JSRU transcription system
In our research, we employ a machine readable transcription system instead of the standard IPA symbols which cannot be easily understood by computers. The JSRU (Joint Speech Research Unit) alphabet is a system developed for text-to-speech synthesis.
- The two main categories of sounds are consonants and vowels - go to the chart of the IPA sounds to find out more.
- Translation table of JSRU and SAMPA (another machine readable alphabet).
Consonants (IPA symbols are given if different from JSRU symbols)
JSRU | IPA | Example | Example |
| | (word initial) | (non-initial) |
| | | |
p | (same) | pen | lip |
b | (same) | bad | nib |
t | (same) | tea | light |
d | (same) | do | lad |
k | (same) | cat | crack |
g | (same) | got | fog |
ch | (IPA) | chin | watch |
j | (IPA) | June | village |
f | (same) | food | off |
v | (same) | voice | give |
th | (IPA) | thin | tenth |
dh | (IPA) | then | with |
s | (same) | same | success |
z | (same) | zoo | was |
sh | (IPA) | show | wash |
zh | (IPA) | genre | beige |
h | (same) | happy | behave |
m | (same) | man | swim |
n | (same) | know | gone |
ng | (IPA) | N/A | sing |
l | (same) | leg | girl |
r | (IPA) | red | arrow |
y | (IPA) | year | value |
w | (same) | wet | quick |
x | (IPA) | N/A | loch (Scottish) |
gx | (IPA) | no example | glottal stop |
Extra JSRU symbols for Spanish Consonants
JSRU | IPA | Example | Remarks |
bh | (IPA) | haba | |
mg | (IPA) | confuso | |
gn | (IPA) | año | |
ly | (IPA) | llover | (ll) |
xh | x | julio | (j) |
jh | (IPA) | nieto | can use y which is similar |
gh | (IPA) | rogar | |
rx | (IPA) | perro | (Spanish 'dog') Trilled 'r' |
rc | (IPA) | pero | (Spanish 'but') Tapped or flapped 'r' |
Extra JSRU symbols for German Consonants
JSRU | IPA | Example | Remarks |
cx | (IPA) | ich | |
rh | (IPA) | ragt | uvular fricative |
pf | | Pfand | affricate |
tc | | zahl | affricate |
Vowels and Diphthongs
JSRU | IPA | Example |
i | (IPA) | sit |
o | (IPA) | got |
oo | (IPA) | put |
aa | (IPA) | hat |
e | (IPA) | ten |
u | (IPA) | cup |
a | (IPA) | ago |
ee/ey | (IPA) | see |
aw | (IPA) | saw |
uu | (IPA) | too |
ar | (IPA) | arm |
er | (IPA) | fur |
ai | (IPA) | page |
ie | (IPA) | eye |
oi | (IPA) | boy |
oa | (IPA) | home |
ou | (IPA) | now |
ia | (IPA) | beer |
ei | (IPA) | bare |
ur | (IPA) | tour |
Extra JSRU symbols for German Vowels
JSRU | IPA | Example | Remarks |
oe | (IPA) | Hölle | short vowel |
ue | (IPA) | Tüttel | short vowel |
ay | (IPA) | tatze | short vowel |
oy | (IPA) | Topp | short vowel |
ea | (IPA) | Tee | long vowel |
ow | (IPA) | tot | long vowel |
uy | (IPA) | Tüte | long vowel |
or | (IPA) | töten | long vowel |
eu | (IPA) | Leute | diphthong |
ae | (IPA) | bitter | short vowel |
eo | (IPA) | Ende | short vowel |
ew | (IPA) | ähnlich | long vowel |
**Note that extra symbols will be needed for transcribing other languages