Help:IPA/Arabic

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions 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 establishing consensus on the talk page first.

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

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The chart below explains how Wikipedia represents Modern Standard Arabic pronunciations with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Wikipedia also has specific charts for Egyptian Arabic, Hejazi Arabic, Lebanese Arabic, and Tunisian Arabic. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Arabic phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Modern Standard Arabic, and varieties of Arabic for regional variation.

IPA	English approximation	Arabic letter/symbol	Usual romanization	Letter name
A–B
a^[a]	cat in British English, only approx. in American English, could also be realised as [æ]	َ	a, á, e	فَتْحَة (fatḥah)
aː^[b]	not exact, longer far, could also be realised as [æː]	ـَا (ى at word end)	ā, â, aa, a	أَلِف (ʾalif) الف مقصورة (ʾalif maqṣūrah)
aj^[c]	/a/+/j/, my or night	ْ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]	emphatic and pharyngealized /d/, no equivalent, can be approximated to RP dawn	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]	scape	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	like skit, but further down to the uvula (uvular).	ق	q, g, '	قَاف (qāf)
r	"tapped" or "trilled" r; Spanish perro	ر	r	رَاء (rāʾ)
s	snake	س	s	سِين (sīn)
sˤ^[e]	close to saw, emphatic and pharyngealized /s/	ص	ṣ	صَاد (ṣād)
ʃ	sheep	ش	sh, š, ch	شِين (shīn)
T–W
t^[1]	stop	ت (sometimes ة)	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]	cool	ـُو	ū, oo, ou, u	وَاو (wāw)
w	we	و	w	وَاو (wāw)
X–Z
x ~ χ	Scottish loch	خ	kh, ḫ, ḵ	خَاء (khāʾ)
ɣ ~ ʁ	like gallon, but with a guttural sound further down to the uvula (uvular). Alternatively like French paris	غ	gh, ġ, ḡ	غَيْن (ghayn)
z	zoo	ز	z	زَاي (zāy)
Other
ʔ	The pause in uh-oh!; The 'tt' in kitten in Standard American English; Cockney butter; glottal stop	ء	ʾ ’ '	هَمْزة (hamzah)
ʕ	no equivalent in english (voiced pharyngeal fricative or voiced creaky-voiced pharyngeal approximant)	ع	ʿ ‘ ' `	عَيْن (ʿayn)
θ	see under T—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.]')		A geminated consonant never belongs to one syllable and is often broken with a stress.

Notes

^ 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 ^d Emphatic consonants may be either pharyngealized or velarized and are accompanied with labialization (Al-Ani 2008, p. 599; Kaye 1997, p. 193–194).
^ The letter ج represents [ɡ] in Egypt and [ʒ] in the Levant and the Maghreb (Al-Ani 2008, p. 598; Gairdner 1925, p. 23).
^ The letter ظ represents 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 word Allah: [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

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 ^b May be aspirated, see arabic phonology

[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 either pharyngealized or velarized and are accompanied with labialization (Al-Ani 2008, p. 599; Kaye 1997, p. 193–194).

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

[Zaa-7] The letter ظ represents 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 word Allah: [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 arabic phonology

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

[f]

[g]

[h]

[i]

[1]

[j]

[k]

[l]

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See also

Notes

References