ecantorix-sinsy-ng/docs/phonemes.md

Phonemes

• Phoneme Transcription Schemes
• Consonants
  • Other Symbols
  • Gemination
  • Manner of Articulation
  • Place of Articulation
  • Voice
• Vowels
  • Other Symbols
  • Rounding
  • Height
  • Backness
• Diacritics
  • Articulation
  • Air Flow
  • Phonation
  • Rounding and Labialization
  • Syllabicity
  • Consonant Release
  • Co-articulation
  • Tongue Root
  • Fortis and Lenis
• Suprasegmentals
  • Stress
  • Length
  • Rhythm
  • Tones
  • Intonation
• References

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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 origin column is used to describe where the feature originated from:

1. kirshenbaum -- The feature originated from Evan Kirshenbaum's ASCII-IPA Feature Abbreviation table in Appendix A of his ASCII-IPA document ^{[1], [2]}.
2. cainteoir -- The feature originated from the Cainteoir Text-to-Speech phoneme features ^[5].
3. espeak-ng -- The features originate from the eSpeak NG Text-to-Speech program, and are defined in this document.

Not all the Cainteoir Text-to-Speech phoneme features are listed here, only the ones that are relevant to eSpeak NG.

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.

Phoneme Transcription Schemes

BCP47 Subtag	Abbreviation	Transcription Scheme	Encoding
fonipa	IPA	International Phonetic Alphabet	Unicode
fonxsamp	X-SAMPA	Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet	ASCII
x-foncxs	CXS	Conlang X-SAMPA	ASCII
x-fonkirsh		Kirshenbaum (ASCII-IPA)	ASCII

1. foncxs and fonkirsh are private use extensions defined in the bcp47-extensions file, so have the x- private use specifier before their subtag names.

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	m̥	m		ɱ			n̥	n			ɳ̊	ɳ	ɲ̟̊	ɲ̟	ɲ̊	ɲ	ŋ̊	ŋ	ɴ̥	ɴ
stp	p	b	p̪	b̪	t̪	d̪	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			j̊	j	ɰ̊	ɰ
lat apr							l̥	l			ɭ̊	ɭ			ʎ̥	ʎ	ʟ̥	ʟ		ʟ̠
flp		ⱱ̟		ⱱ			ɾ̥	ɾ			ɽ̊	ɽ								ɢ̆		ʡ̮
lat flp								ɺ				ɭ̆				ʎ̮		ʟ̆
trl		ʙ					r̥	r			ɽ͡r̥	ɽ͡r							ʀ̥	ʀ	ʜ	ʢ
clk	ʘ				ǀ		ǃ						ǂ
lat clk							ǁ
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

	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	Origin
nas		nasal	kirshenbaum
stp		plosive (stop)	kirshenbaum
afr		affricate	espeak-ng
frc		fricative	kirshenbaum
flp		tap/flap	kirshenbaum
trl		trill	kirshenbaum
apr		approximant	kirshenbaum
clk		click	kirshenbaum
ejc	◌ʼ	ejective	kirshenbaum
imp		implosive	kirshenbaum
vwl		vowel	kirshenbaum

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.

NOTE: Evan Kirshenbaum defines an orl (oral) feature which is not used. From context, it looks like {orl,stp} was indended to be used for plosives, and {nas,stp} for nasals. That feature is not defined in this document, but is defined in the phoneme model.

The manner of articulation can be refined using the following features:

Feature	Name	Origin
lat	lateral	kirshenbaum
sib	sibilant	cainteoir

NOTE: Evan Kirshenbaum defines a ctl (central) feature which is not used. From context, it looks like it was intended to explicitly annotate consonants as having a central release, similar to how the lat feature is used for lateral release. As consonants are implicitly central, the ctl feature is not needed and as such is not defined in this document.

Place of Articulation

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

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	Origin
vls	voiceless	kirshenbaum
vcd	voiced	kirshenbaum

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

Other Symbols

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

Height

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

Backness

Feature	Name	Origin
fnt	front	kirshenbaum
cnt	center	kirshenbaum
bck	back	kirshenbaum

NOTE: The smh vowels are more cnt than the other vowels. However, this distinction is not needed to classify these vowels so there are no features for front-central and back-central. The fnt and bck features are used instead.

Rounding

Feature	Name	Origin
unr	unrounded	kirshenbaum
rnd	rounded	kirshenbaum

Diacritics

Articulation

Feature	Symbol	Name	Origin
lgl	◌̼	linguolabial	cainteoir
idt	◌̪͆	interdental	espeak-ng
	◌̪	dental
apc	◌̺	apical	espeak-ng
lmn	◌̻	laminal	cainteoir
	◌̟	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	Origin
egs	↑	egressive	espeak-ng
igs	↓	ingressive	espeak-ng

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	Origin
brv	◌̤	breathy voice	espeak-ng
slv	◌̥	slack voice	cainteoir
stv	◌̬	stiff voice	cainteoir
crv	◌̰	creaky voice	cainteoir
glc	ʔ͡◌	glottal closure	espeak-ng

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.

NOTE: Evan Kirshenbaum uses the mrm (murmured) feature for breathy voice, using it for [ɦ] instead of vcd, following the way the phoneme is pronounced instead of how it is annotated on the IPA chart.

Rounding and Labialization

Feature	Symbol	Name	Origin
ptr	◌ʷ, ◌ᶣ	protruded	espeak-ng
cmp	◌ᵝ	compressed	espeak-ng

NOTE: Evan Kirshenbaum uses the lzd (labialized) feature for protruded.

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

Feature	Symbol	Name	Origin
mrd	◌̹	more rounded	cainteoir
lrd	◌̜	less rounded	cainteoir

Syllabicity

Feature	Symbol	Name	Origin
syl	◌̩	syllabic	kirshenbaum
nsy	◌̯	non-syllabic	cainteoir

Consonant Release

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

Co-articulation

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

The combining ◌̴ mark is used for velarized or pharyngealized consonants. Wikipedia recommends precomposed letters for this as this combining mark is deprecated, and the font may not render the composed form correctly.

Tongue Root

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

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

Fortis and Lenis

Feature	Symbol	Name	Origin
fts	◌͈	fortis	espeak-ng
lns	◌͉	lenis	espeak-ng

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

Stress

Symbol	Name
ˈ◌	primary stress
ˌ◌	secondary stress

Length

Feature	Symbol	Name	Origin
est	◌̆	extra short	cainteoir
hlg	◌ˑ	half-long	cainteoir
lng	◌ː	long	kirshenbaum
elg	◌ːː	extra long	espeak-ng

Rhythm

Symbol	Name
.	syllable break
◌‿◌	linking (no break)

Tones

Symbol	Name
◌˥	extra high tone
◌˦	high tone
◌˧	mid tone
◌˨	low tone
◌˩	extra low tone
ꜛ◌	upstep
ꜜ◌	downstep

Intonation

Symbol	Name
`	`
‖	major (intonation) break
↗︎	global rise
↘︎	global fall

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).