Arpabet is a phonetic transcription code developed by Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) as a part of their Speech Understanding Project (1971–1976). It represents each phoneme of General American English with a distinct sequence of ASCII characters. Arpabet has been used in several speech synthesizers, including Computalker for the S-100 (Altair) system, SAM for the Commodore 64, SAY for the Amiga and TextAssist for the PC and Speakeasy from Intelligent Artefacts (see ST_Robotics) which used the Votrax SC01 speech synthesiser IC. It is also used in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary.
Symbols
In Arpabet, every phoneme is represented by one or two capital letters. Digits are used as stress indicators and are placed at the end of the stressed syllabic vowel. Punctuation marks are used like in the written language, to represent intonation changes at the end of clauses and sentences. The stress values are:
Stress
Vowels
- Monophthongs
| Arpabet |
IPA |
Word examples |
| AO |
ɔ |
off (AO1 F); fall (F AO1 L); frost (F R AO1 S T) |
| AA |
ɑ |
father (F AA1 DH ER), cot (K AA1 T) |
| IY |
i |
bee (B IY1); she (SH IY1) |
| UW |
u |
you (Y UW1); new (N UW1); food (F UW1 D) |
| EH |
ɛ |
red (R EH1 D); men (M EH1 N) |
| IH |
ɪ |
big (B IH1 G); win (W IH1 N) |
| UH |
ʊ |
should (SH UH1 D), could (K UH1 D) |
| AH |
ʌ |
but (B AH1 T), sun (S AH1 N) |
| ə |
sofa (S OW1 F AH0), alone (AH0 L OW1 N) |
| AX |
discus (D IH1 S K AX0 S); note distinction from discuss (D IH0 S K AH1 S) |
| AE |
æ |
at (AE1 T); fast (F AE1 S T) |
- Diphthongs
| Arpabet |
IPA |
Word Examples |
| EY |
eɪ |
say (S EY1); eight (EY1 T) |
| AY |
aɪ |
my (M AY1); why (W AY1); ride (R AY1 D) |
| OW |
oʊ |
show (SH OW1); coat (K OW1 T) |
| AW |
aʊ |
how (HH AW1); now (N AW1) |
| OY |
ɔɪ |
boy (B OY1); toy (T OY1) |
- R-colored vowels
| Arpabet |
IPA |
Word Examples |
| ER |
ɝ |
her (HH ER0); bird (B ER1 D); hurt (HH ER1 T), nurse (N ER1 S) |
| AXR |
ɚ |
father (F AA1 DH ER); coward (K AW1 ER D) |
| EH R |
ɛr |
air (EH1 R); where (W EH1 R); hair (HH EH1 R) |
| UH R |
ʊr |
cure (K Y UH1 R); bureau (B Y UH1 R OW0), deter (D IH0 T UH1 R) |
| AO R |
ɔr |
more (M AO1 R); bored (B AO1 R D); chord (K AO1 R D) |
| AA R |
ɑr |
large (L AA1 R JH); hard (HH AA1 R D) |
| IH R or IY R |
ɪr |
ear (IY1 R); near (N IH1 R) |
| AW R |
aʊr |
This seems to be a rarely used r-controlled vowel. In some dialects flower (F L AW1 R; in other dialects F L AW1 ER0) |
Consonants
- Stops
| Arpabet |
IPA |
Word Examples |
| P |
p |
pay (P EY1) |
| B |
b |
buy (B AY1) |
| T |
t |
take (T EY1 K) |
| D |
d |
day (D EY1) |
| K |
k |
key (K IY1) |
| G |
ɡ |
go (G OW1) |
- Affricates
| Arpabet |
IPA |
Word Examples |
| CH |
tʃ |
chair (CH EH1 R) |
| JH |
dʒ |
just (JH AH1 S T); gym (JH IH1 M) |
- Fricatives
| Arpabet |
IPA |
Word Examples |
| F |
f |
for (F AO1 R) |
| V |
v |
very (V EH1 R IY0) |
| TH |
θ |
thanks (TH AE1 NG K S); Thursday (TH ER1 Z D EY2) |
| DH |
ð |
that (DH AE1 T); the (DH AH0); them (DH EH1 M) |
| S |
s |
say (S EY1) |
| Z |
z |
zoo (Z UW1) |
| SH |
ʃ |
show (SH OW1) |
| ZH |
ʒ |
measure (M EH1 ZH ER0); pleasure (P L EH1 ZH ER) |
| HH |
h |
house (HH AW1 S) |
- Nasals
| Arpabet |
IPA |
Word Examples |
| M |
m |
man (M AE1 N) |
| EM |
m̩ |
keep 'em (K IY1 P EM) |
| N |
n |
no (N OW1) |
| EN |
n̩ |
button (B AH1 T EN) |
| NG |
ŋ |
sing (S IH1 NG) |
| ENG |
ŋ̍ |
Washington (W AO1 SH ENG T EN) |
- Liquids
| Arpabet |
IPA |
Word Examples |
| L |
ɫ |
late (L EY1 T) |
| EL |
ɫ̩ |
bottle (B AO1 DX EL) |
| R |
r or ɹ |
run (R AH1 N) |
| DX |
ɾ |
wetter (W EH1 DX AXR) |
| NX |
ɾ̃ |
wintergreen (W IY2 NX AXR G R IY1 N) |
- Semivowels
| Arpabet |
IPA |
Word Examples |
| Y |
j |
yes (Y EH1 S) |
| W |
w |
way (W EY1) |
| Q |
ʔ |
glottal stop (uh-oh - ʔʌʔoʊ) |
| (missing) |
hw or ʍ |
"when" etc. in some dialects |
References
See also
Other ASCII phonetic codes:
