The X-SAMPA thread

Ask any questions you have on X-SAMPA and transcription in general.

Suggestion: Leaving a small audio extract might help to narrow in on a symbol (or symbols) you have trouble determining.

As I said on the other thread, I wrote a tutorial on another site for just this purpose. If anyone's interested, check it out here:

http://www.langcafe.net/viewtopic.php?t=278

And an example of some X-SAMPA based on my speech:

[DIs I:z @ gU:d stAr\t f@` "IniwVn "IntSr\IstI4 In f@"nE4Ik tr\{n"skr\IpSn=]

"This is a good start for anyone interested in phonetic transcription"

BTW, here are the symbols: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-SAMPA

Got it.
(The "teenager" in the last article) Will look into these sites.

Yeah; it's me again. I took a look at the above websites and I have two questions.

1-I'm not really supposed to memorize all that... right?

2-Is this right????
[bam]??? I tried to get the phonemic for BOMB. Feel free to critisize.

>>2-Is this right????
[bam]??? I tried to get the phonemic for BOMB. Feel free to critisize.<<

Depends on which dialect one is representing, and even which register one is using in said dialect. For a basic transcription without adding all kinds of markers for vowel length and nasalization, such is fine for many dialects of the Upper Midwest; for instance, I would transcribe my pronunciation of "bomb" as [ba~:m].

However, for comparison, a not-so-narrow transcription of General American would have [bAm] for such; if one were to narrowly transcribe that one would get [bA~:m]. Of course, mind you that "General American" is just an highly idealized form of some averaged dialect in the Midwest from about 1930 through 1950, and is not something that anyone actually speaks, especially today. However, I am bringing this up to help show that what might be fauxnetically transcribed as "ah" for most North American English dialects is not [a] but rather [A]; [a] for such is primarily limited to the Upper Midwest.

One thing one must remember, though, is that for non-very-narrowly transcribing many English dialects often vowel length and nasalization are not consistently marked, due to them generally not being of much consequence in such; generally, for example, nasalization is marked in such when it is due to a nasal being assimilated into a preceding vowel, such that no nasal consonant is present anymore. However, I myself tend towards favoring a more narrow transcription; part of it, though, is that vowel length is most likely more important in my dialect, due to things like word-final devoicing, than in most NAE dialects.

A terminology note is that what is being marked here is not phonemic, but rather *phonetic*. The term "phonetic" concerns sounds themselves, without any abstractions or like, whereas "phonemes" concerns the basic high level phonological units which make up morphemes, and through those words. For some more explanation of the difference between "phonetic" and "phonemic", go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme

<<1-I'm not really supposed to memorize all that... right?>>

No, don't worry about everything. In particular, I'd just focus on learning some of the symbols as they relate to English. Here's the Wikipedia article on IPA for English:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_for_English

<<2-Is this right????
[bam]??? I tried to get the phonemic for BOMB. Feel free to critisize.>>

That could be, depending on your dialect. [a] is a front, low sound, and would be found in a word like "bomb" in a Northern US dialect, such as the one Travis speaks as he's from Wisconsin. The "General American" vowel, [A], is an unrounded low back vowel. That's the one I have (and I'm from California). Some people may also have the low back rounded vowel [O]. Note that I was using X-SAMPA here, so no special font was required.

Here are some audio illustrations of those sounds to help you better (but it's in X-SAMPA's special-font equivalent, IPA):

http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAlab.htm

Listen to those vowels and then you can decide which one best represents the vowel you have in "bomb." :)