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 describes the IPA phonemes using the features used by Kirshenbaum.
Consonants
Pulmonic
|
blb |
lbd |
dnt |
alv |
pla |
rfx |
pal |
vel |
uvl |
phr |
glt |
nas |
| m |
| ɱ |
| |
| n |
| |
| ɳ |
| ɲ |
| ŋ |
| ɴ |
| |
| |
stp |
p | b |
| |
| |
t | d |
| |
ʈ | ɖ |
c | ɟ |
k | ɡ |
q | ɢ |
| |
ʔ | |
frc |
ɸ | β |
f | v |
θ | ð |
s | z |
ʃ | ʒ |
ʂ | ʐ |
ç | ʝ |
x | ɣ |
χ | ʁ |
ħ | ʕ |
h | ɦ |
apr |
| |
| ʋ |
| |
| ɹ |
| |
| ɻ |
| j |
| ɰ |
| |
| |
| |
flp |
| |
| ⱱ |
| |
| ɾ |
| |
| ɽ |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
trl |
| ʙ |
| |
| |
| r |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| ʀ |
| |
| |
lat frc |
| |
| |
| |
ɬ | ɮ |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
lat apr |
| |
| |
| |
| l |
| |
| ɭ |
| ʎ |
| ʟ |
| |
| |
| |
Symbols to the left are vls
, and to the right are vcd
.
Non-Pulmonic
|
blb |
lbd |
dnt |
alv |
pla |
rfx |
pal |
vel |
uvl |
phr |
glt |
clk |
ʘ |
|
ǀ |
ǃ |
|
|
ǂ |
|
|
|
|
lat clk |
|
|
|
ǁ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
vcd imp |
ɓ |
|
|
ɗ |
|
|
ʄ |
ɠ |
ʛ |
|
|
ejc |
pʼ |
|
|
tʼ |
|
ʈʼ |
cʼ |
kʼ |
qʼ |
ʡʼ |
|
ejc frc |
fʼ |
|
θʼ |
sʼ |
ʃʼ |
ʂʼ |
|
xʼ |
χʼ |
|
|
lat ejc frc |
|
|
|
ɬʼ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other Symbols
Symbol |
Features |
ʍ |
vls lzd vel apr |
w |
vcd lzd vel apr |
ɥ |
vcd lzd pal apr |
ʜ |
vls epg frc |
ʢ |
vcd epg frc |
ʡ |
vls epg stp |
ɕ |
vls alp frc |
ʑ |
vcd alp frc |
ɺ |
vcd alv lat flp |
ɧ |
vls vzd pla frc |
Vowels
|
fnt |
cnt |
bck |
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 |
Symbols to the left are unr
, and to the right are rnd
.
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.
Features
Phoneme Type
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
vwl |
vwl |
vowel |
Voicing
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
vcd |
vcd |
voiced |
vls |
vls |
voiceless |
Place of Articulation
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
blb |
blb |
bilabial |
lbd |
lbd |
labio-dental |
dnt |
dnt |
dental |
alv |
alv |
alveolar |
pla |
pla |
post-alveolar (palato-alveolar) |
rfx |
rfx |
retroflex |
alp |
|
alveolo-palatal |
pal |
pal |
palatal |
vel |
vel |
velar |
uvl |
uvl |
uvular |
phr |
phr |
pharyngeal |
epg |
|
epiglottal |
glt |
glt |
glottal |
Manner of Articulation
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
stp |
stp |
plosive (stop) |
nas |
nas |
nasal |
trl |
trl |
trill |
flp |
flp |
tap/flap |
frc |
frc |
fricative |
apr |
apr |
approximant |
lat |
lat |
lateral |
clk |
clk |
click |
ejc |
ejc |
ejective |
imp |
imp |
implosive |
Vowel Height
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
hgh |
hgh |
close (high) |
smh |
smh |
near-close (semi-high) |
umd |
umd |
close-mid (upper-mid) |
mid |
mid |
mid |
lmd |
lmd |
open-mid (lower-mid) |
sml |
|
near-open (semi-low) |
low |
low |
open (low) |
Vowel Backness
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
fnt |
fnt |
front |
cnt |
cnt |
center |
bck |
bck |
back |
Rounding
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
unr |
unr |
unrounded |
rnd |
rnd |
rounded |
Diacritics
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
asp |
asp |
aspirated |
unx |
unx |
unexploded |
syl |
syl |
syllabic |
mrm |
mrm |
murmured |
vzd |
vzd |
velarized |
lzd |
lzd |
labialized |
pzd |
pzd |
palatalized |
rzd |
rzd |
rhoticized |
nzd |
nzd |
nasalized |
fzd |
fzd |
pharyngealized |
Suprasegmentals
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
lng |
lng |
long |
Unused
These feature abbreviations specified by Evan Kirshenbaum in Appendix A of his
ASCII/IPA transcription are not used in this document.
Feature |
Kirshenbaum |
Name |
|
orl |
oral |
|
ctl |
central |
lzd vel |
lbv |
labial-velar |
References
Kirshenbaum, Evan,
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/IPA/faq.html (HTML). 1993.
Kirshenbaum, Evan,
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/IPA/ascii-ipa.pdf (PDF). 2001.
International Phonetic Association,
https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/ipa-chart. 2015.
Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).
Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet. 2017.
Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).