# SAMPA chart

The following show the typical symbols for consonants and vowels used in SAMPA, an ASCII-based system based on the International Phonetic Alphabet. SAMPA is not a universal system as it varies from language to language.

## Consonants

| | | Bilabial | Labio- dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | F | | n | | J | N | | | |
| Stop plosive and affricate | Stop plosive and affricate | p b | | t d ts dz | t d ts dz | tS dZ | c J\ | k g | q G\ | | ? |
| Fricative | Fricative | p\ B | f v | T D | s z | S Z | C j\ | x G | X R | X\ ?\ | h h\ |
| Approximant | central | | P | | r\ | | j H | w | | | |
| Approximant | lateral | | | | l | | L | 5 | | | |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | | | 4 r | | | | R\ | | |
* 1 2 Also in Spanish, [jj] is used to represent the palatal fricative against the semivowel [j].
* 1 2 3 It is common, especially in Spanish and Italian, to represent the alveolar trill with [rr] and the alveolar flap with [r]. 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 (and a backslash for alternative symbols).

### Consonant modifiers

| SAMPA | IPA | Description |
| ` | | retroflex consonant (e.g. d` = /ɖ/) |
| _a | ◌̺ | apical consonant |
| _d | ◌̪ | dental consonant |
| _G | ◌ˠ | velarized consonant |
| _h | ◌ʰ | aspirated consonant |
| _j, ' | ◌ʲ | palatalized consonant |
| _m | ◌̻ | laminal consonant |
| _w | ◌ʷ | labialized consonant |
| _< | | implosive consonant (e.g. b_< = /ɓ/) |
| _> | ʼ | ejective consonant |
| _=, = | ◌̩ | syllabic consonant |

### Simplified list of consonants

| SAMPA | IPA | Description | Examples |
| p | p | voiceless bilabial plosive | English pen, Croatian pas ('dog') |
| b | b | voiced bilabial plosive | English but, Polish brat ('brother') |
| t | t | voiceless alveolar plosive | English two, Spanish tomar ('capture') |
| d | d | voiced alveolar plosive | English do, Polish dom ('house') |
| ts | ts | voiceless alveolar affricate | Italian calza ('sock'), German Zeit ('time') |
| dz | dz | voiced alveolar affricate | Italian zona ('zone'), Canadian French dur ('hard') |
| tS | tʃ | voiceless postalveolar affricate | English chair, Spanish mucho ('many') |
| dZ | dʒ | voiced postalveolar affricate | English gin, Italian giorno ('day') |
| c | c | voiceless palatal plosive | Hungarian tyúk ('hen'), Dutch schatje ('darling') |
| J\ | ɟ | voiced palatal plosive | Hungarian egy ('one'), Czech dítě ('child') |
| k | k | voiceless velar plosive | English skill, Spanish casa ('house') |
| g | ɡ | voiced velar plosive | English go, Hungarian gép ('machine') |
| q | q | voiceless uvular plosive | Arabic qof, Somali qaab |
| p\ | ɸ | voiceless bilabial fricative | Japanese fu, Ainu fuchi |
| B | β | voiced bilabial fricative | Catalan roba 'clothes', Spanish huevo 'egg' |
| f | f | voiceless labiodental fricative | English fool, Spanish fama ('fame') |
| v | v | voiced labiodental fricative | English voice, German Welt 'world' |
| T | θ | voiceless dental fricative | English thing, Castilian Spanish caza 'hunt' |
| D | ð | voiced dental fricative | English this, Icelandic fræði 'science' |
| s | s | voiceless alveolar fricative | English see, Spanish sí ('yes') |
| z | z | voiced alveolar fricative | English zoo, German sein 'to be' |
| S | ʃ | voiceless postalveolar fricative | English she, French chou 'cabbage' |
| Z | ʒ | voiced postalveolar fricative | French jour 'day', English pleasure |
| C | ç | voiceless palatal fricative | Standard German ich 'I', Icelandic hjá 'next to' |
| j\ (jj) | ʝ | voiced palatal fricative | Standard Spanish ayuda |
| x | x | voiceless velar fricative | Scots loch, Spanish ajo |
| G | ɣ | voiced velar fricative | Greek γάλα ('milk'), Icelandic saga ('story') |
| | ɰ | velar approximant | Spanish algo |
| X\ | ħ | voiceless pharyngeal fricative | Arabic h.â |
| ?\ | ʕ | voiced pharyngeal fricative | Arabic 'ayn |
| h | h | voiceless glottal fricative | English ham, German Hand |
| h\ | ɦ | voiced glottal fricative | Hungarian lehet 'it can be' |
| m | m | bilabial nasal | English man, French main 'hand' |
| F | ɱ | labiodental nasal | Spanish infierno, Hungarian kámfor |
| n | n | alveolar nasal | English, Spanish and Italian no |
| J | ɲ | palatal nasal | Spanish año, French oignon, Hungarian lány |
| N | ŋ | velar nasal | English ring, Tagalog ngayón |
| l | l | alveolar lateral approximant | English left, Spanish largo |
| L | ʎ | palatal lateral approximant | Italian aglio, Catalan colla |
| 5 | ɫ | velarized dental lateral | English meal Catalan alga |
| 4 (r) | ɾ | alveolar tap | Spanish pero, Italian essere |
| r (rr) | r | alveolar trill | Spanish perro, Italian terra |
| r\ | ɹ | alveolar approximant | English run |
| R | ʀ | uvular trill | Standard German Reich |
| P | ʋ | labiodental approximant | Dutch Waar, Finnish vesi |
| w | w | labial-velar approximant | English we, French oui |
| H | ɥ | labial-palatal approximant | French nuit |
| j | j | palatal approximant | English yes, Polish już |

## Vowels

Vowels :
| | front | central | back |
| close | i • y | 1 • } | M • u |
| near-close | I • Y | | • U |
| close-mid | e • 2 | @\ • 8 | 7 • o |
| mid | | @ | |
| open-mid | E • 9 | 3 • 3\ | V • O |
| near-open | { • | 6 | |
| open | a • & | | A • Q |

### Vowel modifiers

| SAMPA | IPA | Description | Examples |
| ~, _~ | ◌̃ | nasalized vowel | French bon [bO~], Portuguese sim [si~] |
| : | ː | long vowel | English see [si:] ) |
| ` | ◌˞ | r-colored vowel | US English bird [b3`d] |
| _^ | ◌̯ | non-syllabic vowel | |
| " | ˈ | primary stress | |
| % | ˌ | secondary stress | |
* ↑ This symbol is also used for retroflex consonants (see above), but denotes rhoticity after vowel symbols.

### Simplified list of vowels

| SAMPA | IPA | Description | Examples |
| i | i | close front unrounded vowel | English see, Spanish sí, French vie, German wie, Italian visto |
| I | ɪ | near-close front unrounded vowel | English city, German mit, Canadian French vite |
| e | e | close-mid front unrounded vowel | US English bear, Spanish él, French année, German mehr, Italian rete, Catalan més |
| E | ɛ | open-mid front unrounded vowel | English bed, French même, German Männer, Italian ferro, Catalan mes, Spanish perro |
| { | æ | near-open front unrounded vowel | English cat, Finnish mäki |
| y | y | close front rounded vowel | French du, German Tür, Finnish hyvä |
| Y | ʏ | near-close front rounded vowel | German hübsch, Swedish ylle |
| 2 | ø | close-mid front rounded vowel | French deux (hence '2'), German Höhle, Danish købe |
| 9 | œ | open-mid front rounded vowel | French neuf (hence '9'), German Hölle |
| 1 | ɨ | close central unrounded vowel | Polish mysz |
| @ | ə | mid central vowel | English about, German bitte, Swedish beredd |
| 6 | ɐ | near-open central unrounded vowel | German besser, Catalan mare |
| 3 | ɜ | open-mid central unrounded vowel | English bird |
| a | a~ä | open front unrounded vowel/ open central unrounded vowel | Spanish barra, French bateau, German Haar, Italian pazzo |
| } | ʉ | close central rounded vowel | Scottish English pool, Swedish sju |
| 8 | ɵ | close-mid central rounded vowel | Swedish kust |
| & | ɶ | open front rounded vowel | Swedish öra |
| M | ɯ | close back unrounded vowel | Japanese fuji, Korean geu |
| 7 | ɤ | close-mid back unrounded vowel | Korean eoreum, Estonian kõrv |
| V | ʌ | open-mid back unrounded vowel | RP and US English run, enough |
| A | ɑ | open back unrounded vowel | English arm, US English law, Canadian French âme, Finnish alku |
| u | u | close back rounded vowel | English soon, Spanish tú, French goût, German Hut, Italian tutto |
| U | ʊ | near-close back rounded vowel | English put, (non-US)Buddhist, German Mutter |
| o | o | close-mid back rounded vowel | US English sore, Scottish English boat, Spanish yo, French beau, German Sohle, Italian dove, Catalan ona |
| O | ɔ | open-mid back rounded vowel | British English law, caught, Italian cosa, Catalan dona, Spanish ojo, German Wort |
| Q | ɒ | open back rounded vowel | British English not, cough, Hungarian kar |