SAMPA

SAMPA, for Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet, is a computer-readable phonetic script using 7-bit printable ASCII characters. It was originally developed in the late 1980's for six European languages by the EEC ESPRIT information technology research and development program. As many symbols as possible have been taken over from the IPA; where this is not possible, other signs that are available are used, e.g. [&] for Schwa, [2] for the vowel sound found in French deux and [9] for the vowel sound found in French neuf. SAMPA is based on the International Phonetic Alphabet.

The following characters "s{mpA: represent the [pronunciation] of the name SAMPA.

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/home.htm