Sampa Help

Here are some Sampa transcriptions and their pronunciations. You might try to read the sentence aloud to yourself and then listen to the sound file to verify your reading.

• 1. A sentence Using the five English vowels in the front of the vowel trapazoid from top to bottom:
  [ Si spInz ejt wEt k{ts ]
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• 2. A sentence Using the four English vowels in the back of the vowel trapazoid from top to bottom:
  [ hu tUk dZowz tSOk }
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• 3. A sentence distinguishing [@] / {V}, [U] and [u]. Note that {V} appears in stressed syllables and {@} in unstressed syllables.
  [ su kUkt @ dVk fOr lVki luk hu lUkt glVm ]
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• 4. A sentence distinguishing [n] and [N]:
  [ rIN D@ rON pINk fown On D@ t{n st{nd ]
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• 5. A sentence using the three major English diphthongs:
  [ haw du fajv fajn kawbojz Sajn Der haj tapt buts ]
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• 6. A sentence distinguishing [sh] from [S]:
  [ gr{shapr=z SUd sIN SrIli wiTawt mIsh{p ]
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• 7. A sentence distinguishing [Z], [z] and [dZ]:
  [ dZVst mEZr= D@ bVzIN @v D@ bEZ biz wIT dZan ]
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• 8. A sentence distinguishing [t] and [T]:
  [ tamIs TOt abawt hIz tu tiT {z hi tOt kiT tu t{Ngow ]
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• 9. A sentence distinguishing [T] and [D]:
  [ Dej TINk Dowz Tri Tawzn=d @v D@ Tivz briDd D@ iTr= ]
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• 10. A sentence distinguishing [i] and [I]:
  [ wi sIt In tin@z bin bIn {nd kIs gis ]
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• 11. A sentence distinguishing [e] and [E]:
  [ kejt mejd tEn rEd kejks On hr= dEk baj d@ lejk }
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• 12. A sentence distinguishing [a] and [o]:
  [ dZan {nd dZown bowT now bab d@ robat ]
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  Updated Feb. 12, 2011