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SAMPA charts of consonants and vowels
See a concise version of SAMPA for English sounds.
Note that you will need a font that supports the Unicode IPA Extensions (http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/ipa_extensions.html) to see the IPA characters.
Warning: this chart is an attempt to gather information of national SAMPA subcharts: the charts here contain conflicting characters. Most of the information here is therefore only valid for English and some other European languages. For a unified, general ASCII representation of the IPA symbols X-SAMPA should be used.
Consonants
'Note': It is (especially in Spanish and Italian) common use to represent the alveolar trill with [rr] and the alveolar flap with [r]. In Spanish, too, [jj] is used to represent the palatal fricative against the semivowel [j]. It has been proposed to use [4] for the alveolar flap, in which case [r] can be used to represent the trill (as its equivalent in the IPA system), and [j\] for the palatal fricative, keeping in this way the policy of using one letter per one IPA symbol (The backslash is used to generate alternative symbols).
Consonant modifiers:
- [ ` ] after a consonant indicates retroflex.
- [ _a ] apical (IPA subscript inverted bridge): [s_a] apical 's'
- [ _d ] dental (IPA subscript bridge)
- [ _G ] velarized diacritic (IPA superscipt gamma)
- [ _h ] aspirated diacritic (IPA superscript h)
- [ _j, ' ] palatalized. (IPA superscript j)
- [ _m ] laminal (IPA subscript box)
- [ _w ] labialized diacritic (IPA superscript w)
- [ _< ] implosive (voiced stops) (IPA hooktop)
- [ _> ] ejective (voiceless stops)
- [ _=, = ] syllabic, as in US bird [b=r\d] (also written [b3`d]), bottle ["bOt=l], button ["bVt=n]
Simplified list of consonants
| SAMPA
| IPA
| Description
| Examples
|
| p
| p
| voiceless bilabial stop
| English pen
|
| b
| b
| voiced bilabial stop
| English but
|
| t
| t
| voiceless alveolar or dental stop
| English two, Spanish toma, Italian fata
|
| d
| d
| voiced alveolar or dental stop
| English do, Italian cade, Spanish andar
|
| ts
| ʦ
| voiceless alveolar affricate
| Italian calza, zoccolo, German Zeit
|
| dz
| ʣ
| voiced alveolar affricate
| Italian zona, manzo
|
| tS
| ʧ
| voiceless postalveolar affricate
| English chair, picture, Spanish mucho, Italian cena, German Deutsche
|
| dZ
| ʤ
| voiced postalveolar affricate
| English gin, joy, Italian giorno
|
| c
| c
| voiceless palatal stop
| Greek [ce] 'and', Hungarian tyúk 'hen', like British tune
|
| J\
| J (overstroked j)
| voiced palatal stop
| Hungarian egy 'one', like British dune
|
| k
| k
| voiceless velar stop
| English cat, kill,
queen
|
| g
| g
| voiced velar stop
| English go, get
|
| q
| q
| voiceless uvular stop
| Arabic qof
|
| p\
| ɸ (Greek phi)
| voiceless bilabial fricative
| Japanese fu
|
| B
| β (Greek beta)
| voiced bilabial fricative
| Some Spanish accents cabo
|
|
| ϐ (Greek beta alt)
| voiced bilabial approximant
| Spanish cabo, calvo
|
| f
| f
| voiceless labiodental fricative
| English fool, enough, Spanish and Italian falso
|
| v
| v
| voiced labiodental fricative
| English voice, German
Welt, Italian vedere
|
| T
| θ (Greek theta)
| voiceless dental fricative
| English thing, Castilian Spanish
caza
|
|
| ϑ (Greek theta alt)
| voiceless dental approximant
| Tuscan Italian sete
|
| D
| ð (Icelandic eth)
| voiced dental fricative
| English this, Castillian Spanish juzgar
|
|
| δ (Greek delta)
| voiced dental approximant
| Spanish cada
|
| s
| s
| voiceless alveolar fricative
| English see, pass, city, Spanish sí, German groß, Italian suono
|
| z
| z
| voiced alveolar fricative
| English zoo, roses, German
See, Spanish riesgo, Italian rosa
|
| S
| ʃ
| voiceless postalveolar fricative
| English she, sure, emotion, French chemin, Italian scendo, German Sprache
|
| Z
| ʒ
| voiced postalveolar fricative
| French jour, English pleasure, Argentinian Spanish lluvia, Ecuadorian Spanish arriba, Tuscan Italian ragione
|
| C
| ç (cedilla)
| voiceless palatal fricative
| Standard German Ich, Greek [Ceri] 'hand', some English pronunciations of human
|
| j\ (jj)
| ʝ (j with crossed tail)
| voiced palatal fricative
| Standard Spanish ayuda, yegua, some Spanish accents lluvia (yeísmo), some Italian dialects paglia ["paj\j\a], some German accents ja
|
| x
| x
| voiceless velar fricative
| Scots loch, Castilian Spanish ajo,
German Buch
|
| G
| γ (Greek gamma)
| voiced velar fricative
| Some Spanish accents algo, agua, Arabic ghain
|
|
| ɰ
| voiced velar approximant
| Spanish algo, agua
|
| X\
| ħ (overstroked h)
| voiceless pharyngeal fricative
| Arabic h.â
|
| ?\
| ʕ (Inverted ?)
| voiced pharyngeal fricative
| Arabic 'ayn
|
| h
| h
| voiceless glottal approximant
| English ham,
German Hand, Colombian Spanish jamón, Tuscan Italian secondo
|
| h\
| ɦ(h with upper tail to the right)
| voiced glottal approximant
| Hungarian lehet, English pronunciations of behave
|
| m
| m
| bilabial nasal
| English man, Spanish hambre, Italian fame
|
| F
| ɱ (m with downward right tail)
| labiodental nasal
| Spanish infierno, enfermo, Italian trionfo, Hungarian kámfor, honvágy
|
| n
| n
| alveolar or dental nasal
| English, Spanish and Italian no
|
| J
| ɲ (n with downward left tail)
| palatal nasal
| English canyon, Spanish
año,
French oignion, Italian
gnocchi, Hungarian anyu
|
| N
| ŋ (n with downward right tail)
| velar nasal
| English singer, ring, Spanish blanco, manguera, Italian bianco, pongo, German lange, Tagalog ngayón, ngongò
|
| l
| l
| alveolar lateral
| English left, Spanish largo, Italian lungo
|
| L
| ʎ turned down y, alt. λ (Greek lambda)
| palatal lateral
| Italian aglio, famiglia, Catalan
colla, Castilian Spanish cuello
|
| 5
| ɫ (l with middle tilde)
| velarized dental lateral
| English milk (dark l), Catalan
alga
|
| 4 (r)
| ɾ (r without upper-left serif)
| alveolar flap
| Spanish pero, Italian essere
|
| r (rr)
| r
| alveolar trill
| Spanish perro, rey, Italian arrivare, terra
|
| r\
| ɹ (r rotate 180°)
| retroflexed alveolar approximant
| English run, very
|
| R
| ʀ (small capital R)
| uvular trill
| French rue, standard German
Reich, Farb
|
| P
| ʋ
| labiodental approximant
| Dutch Waar
|
| w
| w
| velo-labial approximant
| English we, French oui,
Spanish hueso, huevo, Italian acqua, guida
|
| H
| ɥ (turned down h)
| palato-labial approximant
| French huit
|
| j
| j
| palatal approximant
| English yes, Frech yeux,
German ja, Italian ione, paio, Spanish pierna
|
(The sounds of the Spanish b in cabo and d in cada are not represented by the symbols β, δ, despite what the creators of the SAMPA may think. Those sounds are not fricatives but approximants. Look at: [1] (http://elies.rediris.es/elies16/Rios96.html) - Spanish only)
Vowels
Vowel modifiers:
- [ ~, _~ ] after a vowel indicates that it is nasalised (e.g. French bon [bO~] ).
- [ : ] after a vowel indicates that it is lengthened (e.g. Japanese shōshō [So:So:], English see [si:] ).
- [ ` ] after a vowel indicates rhoticity (e.g. US English bird [b3`d] ).
- [ _^ ] non syllabic vowel (IPA subscript arch)
| SAMPA: simplified list of vowels
|
| SAMPA
| IPA
| Description
| Examples
|
| i
| i
| front closed unrounded vowel
| English see, Spanish sí, French vite, German mieten, Italian visto
|
| I
| small capital I
| front closed unrounded vowel, but somewhat more
centralised and relaxed
| English city, German mit
|
| e
| e
| front half closed unrounded vowel
| US English bear, Spanish él, French année, German mehr, Italian rete, Catalan més
|
| E
| ɛ
| front half open unrounded vowel
| English bed, French même,German Herr, Männer,
Italian ferro, Catalan mes, Spanish perro
|
| {
| ae ligature, æ
| front open unrounded vowel
| English cat
|
| y
| y
| front closed rounded vowel
| French du, German Tür
|
| 2
| slashed o, ø
| front half closed rounded vowel
| French deux (hence '2'), German Höhle
|
| 9
| oe ligature, œ
| front half open rounded vowel
| French neuf (hence '9'), German Hölle
|
| 1
| overstroked i, i
| central closed unrounded vowel
| Russian мыс [m1s] 'mouse'
|
| @
| ə (turned down e) schwa
| central neutral unrounded vowel
| English about, winner,German bitte
|
| 6
| ɐ (turned down a) open schwa
| central neutral unrounded vowel
| German besser
|
| 3
| ɜ (Greek epsilon mirrored to the left)
| front half open unrounded vowel, but somewhat more
centralised and relaxed
| English bird
|
| a
| a
| central open vowel
| Spanish da, barra, French bateau,
lac, German Haar, Italian pazzo
|
| }
| overstroked u, ʉ</strike>
| central closed rounded vowel
| Scottish English pool, Swedish sju
|
| 8
| overstroked o, ɵ
| central neutral rounded vowel
| Swedish kust
|
| &
| small capital OE ligature, ɶ
| front open rounded vowel
| American English that
|
| M
| ɯ (upside-down m)
| back closed unrounded vowel
| Japanese fuji, Vietnamese ư Korean 으
|
| 7
| ɤ (squeezed Greek gamma)
| back half closed unrounded vowel
| Vietnamese ơ Korean 어
|
| V
| ʌ (turned down v)
| back half open unrounded vowel
| RP and US English run, enough
|
| A
| ɑ ('d' with no upper tail)
| back open unrounded vowel
| English arm, US English law, standard French âme
|
| u
| u
| back closed rounded vowel
| English soon, Spanish tú, French
goût, German Hut, Mutter, Italian azzurro, tutto
|
| U
| ʊ (turned down small capital Greek omega)
| back closed rounded vowel somewhat more centralised
and relaxed
| English put, Buddhist
|
| o
| o
| back half closed rounded vowel
| US English sore, Scottish English boat, Spanish yo, French beau, German Sohle, Italian dove, Catalan ona
|
| O
| ɔ (c mirrored to the left)
| back half open rounded vowel
| British English law, caught, Italian cosa, Catalan dona,
|
| Q
| ɒ ('b' with no upper tail)
| back open rounded vowel
| British English not, cough, German Toll
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Stress is indicated by ["] for primary stress, and [%] for secondary stress, placed before the stressed syllable.[2] (http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/home.htm)
SAMPA charts for specific languages
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