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X-SAMPA Transcription Scheme

The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (X-SAMPA) transcription scheme was created by John C. Wells in 1995 as an extension to the various language-specific SAMPA phoneme sets available at that time. The intention was to be able to encode the 1993 IPA chart in ASCII, while preserving the scheme already developed by the language-specific phoneme sets where there are no conflicts in the representation of that ASCII character.

This document uses a set of phoneme features based on the features originally developed by Evan Kirshenbaum. These features are described in the phonemes document.

The _ character is used as a tie bar to join two phonemes, as well as the first character in several diacritics. It can be used for affricates, double articulations and diphthongs, but can lead to ambiguity with the corresponding diacritic. The X-SAMPA PDF document advises that _ is only used for affricates and double articulations. In that case, the _^ non-syllabic marker can be used for the second vowel in diphthongs.

The - character is described in the PDF version of X-SAMPA to differentiate between affricates, double articulations, and diphthongs such as ts and consonant clusters such as t-s.

Phoneme Transcription Schemes

BCP47 Subtag Abbreviation Transcription Scheme Encoding
fonipa IPA International Phonetic Alphabet Unicode
fonxsamp X-SAMPA Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet ASCII
x-foncxs CXS Conlang X-SAMPA ASCII
x-fonkirsh Kirshenbaum (ASCII-IPA) ASCII
  1. foncxs and fonkirsh are private use extensions defined in the bcp47-extensions file, so have the x- private use specifier before their subtag names.

Consonants

blb lbd dnt alv pla rfx alp pal vel uvl phr glt
vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd
nas m F n n` J N N\
stp p b t d t` d` c J\ k g q G\ >\ ?
sib afr
afr
lat afr
sib frc s z S Z s` z` s\ z\
frc p\ B f v T D C j\ x G X R X\ ?\ h h\
lat frc K K\
apr v\ r\ r\` j M\
lat apr l l` L L\
flp 4 r`
lat flp l\
trl B\ r R\ H\ <\
clk O\ ` ` !\ =\
lat clk ` |`
imp b_< d_< J\_< g_< G\
ejc p_> t_> t`_> c_> k_> q_> >\_>
ejc frc f_> T_> s_> S_> s`_> x_> X_>
lat ejc frc K_>

  1. J\ and ? are defined in the PDF version of X-SAMPA, but not the HTML version.

  2. G\ is only mentioned in the opening description of the HTML version of X-SAMPA, but is defined properly in the PDF version.

  3. >\ is defined as an epiglottal plosive in X-SAMPA. In this document it is defined as a pharyngeal plosive to be consistent with the IPA transcription described in the phonemes document.

  4. P can also be used for the labio-dental approximant v\.

  5. H\ and <\ are defined in X-SAMPA as epiglottal fricatives. In this document they are defined as pharyngeal trills to be consistent with the IPA transcription described in the phonemes document.

Other Symbols

bld alv pla pal lbv vel
vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd
nas
stp
afr
vzd frc x\
ptr apr H W w
fzd lat apr 5
  1. 5 is supported as an alternative to l_e due to its use in some language- specific SAMPA phoneme sets.

Manner of Articulation

Feature Symbol Name
ejc _> ejective
imp _< implosive

Vowels

fnt cnt bck
unr rnd unr rnd unr rnd
hgh i y 1 } M u
smh I Y U
umd e 2 @\ 8 7 o
mid @
lmd E 9 3 3\ V O
sml { 6
low a & A Q

Other Symbols

Symbol Features
@` unr mid cnt rzd vwl
3` unr lmd cnt rzd vwl
  1. @` and 3` are not explicitly listed in X-SAMPA. The rhoticized diacritic is specified instead.

Diacritics

Articulation

Feature Symbol Name
lgl ◌_N linguolabial
idt interdental
◌_d dental
apc ◌_a apical
lmn ◌_m laminal
◌_+ advanced
◌_- retracted
◌_" centralized
mid-centralized
◌_r raised
◌_l lowered

The articulations that do not have a corresponding feature name are recorded using the features of their new location in the consonant or vowel charts, not using the features of the base phoneme.

Phonation

Feature Symbol Name
brv ◌_t breathy voice
slv ◌_0 slack voice
stv ◌_v stiff voice
crv ◌_k creaky voice
glc ?_◌ glottal closure

The IPA _0 diacritic is also used to fill the vls spaces in the IPA consonant charts. Thus, when _0 is used with a vcd consonant that does not have an equivalent vls consonant, the resulting consonant is vls, not slv.

Rounding and Labialization

Feature Symbol Name
ptr ◌_w protruded
cmp compressed
  1. The {ptr} (protruded) feature is described as labialized in X-SAMPA.

The degree of rounding/labialization can be specified using the following symbols:

Feature Symbol Name
mrd ◌_O more rounded
lrd ◌_c less rounded

Syllabicity

Feature Symbol Name
syl ◌= syllabic
nsy ◌_^ non-syllabic

Consonant Release

Feature Symbol Name
asp ◌_h aspirated
nrs ◌_n nasal release
lrs ◌_l lateral release
unx ◌_} no audible release (unexploded)

Co-articulation

Feature Symbol Name
pzd ◌', ◌_j palatalized
vzd ◌_G, ◌_e velarized
fzd ◌_?\, ◌_e pharyngealized
nzd ◌~, ◌_~ nasalized
rzd ◌` rhoticized

Tongue Root

The tongue root position can be specified using the following features:

Feature Symbol Name
atr ◌_A advanced tongue root
rtr ◌_q retracted tongue root

Suprasegmentals

Stress

Symbol Name
"◌ primary stress
%◌ secondary stress

Length

Feature Symbol Name
est ◌_X extra short
hlg ◌:\ half-long
lng ◌: long
elg ◌:: extra long
  1. The :: symbol for elg is not listed in X-SAMPA, but is derived from the transcription for lng.

Rhythm

Symbol Name
◌-\◌ linking (no break)

Tones

Symbol Name
◌_T extra high tone
◌_H high tone
◌_M mid tone
◌_L low tone
◌_B extra low tone
!◌ downstep
^◌ upstep

X-SAMPA additionally defines various symbols for contour tones that can be defined from the composite tone marks.

Symbol Composite Name
◌_R ◌_B_T rising contour
◌_F ◌_T_B falling contour
◌_R_F ◌_M_H_M rising-falling contour

Intonation

Symbol Name
<R> global rise
<F> global fall

References

  1. Wells, John C., Computer-coding the IPA: a proposed extension of SAMPA (HTML). Revised 2000.

  2. Wells, John C., Computer-coding the IPA: a proposed extension of SAMPA (PDF). Revised 1995.

  3. Wells, John C., SAMPA - computer readable phonetic alphabet. Revised 2005.