || || labiovelar approximant || English west [wEst], French oui [wi]
|-
| x || x || || unvoiced velar fricative || Scottish loch [lQx]
|-
| x\ || ɧ || || voiceless postalveolar and velar fricative ||
|-
| y || y || || tense close front rounded vowel || French tu [ty]
|-
| z || z || || voiced alveolar fricative || English zoo [zu:], French azote [azOt]
|-
| z` || ʐ || || voiced retroflex fricative
|-
| z\ || ʑ || || voiced alveolopalatal fricative ||
|}
Uppercase symbols
{| border="2"
! XS !! IPA !! IPA !! Description !! Example
|-
| A || ɑ || || open back unrounded vowel || English start [stA:rt]
|-
| B || β || || voiced bilabial fricative || Spanish cabo
|-
| B\ || ʙ || || voiced bilabial trill ||
|-
| C || ç || || voiceless palatal fricative || German ich
|-
| D || ð || || voiced dental fricative || English then [DEn]
|-
| E || ɛ || || open-mid front unrounded vowel || French même [mEm]
|-
| F || ɱ || || labiodental nasal || English emphasis ["EFf@sIs] (spoken quickly, otherwise ["Emf@sIs])
|-
| G || γ || || voiced velar fricative || Spanish fuego, Greek gama
|-
| G\ || ɢ || || voiced uvular plosive ||
|-
| G\_< || ʛ || || voiced uvular implosive ||
|-
| H || ɥ || || labial-palatal semivowel || French huit [Hi]
|-
| H\ || ʜ || || voiceless epiglottal fricative ||
|-
| I || ɪ || || lax close front unrounded vowel || English kit [kIt]
|-
| I\ || || || central lax close unrounded vowel, not in IPA ||
|-
| J || ɲ || || palatal nasal || Spanish año
|-
| J\ || ɟ || || voiced palatal plosive || Hungarian egy [EJ\]
|-
| J\_< || || || voiced palatal implosive ||
|-
| K || ɬ || || voiceless alveolar lateral fricative || Welsh llaw
|-
| K\ || ɮ || || voiced alveolar lateral fricative ||
|-
| L || ʎ || || palatal lateral || Italian famiglia
|-
| L\ || ʟ || || voiced velar lateral ||
|-
| M || ɯ || || close back unrounded vowel || Korean u
|-
| M\ || ɰ || || velar approximant ||
|-
| N || ŋ || || velar nasal || English thing [TIN]
|-
| N\ || ɴ || || voiced uvular nasal ||
|-
| O || ɔ || || open-mid back rounded vowel || British English thought [TO:t]
|-
| O\ || ʘ || || bilabial click ||
|-
| P (or v\) || ʋ || || labiodental approximant ||
|-
| Q || ɒ || || open back rounded vowel || British English lot [lQt]
|-
| R || ʁ || || voiced uvular fricative || French roi [Rwa]
|-
| R\ || ʀ || || voiced uvular trill ||
|-
| S || ʃ || || voiceless palatoalveolar fricative || English ship [SIp]
|-
| T || θ || || voiceless dental fricative || English thin [TIn]
|-
| U || ʊ || || lax close back rounded vowel || English foot [fUt]
|-
| U\ || || || central lax close rounded vowel, not in IPA ||
|-
| V || ʌ || || open-mid back unrounded vowel || English strut [strVt]
|-
| W || ʍ || || voiceless labial-velar fricative || Scottish when
|-
| X || χ || || voiceless uvular fricative || Welsh bach
|-
| X\ || ħ || || voiceless pharyngeal fricative || Arabic ha’
|-
| Y || ʏ || || lax close front rounded vowel || German hübsch
|-
| Z || ʒ || || voiced palatoalveolar fricative || English measure ["mEZ.U@]
|}
Other symbols
{| border="2"
! XS !! IPA !! IPA !! Description !! Example
|-
| . || || || syllable break ||
|-
| " || ˈ || || primary stress ||
|-
| % || ˌ || || secondary stress ||
|-
| & || ɶ || || open front rounded vowel || Dan. drømme
|-
| ' (or _j) || ʲ || || palatalized ||
|-
| - || || || undefined escape character, SAMPA's "conjunctor" ||
|-
| - || || || separator ||
|-
| / || || || indeterminacy in French vowels ||
|-
| { || æ || || near-open front unrounded vowel || English trap [tr{p]
|-
| } || ʉ || || close central rounded vowel || Swedish sju
|-
| 1 || ɨ || || close central unrounded vowel || Welsh tu
|-
| 2 || ø || || close-mid front rounded vowel || Fr deux [d2]
|-
| 3 || ɜ || || long mid central vowel || British English nurse [n3:s]
|-
| 3\ || ɞ || || open-mid central rounded vowel ||
|-
| 4 || ɾ || || voiced alveolar tap || Spanish pero
|-
| 5 || ɫ || || dark l; see also _e || English milk [mI5k]
|-
| 6 || ɐ || || open schwa || German besser
|-
| 7 || ɤ || || close-mid back unrounded vowel ||
|-
| 8 || ɵ || || close-mid central rounded vowel || Swedish buss
|-
| 9 || œ || || open-mid front rounded vowel || Fr neuf [n9f]
|-
| : || ː || || long ||
|-
| :\ || ˑ || || half long ||
|-
| < || || || begin nonsegmental notation (e.g., SAMPROSA) ||
|-
| <\ || ʢ || || voiced epiglottal fricative ||
|-
| > || || || end nonsegmental notation ||
|-
| >\ || ʡ || || epiglottal plosive ||
|-
| ? || ʔ || || glottal stop || German Verein, also Danish stød
|-
| ?\ || ʕ || || voiced pharyngeal fricative || Arabic ‘ayn
|-
| @ || ə || || schwa || English banana [b@"nA:n@]
|-
| @\ || ɘ || || close-mid central unrounded vowel ||
|-
| ^ || ↑ || || upstep ||
|-
| ! || ↓ || || downstep
|-
| !\ || ǃ || || retroflex click ||
|-
| | || || || minor (foot) group ||
|-
| |\ || ǀ || || dental click ||
|-
| || || || || major (intonation) group ||
|-
| |\|\ || ǁ || || lateral click ||
|-
| =\ || ǂ || || alveolar click ||
|-
| -\ || ̮ || || linking mark ||
|}
Diacritics
{| border="2"
! XS !! IPA !! IPA !! Description
|-
| _" || ¨ || || centralized
|-
| _+ || ˖ || || advanced
|-
| _- || ˗ || || retracted
|-
| _/ || ˇ || || rising
|-
| _0 || ̥ || || voiceless
|-
| _< || || || implosive
|-
| = (or _=) || ̩ || || syllabic
|-
| _> || ʼ || || ejective
|-
| _?\ || ˤ || || pharyngealized
|-
| _\ || ˆ || || falling tone
|-
| _^ || ̯ || || non-syllabic
|-
| _} || ̚ || || no audible release
|-
| ` || ˞ || || rhoticity 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; see also 5
|-
| <F> || || || global fall
|-
| _F || ^ || || falling tone
|-
| _G || ˠ || || velarized
|-
| _H || ˊ || || high tone
|-
| _H_T || || || high rising tone
|-
| _h || ʰ || || aspirated
|-
| _j (or ') || ʲ || || palatalized ||
|-
| _k || ̰ || || creaky voice
|-
| _L || ` || || low tone
|-
| _l || ˡ || || lateral release
|-
| _M || ¯ || || mid tone
|-
| _m || ̻ || || laminal
|-
| _N || ̼ || || linguolabial
|-
| _n || n || || nasal release
|-
| _O || ̹ || || more rounded
|-
| _o || ˕ || || lowered
|-
| _q || ̙ || || retracted tongue root
|-
| <R> || || || global rise
|-
| _R || ˇ || || rising tone
|-
| _R_F || || || rising falling tone
|-
| _r || ˔ || || raised
|-
| _T || ˝ || || extra high tone
|-
| _t || ̤ || || breathy voice
|-
| _v || ˬ || || voiced
|-
| _w || ʷ || || labialized
|-
| _X || ˘ || || extra-short
|-
| _x || ˟ || || mid-centralized
|}
External Links
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