Help:IPA/Maltese

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Short description: Wikipedia key to pronunciation

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Maltese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-mt}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Consonants
IPA Example English approximation
b ballun boy
d dar duck
dz gazzetta pads
ġelat jail
f fwieħa four
ɡ gallettina game
h ħ ħadem hat or Arabic arām
j jum yes
k kelb scar
l ɫ libsa look
m mara mole
n nadif no
p paġna spat
ɹ r re real or American better[1]
s saqaf sow
ʃ xadina shell
t tieqa stake
ts zokk sits
ċavetta chew
v vazun vet
w warda wall
z żaqq zoo
ʔ Luqa Cockney button
Vowels
IPA Example English approximation
a fatt RP cat
ɐː / æ: rani somewhat likeRP father or somewhat like Australian rate
dehra somewhat like beet in some American and British accents
ɛ belt met
ɝ merħba[2] American nurse
ə intom, Mdina (in between m and d,[3] minimum
għid less focused a sound than in the word dik night more readily found in some Irish, American and Canadian dialects
ɪ wisa bit
ɛ: wied, met but longer
sod, għum Scottish no
øː ewwel (may be realised as a Diphthong) RP code or French ceux
ɔ / ɒ moħħ awe or off
mur pool
ʊ kuntratt look
iwaħħax somewhat like RP acute or French tu
Diphthongs
æ:(ɪ̯) għajn Australian late
eʊ̯ øʊ̯ øː ewwel RP code or French ceux
aʊ̯ ɑʊ̯ għawn how
oɪ̯ bojod boy
Suprasegmentals
IPA Explanation
◌ˤ pharyngealised vowel
◌ː long vowel or geminate consonant[4]
. syllable break
ˈ stress

Notes

  1. The realization of the phoneme /r/ varies; some speakers pronounce it as an approximant [ɻ] virtually identical to that used for real in the western United States, while others pronounce it as a tap [ɾ], similar to the pronunciation of ⟨t⟩ and ⟨d⟩ between vowels in American and Australian English. When geminated, it may be pronounced as a lengthened approximant [ɻː], a tap [ɾ], or a trill [r].
  2. Speakers that realise ⟨r⟩ as [ɹ] realise short ⟨er⟩ as [ɝ] or [ə˞].
  3. Any unstressed vowel for some speakers or occasional filler vowel in between orthographical cluster consonants .
  4. Consonants occur both long and short word-medially and word-finally.

References

  • Hume, Elizabeth (1996). "Coronal consonant, front vowel parallels in Maltese". Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 14 (1): 163–203.