Kirshenbaum, sometimes called ASCII-IPA or erkIPA, is a system used to represent the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) in ASCII. This way it allows typewriting IPA-symbols by regular keyboard. 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.

The system uses almost all lower-case letters to represent the directly corresponding IPA character, but unlike X-SAMPA has the notable exception of the letter 'r'. Examples where the two systems have a different mapping between characters and sounds are:

Kirshenbaum charts of consonants and vowels[edit]

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[edit]

The IPA consonant chart, for comparison, uses many symbols that are less widely supported:

v t e IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio

Place →

Labial

Coronal

Dorsal

Radical

Glottal

↓ Manner

Bila­bial

Labio-​dental

Den​tal

Alve​olar

Post­alveolar

Retro​flex

Alveolo-​palatal

Pal​a​tal

Ve​lar

Uvu​lar

Pha​ryn​geal

Epi​glot​tal

Glot​tal

Nasal

m̥

m

ɱ

n̪

n̥

n

n̠

ɳ̊

ɳ

ɲ̟

ɲ̊

ɲ

ŋ̊

ŋ

ɴ

Stop

p

b

p̪

b̪

t̪

d̪

t

d

ʈ

ɖ

c

ɟ

k

ɡ

q

ɢ

ʡ

ʔ

Sibilant fricative

s̪

z̪

s

z

ʃ

ʒ

ʂ

ʐ

ɕ

ʑ

Non-sibilant fricative

ɸ

β

f

v

θ

ð

θ̱

ð̠

ç

ʝ

x

ɣ

χ

ʁ

ħ

ʕ

ʜ

ʢ

h

ɦ

Approximant

ʋ

ɹ

ɻ

j̊

j

ɰ

Flap or tap

ⱱ̟

ⱱ

ɾ

ɽ

ɢ̆

ʡ̯

Trill

ʙ

r̥

r

ɽ͡r

ʀ

ᴙ *

Lateral fricative

ɬ

ɮ

ꞎ *

ʎ̝̊

ʟ̝̊

ʟ̝

Lateral approximant

l̥

l

ɭ

ʎ̟

ʎ

ʟ

Lateral flap

ɺ

ɺ̢ *

ʎ̯

ʟ̆

Vowel chart[edit]

The IPA vowel chart, by comparison, uses many symbols that are less widely supported:

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ ə •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ æ ɐ •aɶ ä •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
This table contains phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
IPA help • IPA key • chart •  chart with audio • view

Vowel modifiers and diacritics[edit]

Modifiers and diacritics follow the symbol they modify.

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

Background[edit]

The Kirshenbaum started developing in August 1992 through a usenet group, after "being fed up with describing the sound of words by using other words"^[1] It should be usable for both phonemic and narrow phonetic transcription.

• It should be possible to represent all symbols and diacritics in the IPA.
• The previous guideline notwithstanding, it is expected that (as in the past) most use will be in transcribing English, so where tradeoffs are necessary, decisions should be made in favor of ease of representation of phonemes which are common in English.
• The representation should be readable.
• It should be possible to mechanically translate from the representation to a character set which includes IPA. The reverse would also be nice.^[2]

The developers decided to use the existing IPA alphabet, mapping each segment to a single keyboard character, and adding extra ASCII characters optionally for IPA diacritics.

An early (1993), different set in ASCII was derived from the pronunciation guide in Merriam-Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, which uses straight letters to describe the sound.^[3]

References[edit]

1. ^ Kirschenbaum.net
2. ^ Usenet IPA/ASCII transcription
3. ^ Earlier ASCII version: Miriam-Webster's

External links[edit]

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

v t e   International Phonetic Alphabet   IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Extensions to the IPA Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Handwritten IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Conlang X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet IPA Braille   Consonants v t e IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Radical Glottal ↓ Manner Bila­bial Labio-​dental Den​tal Alve​olar Post­alveolar Retro​flex Alveolo-​palatal Pal​a​tal Ve​lar Uvu​lar Pha​ryn​geal Epi​glot​tal Glot​tal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̪ n̥ n n̠ ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̟ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant fricative s̪ z̪ s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ ð θ̱ ð̠ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Approximant ʋ ɹ ɻ j̊ j ɰ Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̯ Trill ʙ r̥ r ɽ͡r ʀ ᴙ * Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ꞎ * ʎ̝̊ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l̥ l ɭ ʎ̟ ʎ ʟ Lateral flap ɺ ɺ̢ * ʎ̯ ʟ̆ Non-pulmonic consonants Clicks ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ ʘ̃ ʘ̃ˀ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qʼ ‼ Implosives ɓ̥ ɓ ɗ̥ ɗ ᶑ ʄ̊ ʄ ɠ ʛ Ejectives pʼ t̪ʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ qχʼ Affricates p̪f b̪v ts dz t̪s̪ d̪z̪ tθ dð tʃ dʒ tɕ dʑ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɬ dɮ cç ɟʝ cʎ̥˔ kx ɡɣ kʟ̝̊ ɡʟ̝ qχ ɢʁ Co-articulated consonants Continuants ʍ w ɥ ɧ Occlusives k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m — These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] — Where symbols appear in pairs, left–right represent the voiceless–voiced consonants. — Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible. — Symbols marked with an asterisk (*) are not defined in the IPA. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated   Vowels Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ ə •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ æ ɐ •aɶ ä •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view