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Help:IPA/Nguni

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The charts below show the way in which the IPA is used to transcribe the Nguni languages Swazi, Xhosa, and Zulu. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

The click consonants do not have any equivalent phoneme in English. The nearest equivalents to English-speakers are the Tut-tut or Tsk! Tsk!, tchick!, and clip-clop! interjections.

Pulmonic consonants
IPAXhosaSwaziZuluEnglish approximation
b bh book
ɓ b bag, but implosive
d d dip
dʒ j just
dz dz dads
dv dv hand valve
f f find
ɡ g give
ɠ k good, but implosive
h h have
ɦ hh behind
j y yet
k kh can
kʼ k back, with glottalization
k̬ k Glottalized bag
kxʼ krkl No English equivalent
kʟ̝̊ krkl Similar to clinic
l l like
ɬ hl No English equivalent; Welsh llwyd
ɮ dl No English equivalent; Welsh llwyd, but voiced
m m mode
n n night
ŋ ngʼng[1] sing
ɲ ny canyon
p ph pin
pʼ p lip, with glottalization
r r right, but trilled
s s see
ʃ sh ship
t th tip
tʼ t bit, with glottalization
ts ts cats
tsʼ ts cats, with glottalization
tf tf thoughtful
tʃʼ tsh catch, with glottalization
v v vine
w w wind
x rh Scottish loch
ɣ gr No English equivalent; Spanish amigo
ʒ zh pleasure
z z zip
ʔ (ʔ) Pause in uh-oh!
Click consonants
IPAOrthography
ᵏǀ c
ᵏǀʼ c
ᵏǁ x
ᵏǁʼ x
ᵏǃ q
ᵏǃʼ q
ᶢǀ gc
ᶢǁ gx
ᶢǃ gq
ᵑǀ nc
ᵑǁ nx
ᵑǃ nq
Other symbols
IPADescription
◌̃ Nasalization (placed above consonant)
◌ʰ Aspirated consonant (placed after consonant)
◌ʱ Breathy voice (placed after consonant)
◌ʲ Palatalisation (placed after consonant)
◌̠ Retracted consonant (placed below consonant)
◌̤ / ◌̈/ ◌̥ / ◌̊ Slack voice (placed above or below consonant)[clarification needed]
Vowels
IPAOrthographyEnglish approximation
a[2] a cat or father[3]
ɛ e bed
e e bay
i i beat
ɔ o British English off
o o story
u u cool
ː long vowel
Tones
Diacritic Tone letter Description
á ˦ High tone
à ˨ Low tone
âː ˥˩ Long falling tone
ǎ̤ ˨˦ Breathy/slack rising tone
à̤ ˨ Breathy/slack low tone
a̤᷈ː ˨˧˨ Long breathy/slack peaking tone

Notes

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  1. ↑ The velar nasal [ŋ] may be pronounced as [ŋg] in Swazi.
  2. ↑ /a/ is phonetically realised as an open front unrounded vowel [a] in Swazi, an open central unrounded vowel [ä] in Zulu and an open back unrounded vowel in Xhosa [ɑ].
  3. ↑ Realized similar to cat in Swazi, similar to father in Xhosa, and in between the two in Zulu

See also

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