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 {{IPA-hmn}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Consonants IPA RPA Pahawh English approximation ʔ au 𖬮𖬰 As in outthouse c cau 𖬯 * cʰ chau 𖬧 * d dau 𖬞𖬰 Roughly similar to do dʱ dhau 𖬞𖬵 * tl dlau 𖬭 * In Green Hmong only tɬ̬ dlhau 𖬭𖬴 * In Green Hmong only f fau 𖬜𖬵 five ŋ gau 𖬠𖬵 Similar to sing h hau 𖬟 happy ɬ hlau 𖬥 * ʰm̥ hmau 𖬣𖬵 * m̥l̥ hmlau 𖬠𖬰 * n̥ hnau 𖬩 * ɲ̥ hnyau 𖬣𖬰 * k k * similar to skin kʰ khau 𖬩𖬰 cake l lau 𖬞 life m mau 𖬦 map ml mlau 𖬠 Similar to hmlet n nau 𖬬 As in near ɲɟ ncau 𖬤𖬰 * ɲɟʱ nchau 𖬨 * ndl ndlau 𖬭𖬰 * In Green Hmong only; similar to candle ndɮ ndlhau 𖬭𖬵 * In Green Hmong only; similar to mantle ŋɡ nkau 𖬢 * similar to finger ŋɡʱ nkhau 𖬫𖬵 * similar to incomplete mb npau 𖬨𖬵 * similar to combine mbʱ nphau 𖬡𖬰 * similar to computer mbɮ nplhau 𖬡𖬵 * similar to complain mpl nplau 𖬫𖬰 * similar to emblem ɴɢ nqau 𖬬𖬰 * ɴɢʱ nqhau 𖬬𖬵 * ɳɖ nrau 𖬜𖬰 * similar to can drink ɳʈʰ nrhau 𖬨𖬰 * similar to control nd ntau 𖬩𖬵 * similar to endanger ndʱ nthau 𖬫 * similar to contend ɳɖʐ ntsau 𖬝 * similar to and Zaza ndz ntxau 𖬢𖬰 * similar to and Xerox ndzʱ ntxhau 𖬥𖬵 * similar to ants here ɲ nyau 𖬮𖬵 * similar to canyon, onion p Pau 𖬪𖬵 * similar to spin pʰ Phau 𖬝𖬵 As in peace pl plau 𖬟𖬵 * pl̥ plhau 𖬪 * similar to play q qau 𖬦𖬵 * similar to sky qʰ qhau 𖬣 * similar to car ʈ rau 𖬡 * ʈʰ rhau 𖬢𖬵 * similar to trough ʂ sau 𖬤𖬵 shoe t tau 𖬧𖬵 * similar to stay tʰ thau 𖬟𖬰 time ʈʂ tsau 𖬝𖬰 * similar to June ʈʂʰ tshau 𖬪𖬰 chair, church ts txau 𖬯𖬵 * similar to beds tsʰ txhau 𖬦𖬰 * similar to tsongas v vau 𖬜 very, visa s xau 𖬮 see ç xyau 𖬧𖬰 Roughly similar to mash your ʝ yau 𖬤 Similar to yes ʐ zau 𖬥𖬰 Similar to pleasure, vision

Vowels IPA RPA Pahawh English approximation monophthongs i i 𖬂, 𖬃 see ɨ w 𖬘, 𖬙 * similar to houses u u 𖬆, 𖬇 As in soon e e 𖬈, 𖬉 * similar to play Nasalized ẽ ee 𖬀, 𖬁 * Roughly similar to sang a a 𖬖, 𖬗 As in father ã aa 𖬚, 𖬛 * Only in Green Hmong o o 𖬒, 𖬓 * similar to lawn ɒ̃ oo 𖬌, 𖬍 * Roughly similar to song diphthongs ai ai 𖬊, 𖬋 As in hi and bye iə ia 𖬔, 𖬕 * Roughly similar to see a aɨ aw 𖬎, 𖬏 * au au 𖬄, 𖬅 As in outhouse uə ua 𖬐, 𖬑 * Roughly similar to sue a Hmong Tone Indications IPA Tone Orthographic Spelling (Example) pɔ́ High pob (ball) pɔ̰ Creaky pom (to see) pɔ̂ High falling poj (female) pɔ̌ Mid rising pov (to throw) Error: {{IPA}}: unrecognized language tag: pɔ Mid po (spleen) pɔ̀ Low pos (thorn) pɔ̤ Low falling breathy pog (grandmother)

Notes and references

^* No equivalent to English

• k is only used in Hmong RPA and not in Pahawh Hmong, since Hmong RPA uses latin and Pahawh Hmong doesn't use latin. For example, in Hmong RPA, to write "keeb," 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).
• 𖬭, 𖬭𖬰, 𖬭𖬵, 𖬭𖬴 are only used witihn Green Hmong dialect.

References

• https://studyhmong.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hmong-For-Beginners-by-Annie-Jasser.pdf (Hmong for Beginners - Annie Jaisser in collaboration with Martha Ratliff, Elizabeth Riddle, David Strecker, Lopao Vang, and Lyfu Vang; Illustrations by Tria Xiong, David Strecker, and Halinka Luangprasent)
• https://bilinguistics.com/hmong-speech-language-development/ Hmong Speech and Language Development – Difference or Disorder?
• https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/64484/ThaoSpr2012.pdf?sequence=1 Phonetics of the Hmong White Language
• https://www.ukessays.com/essays/linguistics/basics-of-hmong-phonology.php Basics of Hmong Phonology
• http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~dwbruhn/dwbruhn_Ling230_squib_PFWHm.pdf Toward a Reconstruction of Proto-Far-Western-Hmongic - Daniel Bruhn
• https://www.hmongstudiesjournal.org/uploads/4/5/8/7/4587788/ly_hsj_21.pdf An Explanation of the Logic of Hmong RPA - Chô Ly, Ph.D.
• http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/voiceproject/Hmong/Hmong_Notes.pdf Hmong Notes
• https://zenodo.org/record/1127804#.X-KfBdhKiUk The classification of Na Meo, a Hmong-Mien language of Vietnam - Andrew Hsiu
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3574099/ Voice quality and tone identification in White Hmong - Marc Garellek and Patricia Keating, Christina M. Esposito, Jody Kreiman
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44444705_Qha_Ke_Guiding_the_Way_From_the_Hmong_Ntsu_of_China_1943 Qha Ke (Guiding the Way) From the Hmong Ntsu of China, 1943
• https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.736.9729&rep=rep1&type=pdf The Phonetic Inventory of Mong Leng - Daniel Bruhn
• http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf4/jaisser1987hmong.pdf Hmong Classifiers - Annie Jaisser
• https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2012/12013-n4175-pahawh-hmong.pdf Final proposal to encode the Pahawh Hmong script in the UCS
• http://ess.aurorak12.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2012/03/Common-characteristics-from-multiple-languages-courtesy-of-the-Anchorage-School-District.pdf IPA of Hmong and other Languages