Help:IPA/Arabic

This is thepronunciation keyforIPAtranscriptions of Arabic on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Arabic in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishingconsensuson thetalk pagefirst.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.For the distinction between[ ],/ /and ⟨⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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The chart below explains how Wikipedia representsModern Standard Arabicpronunciations with theInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA). Wikipedia also has specific charts forEgyptian Arabic,Hejazi Arabic,Lebanese Arabic,andTunisian Arabic.For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, seeTemplate:IPAandWikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

SeeArabic phonologyfor a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Modern Standard Arabic, andvarieties of Arabicfor regional variation.

IPA	English approximation	Arabic letter/symbol	Usual romanization	Letter name
A–B
a^[a]	catinBritish English,only approx. inAmerican English,could also be realised as [æ]	َ	a, á, e	فَتْحَة (fatḥah)
aː^[b]	not exact, longerfar,could also be realised as [æː]	ـَا (ىat word end)	ā, â, aa, a	أَلِف (ʾalif) الف مقصورة (ʾalif maqṣūrah)
aj^[c]	/a/+/j/,myor nate	ْـَي	ay, ai, ey, ei	يَاء (yāʾ)
aw^[d]	/a/+/w/,noun	ْـَو	aw, au	وَاو (wāw)
b	bee	ب	b	بَاء (bāʾ)
D
d	dash	د	d	دَال (dāl)
dˤ^[e]	emphaticandpharyngealized/d/,no equivalent, can be approximated toRPdawn	ض	ḍ, dh	ضَاد (ḍād)
dʒ	jam	ج^[f]	j, ǧ, dj, g	جِيم (jīm)
ð	these	ذ	dh, ḏ	ذَال (dhāl)
ðˤ^[e]^[g]	emphatic and pharyngealized[ð],	ظ	ẓ	ظَاء (ẓāʾ)
F–H
f	father	ف	f	فَاء (fāʾ)
h	hi	ه	h	هَاء (hāʾ)
ħ	hello,but pronounced in the back of your throat	ح	ḥ	حَاء (ḥāʾ)
I–K
i^[h]	happy	ِ	i, e	كَسْرَة (kasrah)
iː^[i]	machine	ـِي	ī, ee, i	يَاء (yāʾ)
j	yes	ي	y	يَاء (yāʾ)
k^[1]	kin	ك	k	كَاف (kāf)
L–N
l	lease(Received Pronunciation)	ل	l	لَام (lām)
ɫ^[j]	tool	ل	l	لَام (lām)
m	me	م	m	مِيم (mīm)
n	no	ن	n	نُون (nūn)
q	likecat,but further down to theuvula(uvular).	ق	q, g, '	قَاف (qāf)
r	"tapped"or"trilled"r; Spanishperro	ر	r	رَاء (rāʾ)
s	snake	س	s	سِين (sīn)
sˤ^[e]	close tosaw, emphatic and pharyngealized/s/	ص	ṣ	صَاد (ṣād)
ʃ	sheep	ش	sh, š, ch	شِين (shīn)
T–W
t^[1]	tick	ت (sometimesة)	t	تَاء (tāʾ) تاء مربوطة (tāʾ marbūṭah)
tˤ^[e]	emphatic and pharyngealized/t/,no equivalent	ط	ṭ	طَاء (ṭāʾ)
θ	think	ث	th, ṯ	ثَاء (thāʾ)
u^[k]	fruition	ُ	u, o, ou	ضَمَّة (ḍammah)
uː^[l]	boot	ـُو	ū, oo, ou, u	وَاو (wāw)
w	we	و	w	وَاو (wāw)
X–Z
x~χ	Scottishloch	خ	kh, ḫ, ḵ	خَاء (khāʾ)
ɣ~ʁ	likegallon, but with a guttural sound further down to theuvula(uvular). Alternatively likeFrenchparis	غ	gh, ġ, ḡ	غَيْن (ghayn)
z	zoo	ز	z	زَاي (zāy)
Other
ʔ	The pause inuh-oh!; The 'tt' inkittenin Standard American English; Cockneybutter;glottal stop	ء	ʾ ’'	هَمْزة (hamzah)
ʕ	no equivalent in english (voiced pharyngeal fricativeor voiced creaky-voiced pharyngeal approximant)	ع	ʿ ‘'`	عَيْن (ʿayn)
θ	see underT—W
ˈ	[ˈkiːwi]كِيوِي('kiwi')	Means that the following syllable is stressed:/ˈʕarabiː/عربي('Arab').
ː	[kiːs]كِيس('sack')	Means that the preceding vowel is long
[ˈdˤɑħ.ħæ]ضَحّى('[he] sacrificed'), [mʊˈdær.rɪsæ]مُدَرِّسَة('teacher [f.]'), [ræs.ˈsæːmæ]رَسَّامَة('paintress'), [kæð.ˈðæːb]كَذَّاب('liar [m.]')		Ageminatedconsonant never belongs to one syllable and is often broken with astress.

Notes[edit]

^Allophones of/a/include[ɑ]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r];and[æ]elsewhere (Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197).
^Allophones of/aː/include[ɑː]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r];and[æː]elsewhere (Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197).
^In colloquial pronunciation,/aj/may be realized as[eː]~[ɛː]~[ej] (Al-Ani 2008,p. 595;Kaye 1997,p. 198).
^In colloquial pronunciation,/aw/may be realized as[oː]~[ɔː]~[ow] may occur (Al-Ani 2008,p. 595;Kaye 1997,p. 198).
^^a ^b ^c ^dEmphatic consonants may be eitherpharyngealizedorvelarizedand are accompanied withlabialization(Al-Ani 2008,p. 599;Kaye 1997,p. 193–194).
^The letterجrepresents[ɡ]in Egypt and[ʒ]in the Levant and the Maghreb (Al-Ani 2008,p. 598;Gairdner 1925,p. 23).
^The letterظrepresents either[ðˤ]or[zˤ],depending on the speaker's dialect (Al-Ani 2008,p. 601).
^Allophones of/i/include[ɪ]~[e]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r],[ħ],[ʕ](Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197); they are distinct phonemes in loan words./ɪ/completely becomes/e/in some other particular dialects.
^Allophones of/iː/include[ɪː]~[ɨː]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r],[ħ],[ʕ](Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197).
^[ɫ]occurs only in the wordAllah:[ɑɫˈɫɑh](Al-Ani 2008,p. 600;Kaye 1997,p. 196;Kaye 2009,p. 564).
^Allophones of/u/include[ʊ]~[ɤ]~[o]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r],[ħ],[ʕ](Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197); they are distinct phonemes in loan words./u/completely becomes/o/in some other particular dialects.
^Allophones of/uː/include[ʊː]~[ɤː]~[oː]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r],[ħ],[ʕ](Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197).

References[edit]

Al-Ani, Salman H. (2008). "Phonetics".Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics.Vol. III. Brill. pp. 593–603.ISBN 978-90-04-14973-1.
Gairdner, W. H. T. (1925).The Phonetics of Arabic.Oxford University Press.
Kaye, Alan S. (1997). "Arabic Phonology".Phonologies of Asia and Africa.Vol. I. pp. 187–204.
Kaye, Alan S. (2009). "Arabic". In Comrie, Bernard (ed.).The World's Major Languages(PDF)(2nd ed.). Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. pp. 560–577.ISBN 978-0-415-35339-7.
Ladefoged, Peter;Maddieson, Ian(1996).The Sounds of the World's Languages.Oxford: Blackwell.ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
Mitchell, T. F. (1990).Pronouncing Arabic.Vol. I. Oxford: Clarendon Press.ISBN 0-19-815151-9.
Thelwall, Robin; Sa'adeddin, M. Akram (1999). "Arabic".Handbook of the International Phonetic Association.Cambridge University Press. pp. 51–54.

^^a ^bMay be aspirated, see arabicphonology

[a-1] Allophones of/a/include[ɑ]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r];and[æ]elsewhere (Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197).

[aa-2] Allophones of/aː/include[ɑː]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r];and[æː]elsewhere (Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197).

[ai-3] In colloquial pronunciation,/aj/may be realized as[eː]~[ɛː]~[ej] (Al-Ani 2008,p. 595;Kaye 1997,p. 198).

[au-4] In colloquial pronunciation,/aw/may be realized as[oː]~[ɔː]~[ow] may occur (Al-Ani 2008,p. 595;Kaye 1997,p. 198).

[emphatic-5] Emphatic consonants may be eitherpharyngealizedorvelarizedand are accompanied withlabialization(Al-Ani 2008,p. 599;Kaye 1997,p. 193–194).

[jim-6] The letterجrepresents[ɡ]in Egypt and[ʒ]in the Levant and the Maghreb (Al-Ani 2008,p. 598;Gairdner 1925,p. 23).

[Zaa-7] The letterظrepresents either[ðˤ]or[zˤ],depending on the speaker's dialect (Al-Ani 2008,p. 601).

[i-8] Allophones of/i/include[ɪ]~[e]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r],[ħ],[ʕ](Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197); they are distinct phonemes in loan words./ɪ/completely becomes/e/in some other particular dialects.

[ii-9] Allophones of/iː/include[ɪː]~[ɨː]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r],[ħ],[ʕ](Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197).

[Allah-11] [ɫ]occurs only in the wordAllah:[ɑɫˈɫɑh](Al-Ani 2008,p. 600;Kaye 1997,p. 196;Kaye 2009,p. 564).

[u-12] Allophones of/u/include[ʊ]~[ɤ]~[o]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r],[ħ],[ʕ](Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197); they are distinct phonemes in loan words./u/completely becomes/o/in some other particular dialects.

[uu-13] Allophones of/uː/include[ʊː]~[ɤː]~[oː]before or adjacent to emphatic consonants and[q],[r],[ħ],[ʕ](Al-Ani 2008,p. 595, 600;Thelwall & Sa'adeddin 1999,p. 52–53;Kaye 1997,p. 193, 197).

[:0-10] May be aspirated, see arabicphonology

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

[f]

[g]

[h]

[i]

[1]

[j]

[k]

[l]

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See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]