Kirshenbaum

Kirshenbaum, sometimes called ASCII-IPA, is a system used to represent the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in ASCII. It was developed for Usenet, notably the newsgroups sci.lang and alt.usage.english. It is named after Evan Kirshenbaum, who led the collaboration that created it.

Like the more common SAMPA, the system uses lower-case letters to represent the directly corresponding IPA character. However, the mapping used to represent other characters often differs. For example:â€"

Sound	SAMPA	Kirshenbaum
ae ligature	`{`	`&`
reversed script a	`Q`	`A.`
reversed epsilon	`3`	`V"`
primary stress	`"`	`'`
secondary stress	`%`	`,`

Kirshenbaum charts of consonants and vowels

This chart is based on information provided in the Kirshenbaum specification.[1], [2] It may also be helpful to compare it to the SAMPA chart or X-SAMPA chart.

Consonant chart

Kirshenbaum chart of consonants
(the paired signs are voiceless/voiced consonants)

Bilabials

Labiodentals

Dentals

Alveolars

Retroflexes

Palato-alveolars

Palatals

Velars

Uvulars

Labiovelars

Pharyngeals

Glottals

Alveolar laterals

Nasals m M n[ n n. n^ N n" n

Stops p b t[ d[ t d t. d. c J k g q G t d ?

Fricatives P B f v T D s z s. z. S Z C C x Q X g" w w H H h s z

Approximants r r[ r r. j j g" w h

Laterals l[ l l. l^ L

Trills b r r"

Flaps * *. *

Ejectives p` t[` t` c` k` q`

Implosives b` d` d` J` g` G`

Clicks p! t! c! c! k! l!

Consonant modifiers and diacritics

Modifiers and diacritics follow the symbol they modify.

Modifier/diacritic	Meaning
`!`	Click
`"`	Uvular
`-`	Syllabic
`.`	Retroflex
`;`	Palatalized
`[`	Dental
`^`	Palatal
`	Voiced: Implosive Unvoiced: Ejective
`~`	Velarized
	Murmured
	Pharyngealized
	Aspirated
	Palatalized
	Unexploded
	Rhoticized
	Labialized

Vowel chart

Kirshenbaum simplified chart of vowels (the paired signs are unrounded/rounded vowels; symbols in parentheses designate vowels that exist in some spoken languages, but do not have IPA signs)
	Front	Central	Back	Rhotic
Close	`i y`	`i" u"`	`u- u`
Near-close	`I I.`		`(U-) U`
Close-mid	`e Y`	`@ @.`	`o- o`	`R`
Mid		`@`		`R`
Open-mid	`E W`	`V" O"`	`V O`
Near-open	`&`	`&"`	(no symbols)
Open	`a a.`	`(a" A".)`	`A A.`

Vowel modifiers and diacritics

Modifiers and diacritics follow the symbol they modify.

Modifier/diacritic	Meaning
`~`	Nasalized
`:`	Long
`-`	Unrounded
`.`	Rounded
`"`	Centralized
	Murmured
	Rhoticized

Stress is indicated by ' for primary stress, and , for secondary stress, placed before the stressed syllable.

Similar german name

Kirschenbaum (with a c after the s) is a German last name that means 'cherry tree' in English.

External links

* Kirshenbaum specification (PDF file)
* Tutorial and guide with sound samples

Kirshenbaum: Encyclopedia BETA

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