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Help:IPA/Hmong

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Hmong language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. The dialect used in this chart is both White Hmong and Green Hmong. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Consonants
IPA RPA Pahawh English approximation
Green White
c c 𖬯 Somewhat like joke
cʰ ch 𖬧 Somewhat like choke
d d 𖬞𖬰 ado
dʱ dh 𖬞𖬵 wide hearted
tˡ dl 𖬭𖬰 Somewhat like at last
tɬ̬ dlh 𖬭𖬵 Somewhat like at last, but with extra clicky sound
f f 𖬜𖬵 five
ŋ g 𖬠𖬵 sing
h h 𖬟 happy
l̥ hl 𖬥 clean
m̥ hm 𖬣𖬵 No English equivalent; voiceless [m]
m̥l̥ hml 𖬠𖬰 No English equivalent
n̥ hn 𖬩 No English equivalent; voiceless [n]
ɲ̥ hny 𖬣𖬰 No English equivalent; voiceless [ɲ]
k k * scope
kʰ kh 𖬩𖬰 cope
l l 𖬞 life
m m 𖬦 map
ml ml 𖬠 hamlet
n n 𖬬 no
ɲɟ nc 𖬤𖬰 and you
ɲɟʱ nch 𖬨 *
ⁿdˡ ndl 𖬭
ⁿdɮ ndlh 𖬭𖬴 No English equivalent
ŋɡ nk 𖬢 finger
ŋkʰ nkh 𖬫𖬵 incomplete
mb np 𖬨𖬵 combine
mbʱ nph 𖬡𖬰 No English equivalent, like abhor, but with prenasalization
mbl npl 𖬫𖬰 emblem
mbɮ nplh 𖬡𖬵 No English equivalent
ɴɢ nq 𖬬𖬰 *
ɴɢʱ nqh 𖬬𖬵 *
ɳɖ nr 𖬜𖬰 No English equivalent; somewhat like can drink
ɳʈʰ nrh 𖬨𖬰 * similar to control
nd nt 𖬩𖬵 endanger
ndʱ nth 𖬫 wound him
ɳɖʐ nts 𖬝 No English equivalent; somewhat like hinge
ndz ntx 𖬢𖬰 hands
ndzʱ ntxh 𖬥𖬵 hands holding
ɲ ny 𖬮𖬵 canyon
p p 𖬪𖬵 spin
pʰ ph 𖬝𖬵 pin
pl pl 𖬟𖬵 Somewhat like apple
pɬ plh 𖬪 play
q q 𖬦𖬵 * similar to sky
qʰ qh 𖬣 * similar to car
ʈ r 𖬡 *
ʈʰ rh 𖬢𖬵 * similar to trough
ʂ s 𖬤𖬵 Somewhat like shoe
t t 𖬧𖬵 stool
tʰ th 𖬟𖬰 tool
ts tx 𖬯𖬵 cats
tsʰ txh 𖬦𖬰 No English equivalent
ʈʂ ts 𖬝𖬰 Somewhat like June
ʈʂʰ tsh 𖬪𖬰 Somewhat like chair
v v 𖬜 very
s x 𖬮 see
ç xy 𖬧𖬰 hue
ʝ y 𖬤 Similar to yes
ʐ z 𖬥𖬰 Somewhat like vision
ʔ 𖬮𖬰 uh-oh!
Vowels
IPA RPA Pahawh English approximation
Monophthongs
a a 𖬖, 𖬗 As in father
e e 𖬈, 𖬉 * similar to play
i i 𖬂, 𖬃 see
ɨ w 𖬘, 𖬙 roses
ɔ o 𖬒, 𖬓 off
u u 𖬆, 𖬇 cool
Nasalized
ẽ ee 𖬀, 𖬁 Somewhat like sang
ã aa 𖬚, 𖬛 Somewhat like ran
ɔ̃ oo 𖬌, 𖬍 Somewhat like song
Diphthongs
ai ai 𖬊, 𖬋 hi
iə ia 𖬔, 𖬕 RP beer
aɨ aw 𖬎, 𖬏 Do not curl your tongue for the 'r' in per
au au 𖬄, 𖬅 how
uə ua 𖬐, 𖬑 truant, elided into a single syllable
Hmong Tone Indications
IPA Tone Orthographic Spelling (Example)
pɔ́ High pob ('ball')
pɔ̰ Creaky pom ('see')
pɔ̂ High falling poj ('female')
pɔ̌ Mid rising pov ('throw')
pɔ̄ Mid po ('spleen')
pɔ̀ Low pos ('thorn')
pɔ̤ Low falling breathy pog ('grandmother')
pɔ̰̌ Falling rising pod (no meaning(for now))

Notes

^* No equivalent to English ^* ⟨k⟩ is only represented in RPA and not in Pahawh Hmong. For example, to write keeb in RPA, you have to follow the order Consonant + Vowel + Tone (CVT), so it is K + ee + b = Keeb, but in Pahawh Hmong, it is just Keeb "𖬀𖬶" (2nd-Stage Version).


References

See also