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Phonemes


Evan Kirshenbaum created an ASCII transcription of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)[1], [2]. As well as using ASCII characters for specific IPA phonemes, this transcription provides a set of 3-letter feature abbreviations allowing a phoneme to be described as a sequence of features.

This document extends Evan Kirshenbaum’s feature set to be able to describe the different phonemes in the IPA and as are used in the various languages of the world.

The goal of this document is not to provide a detailed guide on phonetics. Nor is it intended to be able to accurately record differences in IPA diacritics. Instead, it is designed to be a transcription guide for authors of espeak-ng languages and voices on how to specify phonemes so that the IPA and feature transcriptions are consistent.

Consonants

blb lbd dnt alv pla rfx alp pal vel uvl phr glt
vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd
nas m ɱ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̟̊ ɲ̟ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ
stp p b t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ
sib afr t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ
afr p͡ɸ b͡β p̪͡f b̪͡v t͡θ d͡ð c͡ç ɟ͡ʝ k͡x ɡ͡ɣ q͡χ ɢ͡ʁ ʡ͡ħ ʡ͡ʕ ʔ͡h
lat afr t͡ɬ d͡ɮ ʈ͡ɭ̊˔ c͡ʎ̥˔ k͡ʟ̝̊ ɡ͡ʟ̝
sib frc s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ
frc ɸ β f v θ ð ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ
lat frc ɬ ɮ ɭ̊˔ ʎ̥˔ ʎ̝ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝
apr ʋ̥ ʋ ɹ̥ ɹ ɻ̊ ɻ j ɰ̊ ɰ
lat apr l ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ̥ ʟ ʟ̠
flp ⱱ̟ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̮
lat flp ɺ ɭ̆ ʎ̮ ʟ̆
trl ʙ r ɽ͡r̥ ɽ͡r ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ
clk ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ
lat clk ǁ
imp ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ
ejc ʈʼ ʡʼ
ejc frc θʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ χʼ
lat ejc frc ɬʼ

Other Symbols

bld alv pla pal lbv vel
vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd vls vcd
nas ŋ͡m
stp k͡p ɡ͡b
afr p͡f b͡v
vzd frc ɧ
ptr apr ɥ ʍ w
fzd lat apr ɫ

Gemination

Gemination is found in several languages including Italian and Japanese. It is also present in the suprasegmental phonology between words such as “lamppost” and “evenness”.

Some linguists use the long suprasegmental for geminate consonants. The eSpeak NG convention is to use consonant length for phonation when consonant length is distinct without gemination occurring.

The way gemination is represented in eSpeak NG is to duplicate the phonemes, with the first phoneme using the unx feature. For example, n̚.n for a geminated n. This describes how with the stp and nas consonants, the mouth remains closed (unx) for the first of the geminated consonants.

Manner of Articulation

Feature Symbol Name
nas nasal
stp plosive (stop)
afr affricate
frc fricative
flp tap/flap
trl trill
apr approximant
clk click
ejc ejective
imp ◌ʼ implosive
vwl vowel

The vwl phonemes are described using vowel height and backness features, while consonants (the other manners of articulation) are described using place of articulation features.

Additionally, the manner of articulation can be refined using the following features:

Feature Name
lat lateral
sib sibilant

Place of Articulation

Feature Name
blb bilabial
lbd labiodental
bld bilabial-labiodental
dnt dental
alv alveolar
pla palato-alveolar
rfx retroflex
alp alveolo-palatal
pal palatal
vel velar
lbv labio-velar
uvl uvular
phr pharyngeal
glt glottal

The bld place of articulation is used for afr consonants that have a blb onset and a lbd release, e.g. in the German p͡f consonant.

NOTE: The IPA charts make a distinction between pharyngeal and epiglottal consonants, but Wikipedia does not. This model uses the Wikipedia descriptions.

Voice

Feature Name
vls voiceless
vcd voiced

Vowels

fnt cnt bck
unr rnd unr rnd unr rnd
hgh i y ɨ ʉ ɯ u
smh ɪ ʏ ʊ
umd e ø ɘ ɵ ɤ o
mid ə
lmd ɛ œ ɜ ɞ ʌ ɔ
sml æ ɐ
low a ɶ ɑ ɒ

NOTE: The smh vowels are more cnt than the other vowels. However, this distinction is not needed to classify these vowels, so is not included in the above table.

Other Symbols

Symbol Features
ɚ unr mid cnt rzd vwl
ɝ unr lmd cnt rzd vwl

Height

Feature Name
hgh close (high)
smh near-close (semi-high)
umd close-mid (upper-mid)
mid mid
lmd open-mid (lower-mid)
sml near-open (semi-low)
low open (low)

Backness

Feature Name
fnt front
cnt center
bck back

Rounding

Feature Name
unr unrounded
rnd rounded

Diacritics

Articulation

Feature Symbol Name
lgl ◌̼ linguolabial
idt ◌̪͆ interdental
◌̪ dental
apc ◌̺ apical
lmn ◌̻ laminal
◌̟ advanced
◌̠ retracted
◌̈ centralized
◌̽ mid-centralized
◌̝ raised
◌̞ lowered

The articulations that do not have a corresponding feature name are recorded using the features of their new location in the consonant or vowel charts, not using the features of the base phoneme.

Air Flow

Feature Symbol Name
egs egressive
igs ingressive

The ↑ and ↓ symbols are from the extended IPA[7]. They only need to be used when the air flow is different to the base IPA phoneme (e.g. using ↓ on pulmonic consonants).

Phonation

Feature Symbol Name
brv ◌̤ breathy voice
slv ◌̥ slack voice
stv ◌̬ stiff voice
crv ◌̰ creaky voice
glc ʔ͡◌ glottal closure

The IPA ◌̥ diacritic is also used to fill the vls spaces in the IPA consonant charts. Thus, when ◌̥ is used with a vcd consonant that does not have an equivalent vls consonant, the resulting consonant is vls, not slv.

Rounding and Labialization

Feature Symbol Name
ptr ◌ʷ, ◌ᶣ protruded
cmp ◌ᵝ compressed

The degree of rounding/labialization can be specified using the following features:

Feature Symbol Name
mrd ◌̹ more rounded
lrd ◌̜ less rounded

Syllabicity

Feature Symbol Name
syl ◌̩ syllabic
nsy ◌̯ non-syllabic

Consonant Release

Feature Symbol Name
asp ◌ʰ aspirated
nrs ◌ⁿ nasal release
lrs ◌ˡ lateral release
unx ◌̚ no audible release (unexploded)

Co-articulation

Feature Symbol Name
pzd ◌ʲ palatalized
vzd ◌ˠ velarized
fzd ◌ˤ pharyngealized
nzd ◌̃ nasalized
rzd ◌˞ rhoticized

Tongue Root

The tongue root position can be specified using the following features:

Feature Symbol Name
atr ◌̘ advanced tongue root
rtr ◌̙ retracted tongue root

Fortis and Lenis

Feature Symbol Name
fts ◌͈ fortis
lns ◌͉ lenis

The extended IPA[7] ◌͈ and ◌͉ diacritics are used to specify lesser (lns) and greater (fts) oral pressure than the unmodified voiced or voiceless phoneme. This distinction is made by the Ewe, Tabasaran, Archi, and other languages[8].

Where fortis and lenis are used to contrast consonant durations (e.g. in the Jawoyn, Ojibwe, and Zurich German languages[8]), the length suprasegmentals are used instead.

Suprasegmentals

Length

Feature Symbol Name
est ◌̆ extra short
hlg ◌ˑ half-long
lng ◌ː long
elg ◌ːː extra long

References

  1. Kirshenbaum, Evan, Representing IPA phonetics in ASCII (HTML). 1993.

  2. Kirshenbaum, Evan, Representing IPA phonetics in ASCII (PDF). 2001.

  3. International Phonetic Association, The International Phonetic Alphabet and the IPA Chart. 2015. Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).

  4. Wikipedia. International Phonetic Alphabet. 2017. Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).

  5. Dunn, R. H., Cainteoir Text-to-Speech Phoneme Features. 2013-2015.

  6. Wikipedia. Voiced glottal fricative. 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).

  7. Wikipedia. Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet. 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).

  8. Wikipedia. Fortis and lenis. 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).

  9. Wikipedia. Place of articulation. 2017, Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).