Assignment of ASCII Characters to IPA Symbols

7/28/2019 Assignment of ASCII Characters to IPA Symbols

1/6

Assignment of ASCII Characters to IPA Symbols

IPA stands forInternational Phonetic Alphabet. Often, it is useful (or even necessary) to represent IPA symbols by ASCII characters. The following table

proposes an assignment of ASCII characters to IPA symbols, such that the shape of the ASCII character corresponds most naturally to the shape of the IPA

symbol (e.g., ASCII L for IPA L). Wherever this is impossible, other principles that have been followed bythe authorare: the frequency of the sound in various

languages (e.g., ASCII R is assigned to IPA alveolar trill rrather than uvular trill R, while ASCII r is assigned to the alveolar approximant the English r),and that a single ASCII character should represent each symbol in the two main tables of consonants and vowels.

Legend:

IPA

symbol

DASCII

character

In the table of pulmonic consonants, below, the first symbol within a cell denotes an unvoiced sound (e.g., t), while the second symbol denotes the corresponding

voiced sound (e.g., d).

PulmonicConsonants

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal

Plosive p b t d \ / c ] k g q G ?

Nasal m M n % # N 7

Trill } R 8

Tap or Flap P [

Fricative F B f v T D s z S Z $ 2 C J x + X Q H 9 h 6

Lateral

fricative 4 5

Approximant V r { j W

Lateral

approximant l | K L
http://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPA.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPA.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/index.htmlhttp://www.foundalis.com/index.htmlhttp://www.foundalis.com/index.htmlhttp://www.foundalis.com/index.htmlhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPA.htm


2/6

In the table of vowels, below, wherever symbols appear in pairs, the leftmost symbol of the pair denotes an unrounded vowel, while the rightmost symbol denotes

the corresponding rounded vowel.

Vowels Front Central Back

Close i y 1 - w u

I Y U Close-mid e 0 ) = , o

@

Open-mid E ~ 3 ; ^ O

& *

Open a < A (

The above two tables span the range of most common sounds (pulmonic consonants and vowels). There are a few remaining ASCII characters (., !, :, ', >,_and

`), and a number of sounds (non-pulmonic consonants, affricates) and symbols that are not included in the above tables. We suggest using some of the remainingASCII characters as starting tokens of "escape sequences" to represent the remaining IPA symbols.

The following table suggests escape sequences (all starting with the ! symbol) for non-pulmonic consonants:

Non-pulmonic Consonants

Clicks Voiced Implosives Ejectives

ASCII

sequence

IPA

symbol description

ASCII

sequence

IPA

symbol description

ASCII

sequence

IPA

symbol description

!0 bilabial !b bilabial !'!| dental !d dental/alveolar !p bilabial

!! (post)alveolar !f palatal !t dental/alveolar

!= palatoalveolar !g velar !k velar

!#alveolarlateral

!G uvular !s alveolar/fricative


3/6

The following table suggests escape sequences (all starting with the . symbol) for the affricates, other double articulations, and other symbols:

Affricates Other symbols Other symbols Other symbols

ASCII

sequence

IPA

symbols

ASCII

sequence

IPA

symbol description

ASCII

sequence

IPA

symbol description

ASCII

sequence

IPA

symbol description

.s .mvoiceless

labio-velarfricative

.9voiced

epiglottalfricative

.I alveolarlateral flap

.S .wvoiced

labio-velarapproximant

.?epiglottal

plosive.X

simultaneous

and

.z .hvoiced

labio-palatal

approximant.c

alveolo-

palatal

fricative'

primary

stress

.Z .Hvoiceless

epiglottal

fricative.7

alveolo-

palatal

fricative `secondary

stress

You may also want to take a look atthis page, which describes various other conventions, considered more-or-less "standard".

A related page of mine is:Greek Sounds in the International Phonetic Alphabet
http://www.blahedo.org/ascii-ipa.htmlhttp://www.blahedo.org/ascii-ipa.htmlhttp://www.blahedo.org/ascii-ipa.htmlhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPAGreek.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPAGreek.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPAGreek.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPAGreek.htmhttp://www.blahedo.org/ascii-ipa.html


4/6

Greek Sounds in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

And an Assignment of ASCII Characters to IPA Symbols

Please note: The current page is an adaptation for Greek ofthis general page, which is concerned with an assignment of ASCII characters to IPA symbols in general(for alllanguages) bythe author.

Two tables are given below, one for consonants and one for vowels. The sounds of the Modern Greek language are shown in cyan-colored cells. Other cells that

are not colored contain IPA-recognized sounds that are not found among the Modern Greek ones. Finally, darker-colored cells are sounds that cannot begenerated by the human vocal system. ASCII symbols for use instead of the actual IPA symbols (in environments supporting only ASCII) are shown in red color.

The following legend explains all this:

IPA

Greek

sound

DASCII

charactersample Greeksyllable

IPA non-

Greek

sound

SASCII

character

(blank cell) sound

possible by the human

vocal system, but not

observed in any

language

sound impossible by

the human vocal

system
http://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPAGreek.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPA.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPA.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPA.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/index.htmlhttp://www.foundalis.com/index.htmlhttp://www.foundalis.com/index.htmlhttp://www.foundalis.com/index.htmlhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPA.htmhttp://www.foundalis.com/lan/proj/IPA/IPAGreek.htm


5/6

Consonants

In the table of consonants, below, the first symbol within a cell denotes an unvoiced sound (e.g., t), whereas the second symbol denotes the corresponding voiced

sound (e.g., d).

Consonants Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal

Plosive

p b

t d

\ / c ]

k g

q G ?

Nasal m

M

-

n

% #

N

-

7

Trill } R

8

Tap or Flap

P

[

Fricative F B f

v

T D

s z

S Z $ 2 C J

x +

X Q H 9 h 6

Lateral

fricative 4 5

Approximant V r { j W

Lateral

approximant

l

| K

L

Before proceeding to the Greek vowels, let us make a few explanatory notes on the rows and columns of the above table:

Columns: moving from left to right corresponds to how much to the front or to the back in the mouth cavity the mouth-parts that produce the sound are.

For example: bilabial sounds (as front as possible) are made with the two lips; labiodental sounds with the upper teeth touching the lower lip; alveolar

sounds with the tip of the tongue touching the back of the teeth (the alveolar ridge); palatal sounds with the middle of the tongue touching the hard palate;

and velar sounds with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate. (In "standard" Greek e.g., as produced by news anchormen/women

no

further back part of the mouth participates in creating any sound.)


6/6

Rows: each row of the table represents a sound "quality". Thus, plosives are instantaneous, with the air escaping suddenly from the mouth; nasals requirethat air passes through the nasal cavity; in the only trill of the language the tongue vibrates rapidly (once or twice) against the alveolar ridge; in fricatives

the air passes smoothly through the center of the mouth; and in lateral approximants the air passes through the sides of the mouth, while the tongue blocks

the central region.

Vowels

In the table of vowels, below, wherever symbols appear in pairs, the leftmost symbol of the pair denotes an unrounded vowel, while the rightmost symbol denotes

the corresponding rounded vowel.

Vowels Front Central Back

Close i y 1 - w u

I Y U

Close-mid e 0 ) =

, o

@

Open-mid E ~ 3 ; ^ O

& *

Open

a < A (

The meaning of the columns and rows of the table for vowels is as follows:

Columns: from left to right, the tongue moves from the front position (close to the teeth) to back.

Rows: in the top rows the mouth stays relatively closed, while in the bottom ones it opens more.

A third dimension is included in this table through the pairs of unrounded and rounded vowels: keep the open-closedness and back-frontness of the other

two dimensions fixed, and either round or unround your lips to produce each of the sounds in a pair.

Documents

Assignment of ASCII Characters to IPA Symbols