Anthropos phonetic alphabet
The Anthropos phonetic alphabet is a phonetic transcription to be used in the journal Anthropos and published by Wilhelm Schmidt in 1907.[1] Transcription is italic, without other delimiters. It shares similarities with Karl Richard Lepsius’ Standard Alphabet or some Americanist phonetic notations Edward Sapir and Franz Boas introduced to the United States.
| Anthropos phonetic alphabet | |
|---|---|
| Script type | |
Time period | 1907 to 1940s |
| Languages | Reserved for phonetic transcription of any language |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Latin alphabet
|
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal ("Dental") |
Palatal | Dorsal ("Guttural") |
Pharyn- geal |
Epi- glottal |
Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Inter- dental |
Alveolar | Retroflex | Pre- velar |
Velar | Uvular | ||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t̯ | t | ṭ | c | k̯ | k | ḳ | ʼ | |||
| voiced | b | d̯ | d | ḍ | j | g̯ | g | g̣ | ꜣ | ||||
| Affricate | voiceless | p̌ (pf) | t͏̯̌ (t̯s̯) | t͏̌ (ts) | ṭ̌ (ṭṣ) | č (tš) | ǩ̯ (k̯x̯) | ǩ (kx) | ḳ̌ (ḳx̣) | ||||
| voiced | b̌ (bv) | d͏̯̌ (d̯z̯) | d͏̌ (dz) | ḍ̌ (ḍẓ) | ǰ (dž) | ǧ̯ (g̯y) | ǧ (gÿ) | ǧ̣ (g̣ỵ̈) | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ff (f̯) | f | s̯ | s | ṣ | š | x̯ | x | x̣ | ḥ | h́ | h |
| voiced | w | v | z̯ | z | ẓ | ž | y | ÿ | ỵ̈ | ꜣ | |||
| Rhotic | r̯ ꭈ̯ | r ꭈ | ṛ ꭈ̣ | ꭉ̯ ꭊ̯ | ꭉ ꭊ | ꭉ̣ ꭊ̣ | |||||||
| Lateral flap | 𝼑 | ||||||||||||
| Lateral liquid | l̯ | l | ḷ | (ĺ) | ɫ | ||||||||
| Lateral affricate | voiceless | t̪ (t̰)[2] | k̪ (k̰) | ||||||||||
| voiced | d̪ (d̰) | g̪ (g̰) | |||||||||||
| Lateral fricative | voiceless | s̪ (s̰) | x̪ (x̰) | ||||||||||
| voiced | z̪ (z̰) | y̪ (y̰) | |||||||||||
| Nasal | m ꬺ (ṁ) | n̯ | n | ṇ | (ń) | ꬻ̯ | ꬻ (ṅ) | ꬻ̣ | |||||
| Prenasalized? | voiceless | p̰ | t̰ | k̰ | |||||||||
| voiced | b̰ | d̰ | g̰ | ||||||||||
| Ejective | p̓ | t̕ | k̓ | ||||||||||
| Ingressive | p | ʇ | ʇ̣ | ɔ | ʞ | ||||||||
Palatalized consonants are written with an acute – t́ d́ ć j́ ś ź ĺ ń etc. Semivowels are i̯ u̯ ü̯ o̯ e̯ etc.
Vowels
Vowels are inconsistent between languages. ï ë etc. may be used for unrounded central vowels,[3] and the ⟨a⟩-based letters are poorly defined, with height and rounding confounded.
| Front | Central | Back | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unround | round | unround | round | unround | round | ||
| Semivowel | i̯ | ü̯ | ī̯ | ū̯ | ï̯ | u̯ | |
| High | higher | i | ü | ī (ï) | ū | ï | u |
| lower | i̠ | ü̠ | ī̠ | ū̠ | ï̠ | u̠ | |
| Mid | higher | ẹ | ọ̈ | ẹ̄ | ọ̄ | ẹ̈ | ọ |
| mid | e | ö | ē (ë) | ō | ë | o | |
| lower | e̠ | ö̠ | ē̠ | ō̠ | ë̠ | o̠ | |
| Low | higher | a̤̣ | a̰̣ | ||||
| mid | a̤ ạ |
ä | a̰ a̠ | ||||
| lower | a | ||||||
There are actually three heights of low front and back vowels. ā is also seen for a low back vowel.
Reduced (obscure) vowels are i̥ e̥ ḁ etc. There are also extra-high vowels ị ụ etc.
References
- P. W. Schmidt, P. G. Schmidt and P. J. Hermes, "Die Sprachlaute und ihre Darstellung in einem allgemeinen linguistischen Alphabet (Schluß) / Les sons du langage et leur représentation dans un alphabet linguistique général (Conclusion)", Anthropos, Bd. 2, H. 5. (1907), insert at page 1098
- Although Anthropos specifies a bridge for lateral obstruents, it was more common at the time to use a tilde.
- The central vowels shown here do not appear in the main vowel charts, but occur in various illustrations.