Assignment of ASCII Characters to IPA Symbols

IPA stands for International 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 by the author are: the frequency of the sound in various languages (e.g., ASCII R is assigned to IPA alveolar trill r rather 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 D
ASCII 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). Pulmonic Consonants Plosive Nasal Trill Tap or Flap Fricative Lateral fricative Approximant Lateral approximant V F B f v T D s 4 Bilabial Labiodental p b m } M Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex t d n R P z 5 r { | j K W L S Z $ [ 2 C J x + X Q H 9 h 6 \ / % c Palatal ] # k Velar g N q Uvular G 7 8 Pharyngeal ? Glottal

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 Close Front i y I Close-mid e 0 Y ) =
@

Central 1

Back w U u

,
; * ^
A

Open-mid

~ &

Open

<

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 remaining ASCII 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 ASCII IPA sequence symbol description !0 !| !! != !# bilabial dental (post)alveolar palatoalveolar alveolar lateral

Voiced Implosives ASCII IPA sequence symbol description !b !d !f !g !G bilabial dental/alveolar palatal velar uvular

Ejectives ASCII IPA sequence symbol description !' !p !t !k !s bilabial dental/alveolar velar alveolar/fricative

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 ASCII IPA ASCII IPA ASCII IPA sequence symbols sequence symbol description sequence symbol voiceless labio-velar .s .m .9 fricative voiced labio-velar .S .w .? approximant voiced labio-palatal .z .h .c approximant voiceless epiglottal .Z .H .7 fricative Other symbols ASCII IPA description sequence symbol description voiced alveolar epiglottal .I lateral flap fricative epiglottal plosive alveolopalatal fricative alveolopalatal fricative

.X
'

simultaneous
and

primary stress secondary stress

You may also want to take a look at this page, which describes various other conventions, considered more-or-less "standard". A related page of mine is: Greek Sounds in the International Phonetic Alphabet

Greek Sounds in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

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 be generated 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 D

IPA nonGreek sound S

sample Greek syllable (blank cell) sound possible by the human sound impossible by vocal system, but not the human vocal observed in any system language

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 Plosive Bilabial Labiodental p b m } M Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex t d n R P F B f v T D s 4 V z 5 r { | j K W L S Z $ [ \ / Palatal c ] # Velar k g q N Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal G ?

Nasal

Trill

Tap or Flap

Fricative Lateral fricative Approximant Lateral approximant

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.)

Rows: each row of the table represents a sound "quality". Thus, plosives are instantaneous, with the air escaping suddenly from the mouth; nasals require that 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 Close Front i y I Close-mid e 0 Y ) =
@

Central 1

Back w U u

,
; * ^
A

Open-mid

~ &

Open

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.