X-SAMPA

The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (X-SAMPA) is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at University College London.^[1] It is designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the 1993 version of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The result is a SAMPA-inspired remapping of the IPA into 7-bit ASCII.

SAMPA was devised as a hack to work around the inability of text encodings to represent IPA symbols. Later, as Unicode support for IPA symbols became more widespread, the necessity for a separate, computer-readable system for representing the IPA in ASCII decreased. However, X-SAMPA is still useful as the basis for an input method for true IPA.

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 backslashes as modifying suffixes to create new symbols. For example, O is a distinct sound from O\, to which it bears no relation. Such use of the backslash character can be a problem, since many programs interpret it as an escape character for the character following it. For example, such X-SAMPA symbols do not work in EMU, so backslashes must be replaced with some other symbol (e.g., an asterisk: '*') when adding phonemic transcription to an EMU speech database. The backslash has no fixed meaning.
• 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 underscore character is also used to encode the IPA tiebar: k_p codes for /k͡p/.
• The numbers _1 to _6 are reserved diacritics as shorthand for language-specific tone numbers.
• The IETF language tags registry has assigned fonxsamp as the subtag for text transcribed in X-SAMPA.^[2]

Lower-case symbols

X-SAMPA	IPA	IPA image	Description	Examples
a	a		open front unrounded vowel	French dame [dam]
b	b		voiced bilabial plosive	English bed [bEd], French bon [bO~]
b_<	ɓ		voiced bilabial implosive	Sindhi ɓarʊ [b_<arU]
c	c		voiceless palatal plosive	Hungarian latyak ["lQcQk]
d	d		voiced alveolar plosive	English dig [dIg], French doigt [dwa]
d`	ɖ		voiced retroflex plosive	Swedish hord [hu:d`]
d_<	ɗ		voiced alveolar implosive	Sindhi ɗarʊ [d_<arU]
e	e		close-mid front unrounded vowel	French blé [ble]
f	f		voiceless labiodental fricative	English five [faIv], French femme [fam]
g	ɡ		voiced velar plosive	English game [geIm], French longue [lO~g]
g_<	ɠ		voiced velar implosive	Sindhi ɠəro [g_<@ro]
h	h		voiceless glottal fricative	English house [haUs]
h\	ɦ		voiced glottal fricative	Czech hrad [h\rat]
i	i		close front unrounded vowel	English be [bi:], French oui [wi], Spanish si [si]
j	j		palatal approximant	English yes [jEs], French yeux [j2]
j\	ʝ		voiced palatal fricative	Greek γειά [j\a]
k	k		voiceless velar plosive	English skip [skIp], Spanish carro ["karo]
l	l		alveolar lateral approximant	English lay [leI], French mal [mal]
l`	ɭ		retroflex lateral approximant	Svealand Swedish sorl [so:l`]
l\	ɺ		alveolar lateral flap	Wayuu püülükü [pM:l\MkM]
m	m		bilabial nasal	English mouse [maUs], French homme [Om]
n	n		alveolar nasal	English nap [n{p], French non [nO~]
n`	ɳ		retroflex nasal	Swedish hörn [h2:n`]
o	o		close-mid back rounded vowel	French veau [vo]
p	p		voiceless bilabial plosive	English speak [spik], French pose [poz], Spanish perro ["pero]
p\	ɸ		voiceless bilabial fricative	Japanese fuku [p\M_0kM]
q	q		voiceless uvular plosive	Arabic qasbah ["qQs_Gba]
r	r		alveolar trill	Spanish perro ["pero]
r`	ɽ		retroflex flap	Bengali gari [gar`i:]
r\	ɹ		alveolar approximant	English red [r\Ed]
r\`	ɻ		retroflex approximant	Malayalam വഴി ["v@r\`i]
s	s		voiceless alveolar fricative	English seem [si:m], French session [sE"sjO~]
s`	ʂ		voiceless retroflex fricative	Swedish mars [mas`]
s\	ɕ		voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative	Polish świerszcz [s\v'ers`ts`]
t	t		voiceless alveolar plosive	English stew [stju:], French raté [Ra"te]
t`	ʈ		voiceless retroflex plosive	Swedish mört [m2t`]
u	u		close back rounded vowel	English boom [bu:m], Spanish su [su]
v	v		voiced labiodental fricative	English vest [vEst], French voix [vwa]
v\ (or P)	ʋ		labiodental approximant	Dutch west [v\Est]/[PEst]
w	w		labial-velar approximant	English west [wEst], French oui [wi]
x	x		voiceless velar fricative	Scots loch [lOx] or [5Ox]; German Buch, Dach; Spanish caja, gestión
x\	ɧ		voiceless palatal-velar fricative	Swedish sjal [x\A:l]
y	y		close front rounded vowel	French tu [ty] German über ["y:b6]
z	z		voiced alveolar fricative	English zoo [zu:], French azote [a"zOt]
z`	ʐ		voiced retroflex fricative	Mandarin Chinese rang [z`aN]
z\	ʑ		voiced alveolo-palatal fricative	Polish źrebak ["z\rEbak]

Capital symbols

X-SAMPA	IPA	IPA image	Description	Example
A	ɑ		open back unrounded vowel	English father ["fA:D@(r\)] (RP and Gen.Am.)
B	β		voiced bilabial fricative	Spanish lavar [la"Ba4]
B\	ʙ		bilabial trill	Reminiscent of shivering ("brrr")
C	ç		voiceless palatal fricative	German ich [IC], English human ["Cjum@n] (broad transcription uses [hj-])
D	ð		voiced dental fricative	English then [DEn]
E	ɛ		open-mid front unrounded vowel	French même [mE:m], English met [mEt] (RP and Gen.Am.)
F	ɱ		labiodental nasal	English emphasis ["EFf@sIs] (spoken quickly, otherwise uses [Emf-])
G	ɣ		voiced velar fricative	Greek γωνία [Go"nia]
G\	ɢ		voiced uvular plosive	Inuktitut nirivvik [niG\ivvik]
G\_<	ʛ		voiced uvular implosive	Mam ʛa [G\_<a]
H	ɥ		labial-palatal approximant	French huit [Hit]
H\	ʜ		voiceless epiglottal fricative	Agul мехӀ [mEH\]
I	ɪ		near-close front unrounded vowel	English kit [kIt]
I\	ᵻ		near-close central unrounded vowel (non-IPA)	Polish ryba [rI\bA]
J	ɲ		palatal nasal	Spanish año ["aJo], English canyon ["k{J@n] (broad transcription uses [-nj-])
J\	ɟ		voiced palatal plosive	Hungarian egy [EJ\]
J\_<	ʄ		voiced palatal implosive	Sindhi ʄaro [J\_<aro]
K	ɬ		voiceless alveolar lateral fricative	Welsh llaw [KaU]
K\	ɮ		voiced alveolar lateral fricative	Mongolian долоо [tOK\O:]
L	ʎ		palatal lateral approximant	Italian famiglia [fa"miLLa], Castilian: llamar [La"mar]
L\	ʟ		velar lateral approximant	Korean 달구지 [t6L\gudz\i]
M	ɯ		close back unrounded vowel	Korean 음식 [M:ms\_hik_}]
M\	ɰ		velar approximant	Spanish fuego ["fweM\o]
N	ŋ		velar nasal	English thing [TIN]
N\	ɴ		uvular nasal	Japanese さん san [saN\]
O	ɔ		open-mid back rounded vowel	American English off [O:f]
O\	ʘ		bilabial click
P (or v\)	ʋ		labiodental approximant	Dutch west [PEst]/[v\Est], allophone of English phoneme /r\/
Q	ɒ		open back rounded vowel	RP lot [lQt]
R	ʁ		voiced uvular fricative	German rein [RaIn]
R\	ʀ		uvular trill	French roi [R\wa]
S	ʃ		voiceless postalveolar fricative	English ship [SIp]
T	θ		voiceless dental fricative	English thin [TIn]
U	ʊ		near-close back rounded vowel	English foot [fUt]
U\	ᵿ		near-close central rounded vowel (non-IPA)	English euphoria [jU\"fO@r\i@]
V	ʌ		open-mid back unrounded vowel	Scottish English strut [str\Vt]
W	ʍ		voiceless labial-velar fricative	Scots when [WEn]
X	χ		voiceless uvular fricative	Klallam sχaʔqʷaʔ [sXa?q_wa?]
X\	ħ		voiceless pharyngeal fricative	Arabic ح ḥāʾ [X\A:]
Y	ʏ		near-close front rounded vowel	German hübsch [hYpS]
Z	ʒ		voiced postalveolar fricative	English vision ["vIZ@n]

Other symbols

X-SAMPA	IPA	IPA image	Description	Example
.	.		syllable break
"	ˈ		primary stress
%	ˌ		secondary stress	American English pronunciation [pr\@%nVn.si."eI.S@n]
' (or _j)	ʲ		palatalized	Russian Земля (Earth) [z'I"ml'a] or [z_jI"ml_ja]
:	ː		long
:\	ˑ		half long	Estonian differentiates three vowel lengths
-			separator	Polish trzy [t-S1] vs. czy [tS1] (affricate)
@	ə		schwa	English arena [@"r\i:n@]
@\	ɘ		close-mid central unrounded vowel	Paicĩ kɘ̄ɾɘ [k@\_M4@\_M]
@`	ɚ		r-coloured schwa	American English color ["kVl@`]
{	æ		near-open front unrounded vowel	English trap [tr\{p]
}	ʉ		close central rounded vowel	Swedish sju [x\}:]; AuE/NZE boot [b}:t]
1	ɨ		close central unrounded vowel	Welsh tu [t1], American English rose's ["r\oUz1z]
2	ø		close-mid front rounded vowel	Danish købe ["k2:b@], French deux [d2]
3	ɜ		open-mid central unrounded vowel	English nurse [n3:s] (RP) or [n3`s] (Gen.Am.)
3\	ɞ		open-mid central rounded vowel	Irish tomhail [t3\:l']
4	ɾ		alveolar flap	Spanish pero ["pe4o], American English better ["bE4@`]
5	ɫ		velarized alveolar lateral approximant; also see _e	English milk [mI5k], Portuguese livro ["5iv4u]
6	ɐ		near-open central vowel	German besser ["bEs6], Australian English mud [m6d]
7	ɤ		close-mid back unrounded vowel	Estonian kõik [k7ik], Vietnamese mơ [m7_M]
8	ɵ		close-mid central rounded vowel	Swedish buss [b8s]
9	œ		open-mid front rounded vowel	French neuf [n9f], Danish drømme [dR9m@]
&	ɶ		open front rounded vowel	Swedish skörd [x\&d`]
?	ʔ		glottal stop	Cockney English bottle ["bQ?o]
?\	ʕ		voiced pharyngeal fricative	Arabic ع ʿayn [?\Ajn]
*			undefined escape character, SAMPA's "conjunctor"
/			(a) French vowel archiphonemes or indeterminacies (b) delimiter of phonemic transcriptions	maison /mE/zO~/
<			begin nonsegmental notation, e.g., SAMPROSA^[3]
<\	ʢ		voiced epiglottal fricative	Siwi arˤbˤəʢa (four) [ar_?\b_?\@<\a]
>			end nonsegmental notation
>\	ʡ		epiglottal plosive	Archi гӀарз (complaint) [>\arz]
^	ꜛ		upstep
!	ꜜ		downstep
!\	ǃ		postalveolar click	Zulu iqaqa (polecat) [i:!\a:!\a]
|	|		minor (foot) group
|\	ǀ		dental click	Zulu icici (earring) [i:|\i:|\i]
||	‖		major (intonation) group
|\|\	ǁ		alveolar lateral click	Zulu xoxa (to converse) [|\|\O:|\|\a]
=\	ǂ		palatal click
-\	‿		linking mark

Diacritics

X-SAMPA	IPA	IPA image	Description
_"	̈		centralized
_+	̟		advanced
_-	̠		retracted
_/	̌		rising tone
_0	̥		voiceless
_<			implosive (IPA uses separate symbols for implosives)
= (or _=)	̩		syllabic
_>	ʼ		ejective
_?\	ˤ		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	ˠ		velarized
_H	́		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	̌		rising tone
_R_F	᷈		rising falling tone
_r	̝		raised
_T	̋		extra high tone
_t	̤		breathy voice
_v	̬		voiced
_w	ʷ		labialized
_X	̆		extra-short
_x	̽		mid-centralized

Charts

Consonants

Consonants (pulmonic)
Place of articulation →	Labial		Coronal				Dorsal				Laryngeal
Manner of articulation ↓	Bilabial	Labio‐ dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post‐ alveolar	Retro‐ flex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular		Pharyn‐ geal		Epi‐ glottal		Glottal
Nasal	m	F	n			n`	J	N	N\
Plosive	p b	p_d b_d	t d			t` d`	c J\	k g	q G\				>\		?
Fricative	p\ B	f v	T D	s z	S Z	s` z`	C j\	x G	X	R	X\	?\	H\	<\	h h\
Approximant	B_o	v\	r\			r\`	j	M\
Trill	B\		r			*			R\				*
Tap or Flap	*^†	*^†	4			r`							*
Lateral Fricative			K K\			*	*	*
Lateral Approximant			l			l`	L	L\
Lateral Flap			l\			*	*	*

• Asterisks (*) mark sounds that do not have X-SAMPA symbols. Daggers (†) mark IPA symbols that have recently been added to Unicode. Since April 2008, the latter is the case of the labiodental flap, symbolized by a right-hook v in the IPA:  . A dedicated symbol for the labiodental flap does not yet exist in X-SAMPA.

Coarticulated
W	Voiceless labialized velar approximant
w	Voiced labialized velar approximant
H	Voiced labialized palatal approximant
s\	Voiceless palatalized postalveolar (alveolo-palatal) fricative
z\	Voiced palatalized postalveolar (alveolo-palatal) fricative
x\	Voiceless "palatal-velar" fricative

Affricates and double articulation
ts	voiceless alveolar affricate
dz	voiced alveolar affricate
tS	voiceless postalveolar affricate
dZ	voiced postalveolar affricate
ts\	voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate
dz\	voiced alveolo-palatal affricate
tK	voiceless alveolar lateral affricate
kp	voiceless labial-velar plosive
gb	voiced labial-velar plosive
Nm	labial-velar nasal stop

Consonants (non-pulmonic)
Clicks		Implosives		Ejectives
O\	Bilabial	b_<	Bilabial	_>	For example:
|\	Laminal alveolar ("dental")	d_<	Alveolar	p_>	Bilabial
!\	Apical (post-) alveolar ("retroflex")	J\_<	Palatal	t_>	Alveolar
=\	Laminal postalveolar ("palatal")	g_<	Velar	k_>	Velar
|\|\	Lateral coronal ("lateral")	G\_<	Uvular	s_>	Alveolar fricative

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i • y 1 • } M • u I • Y I\ • U\ • U e • 2 @\ • 8 7 • o e_o • 2_o @ • o_o E • 9 3 • 3\ V • O { • 6 a • & a_" A • Q
Near‑close
Close‑mid
Mid
Open‑mid
Near‑open
Open

See also

• Comparison of ASCII encodings of the International Phonetic Alphabet
• List of phonetics topics
• SAMPA, a language-specific predecessor of X-SAMPA
• SAMPA chart for English

References

1. Wells, J.C. "Computer-coding the IPA: a proposed extension of SAMPA" (PDF). UCL Phonetics and Linguistics. University College London. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
2. "Language Subtag Registry" (text). IETF. 2022-08-08. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
3. For a summary of SAMPROSA, see Wells, J.C. (19 September 1995). "SAMPROSA (SAM Prosodic Transcription)". UCL Phonetics and Linguistics. University College London. Retrieved 23 October 2021.

External links

• Computer-coding the IPA: A proposed extension of SAMPA
• X-SAMPA to IPA to CXS converter
• Web-based translator for X-SAMPA documents. Produces Unicode text, XML text, PostScript, PDF, or LaTeX TIPA.
• , a backward-compatible extension of X-SAMPA sometimes used for conlangs