Below is a list of phonetic symbols and other conventions used in the language articles on this website. Except for a few minor adaptations, they conform to the International Phonetic Alphabet and are followed by an approximate description of their pronunciation.
Note: A phonetic symbol in square brackets ([ ]) represents a phone, or speech sound. A symbol in slashes (/ /) represents a phoneme, or distinctive unit of language.
* Before a word, expression or fragment of a word, the asterisk indicates that this element is hypothetical (that is, it does not exist) or undocumented (that is, it must have existed, but left no written record).
[a] As a of Fr. face.
[ɐ] As a of E. era.
[æ] As a in E. hat.
[ɑ] As a in E. father.
[ɛ] As e in E. bed.
[e] As é in Fr. café.
[ɪ] As i in E. big.
[i] As ee of E. free.
[ɨ] As ai of E. mountain.
[ɒ] As o in E. lot.
[ɔ] As a in E. all.
[o] As ô in Fr. hôte.
[ʊ] As oo in E. good.
[u] As ou in Fr. tout.
[ᵿ] Similar to oo in E. good, but pronounced with the tongue more backwards.
[ʉ] As oo in E. food.
[œ] As œu in Fr. œuf.
[ø] As eu in Fr. jeu or ö in G. hören.
[ʏ] As ü in G. dünn.
[y] As u in Fr. vu, venu.
[ə] As a in E. about.
[ʌ] As o in E. love.
[ɜ] As u in E. hurt.
[j] As y in E. yard.
[w] As w in E. way.
[ɥ] As u in Fr. lui.
[ʝ] An intermediate sound between the y of yard and the j of just (it is the sound of y and ll in Spanish).
[ɰ] An intermediate sound between the g of gate and the h of hate (it is the sound of g in Sp. juego).
[p] As p in E. space.
[b] As b in E. bath.
[m] As m in E. mother.
[t] As t in E. state.
[ʈ] A t pronounced with the tip of the tongue on palate.
[d] As d in E. dot.
[ɖ] A d pronounced with the tip of the tongue on palate.
[n] As n in English net, ten.
[ɳ] An n pronounced with the tip of the tongue on palate.
[k] As c in E. cat.
[g] As g in E. get.
[ŋ] As ng in E. long.
[f] As f in E. face.
[v] As v in E. vein.
[ʋ] A v pronounced without the lower lip touching upper incisors.
[β] As b in Sp. caballo (an intermediate sound between b and v).
[θ] As th in E. thing.
[ð] As th in E. that.
[ɲ] As gn in F. gagner.
[s] As s in E. sit.
[z] As z in E. zoo.
[ʃ] As sh in E. fish.
[ʒ] As si in E. illusion.
[ʂ] An s pronounced with the tip of the tongue on palate.
[ç] As ch in G. nicht (pronounced placing the tip of the tongue behind the lower incisors and raising the tongue back to the region of palate).
[ɕ] An intermediate sound between the s of seat and the sh of sheet.
[ʑ] An intermediate sound between the s of easy and the si of vision.
[x] As j in Sp. joven (it is the sound that we produce when we breathe out on a glass to tarnish it) or ch in Sc. loch.
[ɣ] As g in Du. gaan (it is the same as [x], but voiced).
[h] As h in E. have.
[ɧ] Simultaneous pronunciation of [ʃ] and [x].
[l] As l in BrE. late.
[ł] As l in E. call.
[ʎ] As li in BrE. million or gli in It. figlio.
[r] As rr in Sp. carro, i.e., pronounced with the tip of the tongue on the alveoli (sockets).
[ɾ] As r in Sp. caro.
[ɹ] As r in E. run.
[ʀ] As r in French, pronounced vibrating the uvula.
[ʁ] Similar to the previous,but without vibrating the uvula.
[ʡ] Complete closure and sudden opening of the glottis, as when pronouncing a, e, i, o, u detaching each vowel.
˳ Under consonants [l], [m], [n], or [r], it makes them sound as vowels, as in the interjections hmm! and grr!.
~ On a vowel, it indicates that it has nasal sound, as in French.
: After a vowel, it indicates that it is long, i.e., lasts twice the time of a normal vowel.
_ Under a vowel or diphthong, the simple underline sign indicates that it is stressed.
In addition to these symbols, some other will be used, representing affricate phonemes. They are:
/ʦ/ corresponding to sound [ts];
/ʣ/ corresponding to sound [dz];
/ʧ/ corresponding to sound [tʃ];
/ʤ/ corresponding to sound [dʒ];
/ʨ/ corresponding to sound [tɕ];
/ʥ/ corresponding to sound [dʑ];
/ƥ/ corresponding to sound [pf].
Final observations:
- A horizontal bar (called macron) above a vowel indicates that it is long: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū. In contrast, a curly bar (called brachion) above a vowel indicates that it is short: ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, ŭ.
- In Latin, j sounds as y, v sounds as w, c sounds as k and g always sounds as in get, give; in Germanic, j sounds as y, w sounds the same as in English, þ sounds as th in thing, and g always sounds as in get, give.
- In Spanish, ñ sounds as F. gn; in German, ß sounds as ss; in Scandinavian languages, æ sounds as a in hat or e in bed, and ø sounds as eu in Fr. fleur or bleu.
- A phonetic symbol in brackets in the middle of the word can be pronounced or not. For example, the French word cheval [ʃ(ə)val] may be pronounced both as [ʃəval] and as [ʃval]. At the end of the word, a consonant in brackets is pronounced when the following word begins with a vowel and is silent when the next word begins with a consonant. Thus, the word water [wɔ:tə(ɹ)] is pronounced in British English respectively [wɔ:təɹ] or [wɔ:tə] as it is followed by a word starting with a vowel or consonant.
- Every superscript sound (e, o, ɐ, ə, i, ð, etc.) has a very short pronunciation; beside a vowel, a superscript vowel represewnts a glide, such as in E. here [hɪə].
- The sign ̯ under a vowel also indicates that it sounds as a glide, forming a diphthong as E. here [hɪ ə̯] or power [pa ʊ̯ə], for example.
- The sign > between two words (e.g., Lat. hominem > Fr. homme) indicates that the second evolved from the first. Conversely, the sign < (e.g., Fr. homme < Lat. hominem) indicates that the first comes from the second.
- The sign » indicates equivalence of meaning between words of two languages: E. house » Fr. maison.
- The sign Ø represents the phoneme “zero”, that is, the absence of phoneme. Thus, saying that a given phoneme has evolved to Ø is the same as saying that it has disappeared.