SAMPA chart

SAMPA charts of consonants and vowels

See a concise version of SAMPA for English sounds.

SAMPA: simplified chart of consonants (the paired signs are voiceless/voiced consonants)
	Bilabial	Labiodentals	Dentals	Alveolars	Postalveolars	Palatals	Velars	Uvulars
Stops or affricates	p b			t d	tS dZ	c (stroked j?)	k g	q
Fricatives	(phi ?) B	f v	T D	s z	S Z	C	x G	h h\
Nasals	m	F		n		J	N
Laterals				l		L	(dark l?)
Rhotics (flaps or trills)				r rr (retroflex r?)				R
Semivowels	w H					j

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 stop	English two
d	d	voiced alveolar stop	English do
tS	t + (long s?)	voiceless postalveolar affricate	English chair, picture, Spanish mucho, Italian cena, German Deutsche
dZ	d + (z with tail?)	voiced postalveolar affricate	English gin, joy, Italiangiorno
c	c	voiceless palatal stop	Greek [ce] 'and'
(stroked j?)	overstroked j, j	voiced palatal stop	??
k	k	voiceless velar stop	English cat, kill, queen
g	g	voiced velar stop	English go, get
q	q	voiceless uvular stop	Arabic qof
(phi ?)	Greek phi	voiceless bilabial fricative	Japanese fu
B	Greek beta	voiced bilabial fricative	Spanish cabo, calvo
f	f	voiceless labiodental fricative	English fool, enough
v	v	voiced labiodental fricative	English voice, German Welt
T	Greek theta	voiceless dental fricative	English thing, Castilian Spanish caza
D	Icelandic eth ð, or Greek delta	voiced dental fricative	English this, Spanish cada
s	s	voiceless alveolar fricative	English see, pass, city, Spanish sí, German Gross
z	z	voiced alveolar fricative	English zoo, roses, German See
S	(long s?)	voiceless postalveolar fricative	English she, sure, emotion, French chemin, Italian scendo
Z	(z with tail?)	voiced postalveolar fricative	French jour, English pleasure
C	cedilla, ç	voiceless palatal fricative	German Ich, Greek [Ceri] 'hand', some English pronunciations of human
x	x	voiceless velar fricative	Scots loch, Spanish ajo, German Buch
G	Greek gamma	voiced velar fricative	Spanish algo
h	h	voiceless uvular fricative	English ham, German Hand
h\	h with upper tail to the right	voiced uvular fricative	Some English pronunciations of aha
m	m	bilabial nasal	English man
F	m with downward right tail	labiodental nasal	Spanish infierno
n	n	alveolar nasal	English no
J	n with downward left tail	palatal nasal	US English canyon, Spanish año, French oignion, Italian gnocchi, Hungarian anyu
N	n with downward right tail	velar nasal	English singer, ring
l	l	alveolar lateral	English left
L	turned down y	palatal lateral	Italian aglio, Catalan colla
(dark l?)	small capital L	velar lateral	English milk (dark l), Catalan alga
r	r without seriff	alveolar flap	US English better, Spanish pero
rr	r with seriff	alveolar trill	Spanish perro, rey
(retroflex r?)	r with downward tail to the left	retroflex alveolar flap	English run, very
R	small capital R	uvular trill	French rue, standard German Reich
w	w	rounded back semivowel	English we, Frech oui, Spanish hueso
H	turned down h	rounded front semivowel	French huit
j	j	unrounded front semivowel	English yes, Frech yeux, German ja

SAMPA: simplified chart of vowels (the paired signs are unrounded/rounded vowels)
	Front	Central	Back
Closed or high	i I y	1 }	(upside-down m?) u U
Half closed	e 2	@ (stroked o?)	(squeezed gamma?) o
Half open	E 3 9		V O
Open or low	{ &	a	A Q

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:] ).

SAMPA: simplified list of vowels
SAMPA	IPA	Description	Examples
i	i	front closed unrounded vowel	English see, Spanish sí, French vite, German mieten
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	Greek epsilon	front half open unrounded vowel	English bed, French même, German Herr, Italian ferro, Catalan mes
3	Greek epsilon mirrored to the left	front half open unrounded vowel, but somewhat more centralised and relaxed	English bird
{	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
&	small capital OE ligature, Œ	front open rounded vowel	??
1	overstroked i, i	central closed unrounded vowel	Russian [m1s] 'mouse'
@	turned down e, schwa	central neutral unrounded vowel	English about, winner, German bitte
a	a	central open vowel	Spanish da, French bateau, lac, German Haar
}	overstroked u, u	central closed rounded vowel	Swedish sju
(stroked o?)	overstroked o, o	central neutral rounded vowel	??
u	u	back closed rounded vowel	English soon, Spanish tú, French goût, German Hut
U	turned down small capital Greek omega	front closed rounded vowel somewhat more centralised and relaxed	English put, German Mutter
o	o	back half closed rounded vowel	US English sore, Spanish yo, French beau, German Sohle, Italian dove, Catalan ona
O	c mirrored to the left	back half open rounded vowel	English law, caught, Italian uomo, Catalan dona
Q	'b' with no upper tail	back open rounded vowel	English not, cough, German Toll
(upside-down m?)	upside-down m	back closed unrounded vowel	(?) Vietnamese &x01B0; (?) Korean &xC73C;
(squeezed gamma?)	squeezed Greek gamma	back half closed unrounded vowel	(?) Vietnamese &x01A1; (?) Korean &xC5B4;
V	turned down v	back half open unrounded vowel	English run, enough
A	'd' with no upper tail	back open unrounded vowel	English arm, US English law, standard French âme