View source for Lepsius Standard Alphabet

{{Short description|Latin-script transcription alphabet}}
{{Infobox writing system
| name        = Lepsius Standard Alphabet
| type        = alphabet
| native_name = 
| sample      = ǂKá̦gára in ǀXam language in W.H.I. Bleek and L. Lloyd, Specimens of Bushman folklore, 1911.png
| caption     = First line of {{lang|xam|[[ǂKá̦gára]]}} in [[ǀXam language]] in [[W.H.I. Bleek]] and L. Lloyd, ''Specimens of Bushman folklore'', 1911
| languages   = [[Egyptian language]], [[languages of Africa]]
| creator     = Karl Richard Lepsius
| date        = 
| published   = 1849
| time        = late 19th century
| fam1        = [[Egyptian hieroglyphics]]
| fam2        = [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic]]
| fam3        = [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]]
| fam4        = [[Greek alphabet|Greek]]
| fam5        = [[Latin script|Latin]]
| children    = [[Paleotype]]
| direction   = 
}}

The '''Lepsius Standard Alphabet''' is a [[Latin-script alphabet]] developed by [[Karl Richard Lepsius]]. Lepsius initially used it to transcribe [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]] in his ''[[Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopien]]'',<ref>Lepsius 1849</ref> and extended it to write [[African languages]], published in 1853,{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} 1854<ref>Lepsius 1854</ref> and 1855,<ref>Lepsius 1855</ref> and in a revised edition in 1863.<ref>Lepsius 1863</ref> The alphabet was comprehensive but was not used much as it contained many [[diacritic]] marks and was difficult to read and typeset at that time. It was, however, influential in later projects such as Ellis's [[Paleotype]], and diacritics such as the acute accent for [[palatalization (phonetics)|palatalization]], under-dot for [[retroflex consonant|retroflex]], underline for Arabic [[emphatic consonant|emphatics]], and his [[click letter]]s continue in modern use.

==Vowels==
Vowel length is indicated by a [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] (''ā'') or a [[breve]] (''ă'') for long and short vowels, respectively. [[Open vowel]]s are marked by a line under the letter (''e̱''), while a dot below the letter makes it a [[close vowel]] (''ẹ''). [[Roundedness|Rounded]] [[front vowel]]s are written with an [[umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut]] (''ö'' {{IPA|[ø]}} and ''ü'' {{IPA|[y]}}), generally above, but below when the space above the letter is needed for vowel length marks (thus ''ṳ̄'' or ''ṳ̆''). Unrounded back vowels are indicated by a 'hook' ([[ogonek]]<!--cf. Americanist typefaces of the era, with the same shape for nasal vowels-->) on ''ę'' or ''į''. [[Central vowel]]s may be written as one of these series, or as reduced vowels.

As in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], nasal vowels get a [[tilde]] (''ã'').

A small circle below a letter is used to mark both the [[schwa]] (''e̥'', also ''ḁ'' etc. for other reduced vowels) and [[syllabic consonant]]s (''r̥'' or ''l̥'', for instance).

[[Diphthong]]s do not receive any special marking, they are simply juxtaposed (''ai'' {{IPA|[ai̯]}}). A short sign can be used to distinguish which element of the diphthong is the on- or off-glide (''uĭ, ŭi''). Vowels in hiatus can be indicated with a [[Diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]] when necessary (''aï'' {{IPA|[a.i]}}).

Other vowels are ''a'' with a subscript ''e'' for {{IPAblink|æ}}; ''a'' with a subscript ''o'' for {{IPAblink|ɒ}}, and ''o̩'' for {{IPAblink|ʌ}} or maybe {{IPAblink|ɐ}}. The English syllabic {{IPAblink|ɝ}} is ''ṙ̥''.

Word stress is marked with an acute accent on a long vowel (''á'') and with a grave accent on a short vowel (''à'').

Klemp (p.&nbsp;56*–58*) interprets the values of Lepsius's vowels as follows:

{| class="wikitable Unicode"
|- align=center
| a [a ~ ɑ]
|- align=center
| ą [æ] &nbsp; o̗ [ʌ] &nbsp; ḁ [ɒ]
|- align=center
| e̠ [ɛ] &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; o̤̠ [œ] &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; o̠ [ɔ]
|- align=center
| e [e̞] &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ę [ɜ] &nbsp; &nbsp; o̤ [ø̞] &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; o [o̞]
|- align=center
| ẹ [e] &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; o̤̣ [ø] &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ọ [o]
|- align=center
| i [i] &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; į [ɨ ~ ɯ] &nbsp; &nbsp; ṳ [y] &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; u [u]
|}

==Consonants==
The Lepsius letters without predictable diacritics are as follows:

{| class="wikitable Unicode"
! {{abbr|LSA|Lepsius Standard Alphabet}} 
! [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
! Name
|-
| <big>ʼ</big> || {{IPAblink|ʔ}} || [[glottal stop]]
|-
| <big>ꜣ</big> ||{{IPAblink|ʕ}} || [[voiced pharyngeal fricative]]
|-
| <big>h</big> || {{IPAblink|h}} || [[voiceless glottal fricative]]
|-
| <big>h̔</big> || {{IPAblink|ħ}} || [[voiceless pharyngeal fricative]]
|-
| <big>q</big> || {{IPAblink|q}} || [[voiceless uvular plosive]]
|-
| <big>k</big> || {{IPAblink|k}} || [[voiceless velar plosive]]
|-
| <big>g</big> || {{IPAblink|ɡ}} || [[voiced velar plosive]]
|-
| <big>ṅ</big> || {{IPAblink|ŋ}} || [[velar nasal]]
|-
| <big>n̈</big> || {{IPAblink|ŋʷ}} || [[labialized velar nasal]]
|-
| <big>χ</big> || {{IPAblink|x}} || [[voiceless velar fricative]]
|-
| <big>γ</big> || {{IPAblink|ɣ}} || [[voiced velar fricative]]
|-
| <big>ṙ</big> || {{IPAblink|ʀ}} || [[uvular trill]]
|-
| <big>š</big> || {{IPAblink|ʃ}} || [[voiceless postalveolar fricative]]
|- 
| <big>č</big> || colspan=2| same as <big>tš</big>
|- 
| <big>c̀</big> || colspan=2| same as <big>tš́</big>
|-
| <big>ž</big> || {{IPAblink|ʒ}} || [[voiced postalveolar fricative]]
|- 
| <big>ǰ</big> || colspan=2| same as <big>dž</big>
|- 
| <big>j̀</big> || colspan=2| same as <big>dž́</big>
|-
| <big>y, j</big><ref>Lepsius used ''j'' for Slavic languages, ''y'' for most others.</ref> || {{IPAblink|j}} || [[palatal approximant]]
|-
| <big>t</big> || {{IPAblink|t}} || [[voiceless alveolar plosive]]
|- 
| <big>ț</big> || colspan=2| same as <big>ts</big>
|-
| <big>d</big> || {{IPAblink|d}} || [[voiced alveolar plosive]]
|- 
| <big>d̦</big> || colspan=2| same as <big>dz</big>
|-
| <big>n</big> || {{IPAblink|n}} || [[alveolar nasal]]
|- 
| <big>s</big> || {{IPAblink|s}} || [[voiceless alveolar fricative]]
|-
| <big>z</big> || {{IPAblink|z}} || [[voiced alveolar fricative]]
|-
| <big>θ</big> || {{IPAblink|θ}} || [[voiceless dental fricative]]
|-
| <big>δ</big> || {{IPAblink|ð}} || [[voiced dental fricative]]
|-
| <big>r</big> || {{IPAblink|r}} || [[alveolar trill]]
|-
| <big>l</big> || {{IPAblink|l}} || [[alveolar lateral approximant]]
|-
| <big>ł</big> || {{IPAblink|ɫ}} || [[voiced velarized alveolar approximant]]
|-
| <big>p</big> || {{IPAblink|p}} || [[voiceless bilabial plosive]]
|-
| <big>b</big> || {{IPAblink|b}} || [[voiced bilabial plosive]]
|-
| <big>m</big> || {{IPAblink|m}} || [[bilabial nasal]]
|-
| <big>f</big> || {{IPAblink|f}} || [[voiceless bilabial fricative]]
|-
| <big>v</big> || {{IPAblink|v}} || [[voiced bilabial fricative]]
|-
| <big>w</big> || {{IPAblink|w}} || [[labial-velar approximant]]
|-
| <big>ı</big><ref>The four [[click letter]]s are based on a vertical pipe without ascender or descender (that is, the height of the letter ''n''). In some fonts, such as that used for Krönlein's Khoekhoe grammar, they have the height of the letter ''t''.</ref> || {{IPAblink|ǀ}} || [[dental click]]
|-
| <big>ıı</big> ||{{IPAblink|ǁ}} || [[lateral click]]
|}

Other consonant sounds may be derived from these. For example, palatal and palatalized consonants are marked with an acute accent: ''ḱ'' {{IPAblink|c}}, ''ǵ'' {{IPAblink|ɟ}}, ''ń'' {{IPAblink|ɲ}}, ''χ́'' {{IPAblink|ç}}, ''š́'' {{IPAblink|ɕ}}, ''γ́'' {{IPAblink|ʝ}}, ''ž́'' {{IPAblink|ʑ}}, ''ĺ'' {{IPAblink|ʎ}}, ''‘ĺ'' {{IPAblink|ʎ̝̊}}, ''ı́'' {{IPAblink|ǂ}}, ''ṕ'' {{IPA|[pʲ]}}, etc. These can also be written ''ky, py'' etc.

Labialized velars are written with an overdot: ''ġ'' {{IPA|[ɡʷ]}}, etc. (A dot on a non-velar letter, as in ''ṅ'' and ''ṙ'' in the table above, indicates a [[guttural]] articulation.)

Retroflex consonants are marked with an underdot: ''ṭ'' {{IPAblink|ʈ}}, ''ḍ'' {{IPAblink|ɖ}}, ''ṇ'' {{IPAblink|ɳ}}, ''ṣ̌'' {{IPAblink|ʂ}}, ''ẓ̌'' {{IPAblink|ʐ}}, ''ṛ'' {{IPAblink|ɽ}}, ''ḷ'' {{IPAblink|ɭ}}, and ''ı̣'' {{IPAblink|ǃ}}.

The Semitic "emphatic" consonants are marked with an underline: ''ṯ'' {{IPAblink|tˤ}}, ''ḏ'' {{IPAblink|dˤ}}, ''s̱'' {{IPAblink|sˤ}}, ''ẕ'' {{IPAblink|zˤ}}, ''δ̱'' {{IPAblink|ðˤ}}, ''ḻ'' {{IPAblink|lˤ}}.

[[aspiration (phonetics)|Aspiration]] is typically marked by ''h'': ''kh'' {{IPAblink|kʰ}}, but a turned apostrophe (Greek ''[[spiritus asper]]'') is also used: ''k̒'' {{IPAblink|kʰ}}, ''ģ'' {{IPAblink|ɡʱ}}. Either convention may be used for voiceless sonorants: ''m̒'' {{IPAblink|m̥}}, ''‘l'' {{IPAblink|ɬ}}.<ref>With the apostrophe placed ''before'' the ''l'', presumably to avoid stacking it too high to print</ref>

[[affricate consonant|Affricates]] are generally written as sequences, e.g. ''tš'' for {{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}}. But the single letters ''č'' {{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}}, ''ǰ'' {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}}, ''c̀'' {{IPAblink|t͡ɕ}}, ''j̀'' {{IPAblink|d͡ʑ}}, ''ț'' {{IPAblink|t͡s}}, and ''d̦'' {{IPAblink|d͡z}} are also used.

Implosives are written with a macron: ''b̄'' {{IPAblink|ɓ}}, ''d̄'' {{IPAblink|ɗ}}, ''j̄'' {{IPAblink|ʄ}}, ''ḡ'' {{IPAblink|ɠ}}. As with vowels, long (geminate) consonants may also be written with a macron, so this transcription can be ambiguous.

Lepsius typically characterized [[ejective consonant]]s as [[tenuis consonant|tenuis]], as they are completely unaspirated, and wrote them with the Greek ''[[spiritus lenis]]'' (''p’'', ''t’'', etc.), which may be the source of the modern convention for ejectives in the IPA. However, when his sources made it clear that there was some activity in the throat, he transcribed them as emphatics.

When transcribing consonant letters which are pronounced the same but are etymologically distinct, as in Armenian, diacritics from the original alphabet or roman transliteration may be carried over. Similarly, unique sounds such as Czech ''ř'' may be carried over into Lepsius transcription. Lepsius used a diacritic ''r'' under ''t᷊'' and ''d᷊'' for some poorly-described sounds in Dravidian languages.

Standard capitalization is used. For example, when written in all caps, ''γ'' becomes ''Γ'' (as in ''AFΓAN'' "Afghan").

==Tones==
[[Tone (linguistics)|Tones]] are marked with acute accents and grave accents (backticks) to the right and near the top or the bottom of the corresponding vowel. The diacritic may be underlined for a lower pitch, distinguishing eight possible tones in all.

Tone is not written directly, but rather needs to be established separately for each language. For example, the acute accent may indicate a high tone, a rising tone, or, in the case of Chinese, any tone called "rising" (上) for historical reasons.

{| class="wikitable Unicode"
! S.A.
! Level value
! Contour value
|-
| ma´ <ref>In Lepsius's publications, this looks like a vertical bar {{angbr IPA|ˈ}}. However, it is repeatedly called "acute" in the text.</ref>
| [má]
| [mǎ]
|-
| ma
| [mā]
|-
| ma`
| [mà]
| [mâ]
|}

Low rising and falling tones can be distinguished from high rising and falling tones by underlining the accent mark:  {{angbr|ma´̠, ma`̠}}.  The underline also transcribes the Chinese ''yin'' tones, under the mistaken impression that these tones are actually lower.  Two additional tone marks, without any defined phonetic value, are used for Chinese: "level" maˏ (平) and checked maˎ (入); these may also be underlined.

==See also==
{{commons category|Standard Alphabet by Lepsius}}
*[[Africa Alphabet]]
*[[African Reference Alphabet]]
*[[Dinka alphabet]]
*[[ISO 6438]]
*[[Pan-Nigerian alphabet]]

==References==

{{reflist}}
* Lepsius, C. R. 1849. ''Denkmäler aus Ägypten un Äthiopien''. [http://www.mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn=urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10221572-7 Full text at Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum (MDZ)].
* Lepsius, C. R. 1854. ''Das allgemeine linguistische Alphabet: Grundsätze der Übertragung fremder Schriftsysteme und bisher noch ungeschriebener Sprachen in europäische Buchstaben''. Berlin: Verlag von Wilhelm Hertz [https://books.google.com/books?id=LbJFAQAAIAAJ&q=lepsius+%22Das+allgemeine+linguistische+Alphabet%22 Full text available on Google Books].
* Lepsius, C. R. 1855. ''Das allgemeine linguistische Alphabet: Grundsätze der Übertragung fremder Schriftsysteme und bisher noch ungeschriebener Sprachen in europäische Buchstaben''. Berlin: Verlag von Wilhelm Hertz. [https://archive.org/details/dasallgemeineli00lepsgoog Full text available on Internet Archive].
* Lepsius, C. R. 1863. ''Standard Alphabet for Reducing Unwritten Languages and Foreign Graphic Systems to a Uniform Orthography in European Letters'', 2nd rev. edn. Williams & Norgate, London. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LZsOAAAAYAAJ Full text available on Google Books]. [https://archive.org/details/standardalphabe05lepsgoog Full text available on Internet Archive].
* Lepsius, C. R. 1863. ''Standard Alphabet for Reducing Unwritten Languages and Foreign Graphic Systems to a Uniform Orthography in European Letters, 2nd rev. edn. London 1863'', modern reprint with introduction by J. Alan Kemp, John Benjamins Publishing, Amsterdam 1981. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sc_ofOm8EtoC Preview available on Google Books].
* Faulmann, Carl 1880. ''Das Buch der Schrift enthaltend die Schriftzeichen und Alphabete aller Zeiten und aller Völker des Erdkreises'', 2nd rev. edn. Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien. [https://archive.org/details/dasbuchderschri01faulgoog Full text available on Internet Archive].
* Köhler, O., [[Peter Ladefoged|Ladefoged, P.]], J. Snyman, [[Anthony Traill (linguist)|Traill, A.]], R. Vossen: ''The Symbols for Clicks''.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Standard Alphabet By Lepsius}}
[[Category:Latin alphabets]]
[[Category:Writing systems of Africa]]
[[Category:Phonetic alphabets]]
[[Category:Writing systems introduced in the 1840s]]
[[Category:German inventions]]
[[Category:1849 introductions]]
[[Category:Egyptology]]