Help:IPA/Cantonese

Short description: Wikipedia key to pronunciation

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

See Cantonese phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Cantonese.

IPA Yale Jyutping Character English approximation Non-syllabic consonants f f 風 fan h h 客 house j y j 月 you k syllable-initial g 家 scan k̚ syllable-final k 識 doctor kʰ syllable-initial k 卡 can kʷ gw 瓜 squeak kʷʰ kw 誇 quick l l 落 leaf m m 莫 moon n n 男 noon ŋ ng 牙 singing p b 班 span p̚ syllable-final p 濕 apt pʰ syllable-initial p 拍 pan s s 西 saw t d 打 stand t̚ syllable-final t 失 Atkins tʰ syllable-initial t 拖 tan ts j z 將 cats tsʰ ch c 鏘 cats hissing w w 活 water Syllabic consonants m̩ m 唔 rhythm ŋ̩ ŋ̍ ng 五 (syllabic ng) All non-syllabic consonants except [p̚, t̚, k̚] may begin a syllable, but some speakers do not have initial [n, ŋ]. The six non-syllabic consonants [p̚, t̚, k̚, m, n, ŋ] may end a syllable.

IPA Yale Jyutping Character English approximation Vowels aː aa, syllable-final a aa 亞 father (Australian English) aːi aai 界 time aːu aau 交 how ɐ non-syllable-final a a 甩 cut ɐi ai 矮 kite (short) ɐu au 歐 house (short) ei ei 悲 hey ɛː e 些 yes ɛːu — eu 掉 roughly like yeah well e i before k or ng 色 sick iː i 意 see iːu iu 橋 roughly like few ou ou 奧 hoe (American English) ɔː o 我 law ɔːy oi 哀 roughly like boy; Häuser in German œː eu before k or ng or syllable-finally oe 靴 roughly like fur in British English; fleuve in French ɵ eu before n or t eo 出 roughly like again but rounded ɵy eui eoi 去 No English equivalent; like Japanese koi but rounded even at the end o u before k or ng 福 look uː u 烏 food uːy ui 回 roughly like phooey; almost like nouille in French yː non-syllable-initial yu yu 於 No English equivalent; menu in French IPA Yale Jyutping Tone number Character Description Tones síː sī si1 1 詩 high level: siː˥ sîː sì 1b (7) 絲 high falling: siː˥˧ sǐː sí si2 2 史 mid rising: siː˧˥ sīː si si3 3 試 mid level: siː˧ si̭ː sȉː sìh si4 4 時 low falling: siː˨˩ or very low: siː˩ si̬ː síh si5 5 市 low rising: siː˨˧ sìː sih si6 6 是 low level: siː˨ píːt̚ bīt bit1 7 (1) 必 high checked: piːt̚˥ sīːt̚ sit sit3 8 (3) 薛 mid checked: siːt̚˧ sìːt̚ siht sit6 9 (6) 蝕 low checked: siːt̚˨

Bibliography

• Zee, Eric (1999), "Chinese (Hong Kong Cantonese)", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-65236-7, https://sail.usc.edu/~lgoldste/General_Phonetics/Final_Project/Chinese.pdf