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
LanguagesReserved for phonetic transcription of any language
Related scripts
Parent systems
Latin alphabet
  • Anthropos phonetic alphabet
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Consonants

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Anthropos alphabet (1907)
  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   t c k ʼ
voiced b   d j g    
Affricate voiceless (pf)   t͏̯̌ (t̯s̯) t͏̌ (ts) ṭ̌ (ṭṣ) č () ǩ̯ (k̯x̯) ǩ (kx) ḳ̌ (ḳx̣)
voiced (bv)   d͏̯̌ (d̯z̯) d͏̌ (dz) ḍ̌ (ḍẓ) ǰ () ǧ̯ (g̯y) ǧ (gÿ) ǧ̣ (g̣ỵ̈)    
Fricative voiceless () f s š x h
voiced w v z ž y ÿ ỵ̈    
Rhotic     r̯ ꭈ̯ r ꭈ ṛ ꭈ̣   ꭉ̯ ꭊ̯ ꭉ ꭊ ꭉ̣ ꭊ̣  
Lateral flap     𝼑      
Lateral liquid     l (ĺ)   ɫ    
Lateral affricate voiceless       ()[2]     ()        
voiced       ()     ()        
Lateral fricative voiceless       ()     ()        
voiced       ()     ()        
Nasal m () n (ń) ꬻ̯ () ꬻ̣    
Prenasalized? voiceless  
voiced      
Ejective  
Ingressive p   ʇ ʇ̣ ɔ ʞ

Palatalized consonants are written with an acute – ć ś ź ĺ ń etc. Semivowels are ü̯ etc.

Vowels

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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.

Anthropos (semi)vowels (1907)
  Front Central Back
unround round unround round unround round
Semivowel ü̯ ī̯ ū̯ ï̯
High higher i ü ī (ï) ū ï u
lower ü̠ ī̠ ū̠ ï̠
Mid higher ọ̈ ẹ̄ ọ̄ ẹ̈
mid e ö ē (ë) ō ë o
lower ö̠ ē̠ ō̠ ë̠
Low higher a̤̣ a̰̣
mid
ä
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 etc. There are also extra-high vowels etc.

References

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  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ Although Anthropos specifies a bridge for lateral obstruents, it was more common at the time to use a tilde.
  3. ^ The central vowels shown here do not appear in the main vowel charts, but occur in various illustrations.