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 Green White c c 𖬯 Somewhat like joke cʰ ch 𖬧 Somewhat like choke ç xy 𖬧𖬰 hue d d 𖬞𖬰 ado dʱ dh 𖬞𖬵 wide hearted f f 𖬜𖬵 five h h 𖬟 happy ʝ y 𖬤 Similar to yes k k * scope kʰ kh 𖬩𖬰 cope l l 𖬞 life l̥ hl 𖬥 similar to clean m m 𖬦 map m̥ hm 𖬣𖬵 No English equivalent; voiceless [m] mb np 𖬨𖬵 combine mbʱ nph 𖬡𖬰 No English equivalent, like abhor, but with prenasalization mbl npl 𖬫𖬰 Similar to emblem mbɮ nplh 𖬡𖬵 No English equivalent ml ml 𖬠 Somewhat like hamlet m̥l̥ hml 𖬠𖬰 No English equivalent n n 𖬬 no n̥ hn 𖬩 No English equivalent; voiceless [n] nd nt 𖬩𖬵 endanger ndʱ nth 𖬫 wound him ndl ndl 𖬭𖬰 Somewhat like candle ndɮ ndlh 𖬭𖬵 No English equivalent ndz ntx 𖬢𖬰 hands ndzʱ ntxh 𖬥𖬵 hands holding ɲ ny 𖬮𖬵 canyon ɲ̥ hny 𖬣𖬰 No English equivalent; voiceless [ɲ] ɳɖ nr 𖬜𖬰 No English equivalent; somewhat like can drink ɳɖʐ nts 𖬝 No English equivalent; somewhat like hinge ɴɢ nq 𖬬𖬰 * ɴɢʱ nqh 𖬬𖬵 * ɲɟ nc 𖬤𖬰 and you ɲɟʱ nch 𖬨 * ɳʈʰ nrh 𖬨𖬰 * similar to control ŋ g 𖬠𖬵 sing ŋɡ nk 𖬢 finger ŋkʰ nkh 𖬫𖬵 incomplete 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 s x 𖬮 see ʂ s 𖬤𖬵 Somewhat like shoe t t 𖬧𖬵 stool tʰ th 𖬟𖬰 tool ʈ r 𖬡 * ʈʰ rh 𖬢𖬵 * similar to trough tl dl 𖬭 Somewhat like at last tɬ dlh 𖬭𖬴 No English equivalent 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 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 Somewhat like houses ɔ o 𖬒, 𖬓 lawn u u 𖬆, 𖬇 soon 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 British beer' aɨ aw 𖬎, 𖬏 No English equivalent au au 𖬄, 𖬅 how uə ua 𖬐, 𖬑 British tour 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') 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 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

• 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