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 to see the IPA characters.
'Note': It is (specially 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]
SAMPA: 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 azzurro, pizza, German Zeit |
dz |
ʣ |
voiced alveolar affricate |
Italian zio, grazie |
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\\ |
φ (Greek phi) |
voiceless bilabial fricative |
Japanese fu |
B |
β (Greek beta) |
voiced bilabial fricative |
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 |
D |
ð (Icelandic eth), or δ (Greek delta) |
voiced dental fricative |
English this, 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 casa |
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 |
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 |
Spanish yate, ayuda |
x |
x |
voiceless velar fricative |
Scots loch, Castilian Spanish ajo,
German Buch |
G |
γ (Greek gamma) |
voiced velar fricative |
Spanish algo, agua (*) |
X\\ |
ħ (overstroked h) |
voiceless pharyngeal fricative |
Arabic h.â |
?\\ |
ʕ (Inverted ?) |
voiced pharyngeal fricative |
Arabic 'ayn |
h |
h |
voiceless glottal fricative |
English ham,
German Hand,
Colombian Spanish jamón |
h\\ |
ɦ (h with upper tail to the right) |
voiced glottal fricative |
Hungarian lehet, Some English pronunciations of aha |
m |
m |
bilabial nasal |
English man, Spanish hambre, Italian fame |
F |
ɱ (m with downward right tail) |
labiodental nasal |
Spanish infierno, enfermo, Hungarian kámfor, honvágy |
n |
n |
alveolar nasal |
English, Spanish and Italian no |
n^ |
ɲ (n with downward left tail) |
palatal nasal |
US 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 |
US English better, Spanish
pero, Italian essere |
r (rr) |
ɽ (r with serif) |
alveolar trill |
Spanish perro, rey, Italian arrivare, terra |
r\\` |
ɻ (r rotate 180° with hook) |
retroflexed alveolar approximant |
English run, very |
R |
ʀ (small capital R) |
uvular trill |
French rue, standard German
Reich, Farb |
w |
w |
rounded back semivowel |
English we, Frech oui,
Spanish hueso, Italian acqua, suono |
H |
ɥ (turned down h) |
rounded front semivowel |
French huit |
j |
j |
unrounded front semivowel |
English yes, Frech yeux,
German ja, Italian occhio, piove, Spanish pierna |
(* The sounds of the spanish g in agua, b in cabo and d in cada are not represented by the symbols γ, β, δ, despite what the creators of the SAMPA may think. Those sounds are not even fricatives; see [1] - Spanish only)
SAMPA: simplified chart of
vowels
(the paired signs are unrounded/rounded
vowels) |
|
Front |
Central |
Back |
Closed or high |
|
|
|
Half closed |
|
@ |
|
Half open |
|
6 |
|
Open or low |
|
|
|
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 |
ε (Greek epsilon) |
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 [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, u |
central closed rounded vowel |
Scottish English pool, Swedish sju |
8 |
overstroked o, o |
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 |
English law, caught,
Italian uomo,
Catalan dona,
|
Q |
ɒ ('b' with no upper tail) |
back open rounded vowel |
British English not, cough,
German Toll |
Stress is indicated by ["] for primary stress, and [%] for secondary stress, placed before the stressed syllable.[1]
SAMPA charts for specific languages
- SAMPA chart for Hungarian alphabet (in the Hungarian Wikipedia)
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