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SAMPA chart

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.

SAMPA: simplified chart of consonants
(the paired signs are voiceless/voiced consonants)
  Bilabial [[Labiodental consonant| Labiodentals]] Dentals [[Alveolar consonant| Alveolars]] [[Postalveolar consonant| Postalveolars]] Palatals Velars Uvulars Pharyngeals Glottals
Stops
or affricates
pb
 
td
tsdz
tSdZ
cJ
kg
qG\\
 
? 
Fricatives
p\\B
fv
TD
sz
SZ
Cj\\
xG
XR\\
X\\?\\
hh\\
Nasals m F   n   n^ N      
Laterals       l   L 5      
Rhotics (flaps or trills)      
4
r
r\\`
      R    
Semivowels w
H
        j        

'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:


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 mfor, 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
i
I
y
Y
1}
M
 
u
U
Half closed
e2
@\\8

@
7o
Half open
E9
33\\

6
VO
Open or low
{ 
a&
AQ

Vowel modifiers:

SAMPA: simplified list of vowels
SAMPA IPA Description Examples
i i front closed unrounded vowel English see, Spanish , 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 , French gt, 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