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. 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.
X-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 a basis for an input method for IPA.
History
SAMPA was developed in the late 1980s in the European Commission-funded ESPRIT project 2589 "Speech Assessment Methods" (SAM)—hence "SAM Phonetic Alphabet"—in order to facilitate email data exchange and computational processing of transcriptions in phonetics and speech technology. As many symbols as possible were taken over from the IPA; where this is not possible, other signs that are available were used, e.g. [@] for schwa (IPA ), for (the vowel sound found in French ()), and for (the vowel sound found in French ()).
SAMPA, as originally standardized, is a partial encoding of the IPA. The first version of SAMPA was the union of the sets of phoneme codes for Danish, Dutch, English, French, German and Italian; later versions extended SAMPA to cover other European languages. Since SAMPA is based on phoneme inventories, each SAMPA table is valid only in the language it was created for. In order to make this IPA encoding technique universally applicable, X-SAMPA was developed, which provides one single table without language-specific differences.
Language-specific SAMPA representations have been developed for the sounds of the following languages: Arabic Bulgarian Cantonese Czech Danish Dutch English (chart) Estonian French German Greek Hebrew Hungarian Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Scots Serbo-Croatian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swedish Thai Turkish
Notation X-SAMPA uses the ASCII notation below for IPA representation. 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, s is a distinct sound from s\, which are phonologically related in many ways. 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 uses the underscore character to join following diacritics to the symbols they modify, except for ~ (nasalization), = (syllabicity), and ` (retroflexion and rhotacization), for which the underscore is optional. The underscore character is also used to encode the IPA tiebar: k_p codes for . The numbers _1 to _6 are reserved diacritics as shorthand for language-specific tone numbers. The IETF language tags registry has assigned as the subtag for text transcribed in X-SAMPA.
Lower-case symbols X-SAMPA IPA IPA image Description Examples open front unrounded vowel French voiced bilabial plosive English bed , French b_< voiced bilabial implosive Sindhi [b_<arU] c voiceless palatal plosive Hungarian ["lQcQk] d voiced alveolar plosive English dig [dIg], French [dwa] d` voiced retroflex plosive Swedish [hu:d`] d_< voiced alveolar implosive Sindhi [d_<arU] e close-mid front unrounded vowel French [ble] f voiceless labiodental fricative English five [faIv], French [fam] g voiced velar plosive English game [geIm], French [lO~g] g_< voiced velar implosive Sindhi [g_<@ro] h voiceless glottal fricative English house [haUs] h\ voiced glottal fricative Czech [h\rat] i close front unrounded vowel English be [bi:], French [wi], Spanish [si] j palatal approximant English yes [jEs], French [j2] j\ voiced palatal fricative Greek [j\a] k voiceless velar plosive English skip [skIp], Spanish ["karo] l alveolar lateral approximant English lay [leI], French [mal] l` retroflex lateral approximant Svealand Swedish [so:l`] l\ alveolar lateral flap Wayuu [pM:l\MkM] m bilabial nasal English mouse [maUs], French [Om] n alveolar nasal English nap [n{p], French [nO~] n` retroflex nasal Swedish [h2:n`] o close-mid back rounded vowel French [vo] p voiceless bilabial plosive English speak [spik], French [poz], Spanish ["pero] p\ voiceless bilabial fricative Japanese [p\M_0kM] q voiceless uvular plosive Arabic ["qQs_Gba] r alveolar trill Spanish ["pero] r` retroflex flap Bengali [gar`i:] r\ alveolar approximant English red [r\Ed] r\` retroflex approximant Malayalam ["v@r\`i] s voiceless alveolar fricative English seem [si:m], French [sE"sjO~] s` voiceless retroflex fricative Swedish [mas`] s\ voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative Polish [s\v'ers`ts`] t voiceless alveolar plosive English stew [stju:], French [Ra"te] t` voiceless retroflex plosive Swedish [m2t`] u close back rounded vowel English boom [bu:m], Spanish [su] v voiced labiodental fricative English vest [vEst], French [vwa] v\ (or P) labiodental approximant Dutch [v\Est]/[PEst] w labial-velar approximant English west [wEst], French [wi] x voiceless velar fricative Scots [lOx] or [5Ox]; German , ; Spanish , x\ voiceless palatal-velar fricative Swedish [x\A:l] y close front rounded vowel French [ty] German ["y:b6] z voiced alveolar fricative English zoo [zu:], French [a"zOt] z` voiced retroflex fricative Mandarin Chinese [z`aN] z\ voiced alveolo-palatal fricative Polish ["z\rEbak]
Upper-case symbols X-SAMPA IPA IPA image Description Example open back unrounded vowel English father ["fA:D@(r\)] (RP and Gen.Am.) B voiced bilabial fricative Spanish [la"Ba4] B\ bilabial trill Medumba [mB\}_H] C voiceless palatal fricative German [IC], English human ["Cjum@n] (broad transcription uses [hj-]) D voiced dental fricative English then [DEn] E open-mid front unrounded vowel French [mE:m], English met [mEt] (RP and Gen.Am.) F labiodental nasal English emphasis ["EFf@sIs] (spoken quickly, otherwise uses [Emf-]) G voiced velar fricative Greek [Go"nia] G\ voiced uvular plosive Inuktitut [niG\ivvik] G\_< voiced uvular implosive Mam [G\_<a] H labial-palatal approximant French [Hit] H\ voiceless epiglottal fricative Agul [mEH\] I near-close front unrounded vowel English kit [kIt] I\ near-close central unrounded vowel (non-IPA) Polish [rI\bA] J palatal nasal Spanish ["aJo], English canyon ["k{J@n] (broad transcription uses [-nj-]) J\ voiced palatal plosive Hungarian [EJ\] J\_< voiced palatal implosive Sindhi [J\_<aro] K voiceless alveolar lateral fricative Welsh [KaU] K\ voiced alveolar lateral fricative Mongolian [tOK\O:] L palatal lateral approximant Italian [fa"miLLa], Castilian: [La"mar] L\ velar lateral approximant Korean [t6L\gudz\i] M close back unrounded vowel Korean [M:ms\_hik_}] M\ velar approximant Spanish ["fweM\o] N velar nasal English thing [TIN] N\ uvular nasal Japanese [saN\] O open-mid back rounded vowel American English off [O:f] O\ bilabial click P (or v\) labiodental approximant Dutch [PEst]/[v\Est], allophone of English phoneme /r\/ Q open back rounded vowel RP lot [lQt] R voiced uvular fricative German [RaIn] R\ uvular trill French [R\wa] S voiceless postalveolar fricative English ship [SIp] T voiceless dental fricative English thin [TIn] U near-close back rounded vowel English foot [fUt] U\ near-close central rounded vowel (non-IPA) English euphoria [jU\"fO@r\i@] V open-mid back unrounded vowel Scottish English strut [str\Vt] W voiceless labial-velar fricative Scots [WEn] X voiceless uvular fricative Klallam [sXa?q_wa?] X\ voiceless pharyngeal fricative Arabic [X\A:] Y near-close front rounded vowel German [hYpS] Z voiced postalveolar fricative English vision ["vIZ@n]
Other symbols X-SAMPA IPA IPA image Description Example . syllable break " primary stress % secondary stress American English pronunciation [pr\@%nVn.si"eI.S@n] ' (or _j) palatalized Russian (Earth) [z'I"ml'a] or [z_jI"ml_ja] : long :\ half long Estonian differentiates three vowel lengths - separator Polish [t-S1] vs. [tS1] (affricate) @ schwa English arena [@"r\i:n@] @\ close-mid central unrounded vowel Chuvash пӗррехинче [p@\rrEXints\E] @` r-coloured schwa American English color ["kVl@`] { near-open front unrounded vowel English trap [tr\{p] } close central rounded vowel Swedish [x\}:]; AuE/NZE boot [b}:t] 1 close central unrounded vowel Welsh [t1], American English roses ["r\oUz1z] 2 close-mid front rounded vowel Danish ["k2:b@], French [d2] 3 open-mid central unrounded vowel English nurse [n3:s] (RP) or [n3`s] (Gen.Am.) 3\ open-mid central rounded vowel Irish [t3\:l'] 4 alveolar flap Spanish ["pe4o], American English better ["bE4@`] 5 velarized alveolar lateral approximant; also see _e English milk [mI5k], Portuguese ["5iv4u] 6 near-open central vowel German ["bEs6], Australian English mud [m6d] 7 close-mid back unrounded vowel Estonian [k7ik], Vietnamese [m7_M] 8 close-mid central rounded vowel Swedish [b8s] 9 open-mid front rounded vowel French [n9f], Danish [dR9m@] & open front rounded vowel Swedish [x\&d`] ? glottal stop Cockney English bottle ["bQ?o] ?\ voiced pharyngeal fricative Arabic [?\Ajn] * undefined escape character, SAMPA's "conjunctor" / (a) French vowel archiphonemes or indeterminacies(b) delimiter of phonemic transcriptions /mE/zO~/ < begin nonsegmental notation, e.g., SAMPROSA <\ voiced epiglottal fricative Siwi (four) [ar_?\b_?\@<\a] > end nonsegmental notation >\ epiglottal plosive Archi гӀарз (complaint) [>\arz] ^ upstep ! downstep !\ postalveolar click Zulu (polecat) [i:!\a:!\a] | minor (foot) group |\ dental click Zulu (earring) [i:|\i:|\i] || major (intonation) group |\|\ alveolar lateral click Zulu (to converse) [|\|\O:|\|\a] =\ palatal click Taa [=\~u_Fm] -\ linking mark
Diacritics X-SAMPA IPA IPA image Description centralized _+ advanced _- retracted _/ rising tone _R _0 voiceless _< implosive (IPA uses separate symbols for implosives) = (or _=) syllabic _> ejective _?\ pharyngealized _\ falling tone _F _^ 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 _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_F rising falling tone _r raised _T extra high tone _t breathy voice _v voiced _w labialized _X extra-short _x mid-centralized
SAMPROSA
The SAM PROSodic Alphabet (SAMPROSA) is a system for prosodic transcription, developed by Dafydd Gibbon, Daniel J. Hirst, and William J. Barry as part of the SAM Prosody Working Group. SAMPROSA is composed of the prosodic symbols of SAMPA along with a SAM System for Intonation Transcription (SAMSINT). There is some overlap between the segmental symbols of SAMPA and the prosodic symbols of SAMPROSA, however, and so X-SAMPA separates out SAMPROSA notation from SAMPA by the use of the < and > tier escape symbols. The IPA's alternative way of encoding tones (ȅ, e̋, etc) also derives from the same SAMPROSA notational system: using B,L,M,H,T; R,F following a _.
Prosodic symbols and diacritics