The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Afrikaans pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.
See Afrikaans phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Afrikaans, as well as dialectal variations that are not represented here.
| Consonants | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | Examples | Examples in IPA | English approximation |
| b | beet | bɪə̯t | beet |
| d | dak | dak | duck |
| f | fiets, ver | fit͡s, fæːr | far |
| ɦ | hoekom | ˈɦukɔm | behind |
| j | ja | jaː | yes |
| k | kat | kat | skin |
| l | land | ɫant | land |
| m | man | man | man |
| n | nek | næk | neck |
| ŋ | eng | æŋ | long |
| p | pen, rib, lip | pæn, rɪp, lɪp | sport |
| r | ras | ras | No equivalent, rolled R as in some varieties of Scottish English |
| s | sak, seep | sak, sɪə̯p | sock |
| ʃ | sjabloon, sjef | ʃaˈbluə̯m, ʃæːf | shall |
| t | tak, hond | tak, ɦɔnt | stop |
| tʃ | Tsjeggië, tjek | ˈʧæχiə, ʧæːk | chat |
| χ | generaal, weg | χɛnəˈrɑːl, væːχ | loch (Scottish English) |
| v | wang | vaŋ | van |
| ʒ | visueel | vəʒœˈɪə̯ɫ | vision |
| Marginal consonants | |||
| ʔ | beïnvloed | bəˈʔənflut | the catch in uh-oh! |
| dʒ | djihad | ˈʤiɦat | jump |
| ɡ | ghries[1], berge, erger | gris, ˈbærgə, ˈærgər | goal |
| w | kwaad | kwɑːt | water |
| z | Zoeloe | ˈzuːlu | zoo |
| Stress | |||
| ˈ | vóórkom voorkóm | ˈfuə̯rkɔm | as in South-African or British commandeer ˌkɒmənˈdiə̯ |
| ˌ | ˌfuə̯rˈkɔm | ||
| Vowels | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | Examples | Examples IPA | English approximation | ||
| South-African English | Received Pronunciation | General American | |||
| Monophthongs (oral) | |||||
| a | bad | bat | up | No equivalent, similar to quack, however pronounced further down in the mouth | |
| ɑː | aap | ɑːp | father | ||
| æ | ek, bel, reg, blerrie | æk, bæɫ, ræχ, ˈbɫærːi | back | ||
| æː | perd, ver, wêreld, bêre | pæːrt, fæːr, ˈvæːrəɫt, ˈbæːrə | jazz | fat | |
| ɛ | met | mɛt | met | dress | |
| ɛː | nè, mens, hê | nɛː, mɛns (although in many accents mɛ̃ːs), ɦɛː | No equivalent, similar to square, however pronounced further down in the mouth | square | bread |
| ə | vis, hemel, vanaand[2] | fəs, ˈɦɪə̯məɫ, fəˈnɑːnt | again | ||
| əː | wîe[3] | ˈvəːə | fur | In some accents the lengthened uh, and in others uh further forward in the mouth | fur |
| i | polisie | puˈlisi | deep | concrete | deep |
| iː | spieël, bier[4] | spiːl, biːr | need | ||
| ɔ | bot | bɔt | thought | No equivalent, roughly as in Scottish, Irish, or South-African thought or law | |
| ɔː | môre[5] | ˈmɔːrə | law | ||
| œ | hut | ɦœt | Roughly as in book | Roughly as in bird | |
| œː | rûe[5] | ˈrœːə | |||
| u | hoed, polisie | ɦut, puˈlisi | boot | fool, cool | No equivalent, roughly as in Scottish, Irish, or South-African boot or cool |
| uː | koeël, moer[4] | kuːɫ, muːr | cool | ||
| y | nuut | nyt | roughly like cute | ||
| yː | uur[4] | yːr | roughly like true; German über | ||
| Monophthongs (nasal) | |||||
| ɑ̃ː | dans | dɑ̃ːs (in some dialects dɑns) | No equivalent, long nasalized [ɑ]; French sans | ||
| ɛ̃ː | mens | mɛ̃ːs (in some dialects mɛns) | No equivalent, long nasalized [ɛ]; French vin | ||
| ɔ̃ː | spons | spɔ̃ːs (in some dialects spɔns) | No English equivalent, nasalized [ɔː]; French dupont | ||
| Diphthongs | |||||
| ai | baie | ˈbai̯ə | No equivalent, roughly as in American or English price | price | |
| ɑːɪ | braai | brɑːɪ̯ | prize | ||
| ɛɪ | rys, reis | rɛɪ̯s, rɛɪ̯s | may | ||
| ɪə | eer, ere | ɪə̯r, ˈɪə̯rə | ear | No equivalent, roughly as in South-African or British ear | ear |
| ɪø | seun | sɪø̯n | Roughly like fear in some (non-standard) accents, no good English equivalent | ||
| iu | eeu | iu̯ | ew | ||
| oːɪ | nooi | noːɪ̯ | boy | ||
| œɪ | ui | œɪ̯ | house (Scottish English) | ||
| əu | ou | əu̯ | boat | No equivalent, roughly as in South-African or British boat | boat |
| uə | so, boot | suə̯, buə̯t | poor (as in poverty) | No equivalent, roughly as in South-African or British poor | poor |
Notes
References
- Donaldson, Bruce C. (1993). "1. Pronunciation". A Grammar of Afrikaans. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 1–35. ISBN 978-3-11-0134261. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
- Lass, Roger (1987). "Intradiphthongal Dependencies". In Anderson, John; Durand, Jaques (eds.). Explorations in Dependency Phonology. Dordrecht: Foris Publications Holland. pp. 109–131. ISBN 9067652970. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
- Wissing, Daan (2016). "Afrikaans phonology – segment inventory". Taalportaal. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
See also
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