Learn to move between IPA, X-SAMPA and ARPABET
Separate the sound from the code used to write it. Practise notation conversion, inspect unsupported details and understand why a broad English phone set cannot preserve every IPA distinction.
VIDEO TUTORIAL
Convert phonetic notation
Move between phonetic writing systems without retyping every symbol.
English narration Captions: English
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What you’ll learn
- Choose the correct conversion direction for phonetic notation you already have.
- Read common X-SAMPA sequences and interpret ARPABET vowel-stress digits.
- Review preserved unsupported items and recognize conversions that lose distinctions.
A few symbols, a clearer picture
One symbol, another code
X-SAMPA S represents IPA ʃ. It is not an English spelling-to-sound rule.
A following modifier
The X-SAMPA code _h supplies the aspiration modifier after the base letter.
Primary stress
X-SAMPA uses a double quote for the IPA primary stress mark; % corresponds to secondary stress ˌ.
Stress on a vowel phone
In the ARPABET direction, the digit 1 marks primary stress on IH. This tool places the IPA mark immediately before its vowel nucleus.
Choose notation before converting
Letters and punctuation have different jobs in different systems.
Read the explanation
IPA uses Unicode symbols such as ʃ and ə. X-SAMPA expresses supported IPA notation using ASCII characters and sequences. ARPABET, as implemented here, uses the 39-phone CMU English inventory. Select the input system you actually have; guessing from a few familiar letters can produce a plausible-looking but unintended result.
The converter expects phonetic notation, not ordinary written words. X-SAMPA S is a code for ʃ, while lower-case s corresponds to s. Case and backslashes matter. If your source is English spelling, begin with the separate English to IPA tool and review that transcription first.
Longer codes are matched before their shorter prefixes. Thus r\ represents the approximant ɹ, whereas r alone denotes the trill r. Inspect the Supported X-SAMPA mappings reference when a sequence is unfamiliar.
Capital S and lower-case s represent different IPA symbols.
A backslash distinguishes the approximant from the trill in this mapping.
Keep modifiers and boundaries visible
A conversion is only useful if it preserves the details you need.
Read the explanation
Try an example in the IPA → X-SAMPA direction. The first group demonstrates stress, an affricate sequence and length. The second uses the syllabic combining mark; the third uses aspiration and nasalization. These are deliberately short notation examples, not a claim that every group is an English word.
Spaces and line breaks are retained. The converter maps the characters it supports and highlights any unmapped item without deleting it. A highlighted item is part of the result, so an output containing one may mix IPA and ASCII notation. Read the conversion notes before using the result in a system that expects only one format.
Some equivalent input forms use a preferred output form. For example, a syllabic mark outputs _=, and nasalization outputs ~. The X-SAMPA linking underscore represents an above tie bar here. A below tie bar uses the same code and will come back above; retain your original if that distinction matters.
The aspiration modifier and combining nasalization both survive this supported conversion.
The same linking code cannot preserve whether a tie bar was below or above.
Treat ARPABET as a smaller English inventory
Its stress digits describe vowel phones, not a complete syllable analysis.
Read the explanation
Use spaces between ARPABET phones, such as SH IH1 P. The result retains those phone spaces and becomes ʃ ˈɪ p. A 1 supplies primary stress and 2 secondary stress; 0 has no displayed stress mark. AH0 becomes ə and ER0 becomes ɚ in this convention.
When converting IPA to ARPABET, the next supported vowel in the same uninterrupted group receives an explicit ˈ or ˌ mark as 1 or 2. The converter does not invent a 0 for every unmarked vowel: missing IPA stress could mean that stress was simply omitted. Schwa and the unstressed r-colored vowel have explicit AH0 and ER0 mappings.
Unsupported vowel-length marks, diacritics and non-English symbols remain visible in the output. Unmarked vowels may need digits added for a receiving application. This makes the result a reviewable draft rather than a promise of dictionary-ready ARPABET. Do not use repeated round trips to infer distinctions the smaller inventory never encoded.
The stress mark is assigned to the following supported vowel nucleus.
No stress digit is invented for the unmarked vowel.
Convert a small set of IPA details and check the return
Choose IPA → X-SAMPA
Open the tool, select IPA → X-SAMPA, and paste the example into Your phonetic notation. Conversion updates as you type.
Inspect the details
Check the double quote for stress, colon for length, _= for the syllabic mark, _h for aspiration and ~ for nasalization. The result should have no unsupported items.
Swap and compare
Select Swap input & result. The tool places the converted result in the input and reverses the direction. Confirm that this supported example returns to the IPA shown here.
Save the notation you need
Swap again if you want X-SAMPA. Choose Copy result or Download text. Open the UTF-8 text file and confirm that spaces, brackets and modifiers are intact.
Check your understanding
Try each question, then compare your reasoning with the explanation. These exercises stay on this page and do not change your editor text.
Keep notation conversion separate from analysis
Record the source notation and intended receiving format with important data. Save the original alongside the converted file when aliases, tie-bar placement or a smaller phone inventory could matter.
For teaching, work with a few carefully selected sequences and ask learners to explain every code change. A successful round trip over a supported subset is a useful encoding check, but does not validate the pronunciation.
The tool runs in the browser and stores a separate tab draft when storage is available. No dictionary lookup or external conversion service is required. Download the reviewed result for a lasting copy.
Explore the official IPA chartThese exercises practice written notation and interpretation.