Help:IPA/Cantonese

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Cantonese on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Cantonese in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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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
Nonsyllabic consonants
p	syllable-initial b		幫	span
pʰ	syllable-initial p		滂	pan
m	m		明	moon
f	f		非	fan
t	syllable-initial d		端	stand
tʰ	syllable-initial t		透	tan
n	n		泥	noon
l	l		來	leaf
ts^[1]	j	z	精	cats
tsʰ^[2]	ch	c	清	cats hissing
s	s		心	saw
k	syllable-initial g		見	scan
kʰ	syllable-initial k		溪	can
kʷ	gw^[3]		古	squeak
kʷʰ	kw^[4]		困	quick
ŋ	ng		我	singing
h	h		曉	house
j	y	j	以	you
w	w		云	water
p̚	syllable-final p		濕	apt
t̚	syllable-final t		失	Atkins
k̚	syllable-final k		識	doctor
Syllabic consonants
m̩	m		唔	rhythm
ŋ̩ ŋ̍	ng^[5]		五	(syllabic ng)

All non-syllabic consonants except [p̚, t̚, k̚] may begin a
syllable, but some speakers don't have initial [n, ŋ].^[6]
The six non-syllabic consonants [p̚, t̚, k̚, m, n, ŋ] may end a syllable.^[7]

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	Canadian price (see Canadian Raising)
ɐu	au		歐	Canadian clout (see Canadian Raising)
ɛː	e		些	yes
ei	ei		悲	hey
ɛːu	—	eu	掉^[8]	roughly like yeah well
e/ɪ	i before k or ng		色	sick
œː	eu before k or ng or syllable-finally	oe	靴	roughly like fur in British English; fleuve in French
ɵy	eui	eoi	去	No English equivalent; like Japanese koi but rounded even at the end
ɵ	eu before n or t	eo	出	roughly like again but rounded
ɔː	o		我	law
ɔːy	oi		哀	roughly like boy
ou	ou		奧	hoe (American English)
o/ʊ	u before k or ng		福	look
iː	i		意	see
iːu	iu		橋	roughly like few
yː	non-syllable-initial yu^[9]	yu	於	No English equivalent; menu in French
uː	u		烏	food
uːy	ui		回	roughly like phooey

IPA	Yale	Jyutping	Tone number	Character	Description
Tones
siː˥/síː	sī	si1^[10]	1	詩	high level: siː˥
siː˥˧/sîː	sì	si1^[10]	1b (7)	絲	high falling: siː˥˧
siː˧˥/sǐː	sí	si2	2	史	mid rising: siː˧˥
siː˧/sīː	si	si3	3	試	mid level: siː˧
siː˨˩/si̭ː siː˩/sȉː	sìh	si4	4	時	low falling: siː˨˩ or very low: siː˩
siː˨˧/siː˩˧/si̬ː	síh	si5	5	市	low rising: siː˨˧or very low risinɡ: siː˩˧
siː˨/sìː	sih	si6	6	是	low level: siː˨
piːt̚˥/píːt̚	bīt	bit1	7 (1)	必	high checked: piːt̚˥
siːt̚˧/sīːt̚	sit	sit3	8 (3)	薛	mid checked: siːt̚˧
siːt̚˨/sìːt̚	siht	sit6	9 (6)	蝕	low checked: siːt̚˨

Notes

^ Often pronounced as /t͡ʃ/ (Hong Kong)
^ Often pronounced as /t͡ʃʰ/ (Hong Kong)
^ [kʷ] is often merged with [k] before [ɔː] in Hong Kong Cantonese.
^ [kʷʰ] is often merged with [kʰ] before [ɔː] in Hong Kong Cantonese.
^ Some speakers replace [ŋ̩] by [m̩].
^ Non-syllabic initial [ŋ] is not pronounced in Hong Kong Cantonese by younger speakers, who replace it with a glottal stop [ʔ] before a, e, o. Also, initial [n] may be replaced by [l].
^ Non-syllabic final [ŋ] may be replaced by [n] in Hong Kong Cantonese except after [e, o]. [i, u] in diphthongs are equivalent to a final /j, w/. After rounded vowels, an i becomes [y].
^ [ɛːu] is pronounced only in colloquial speech.
^ Syllable-initial yu is [jo] before k or ng, and [jyː] otherwise.
^ The high level and high falling tones have merged to high level in Hong Kong Cantonese for most words.

Bibliography

Zee, Eric (1999), "Chinese (Hong Kong Cantonese)" (PDF), 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

[1] Often pronounced as /t͡ʃ/ (Hong Kong)

[2] Often pronounced as /t͡ʃʰ/ (Hong Kong)

[3] [kʷ] is often merged with [k] before [ɔː] in Hong Kong Cantonese.

[4] [kʷʰ] is often merged with [kʰ] before [ɔː] in Hong Kong Cantonese.

[5] Some speakers replace [ŋ̩] by [m̩].

[6] Non-syllabic initial [ŋ] is not pronounced in Hong Kong Cantonese by younger speakers, who replace it with a glottal stop [ʔ] before a, e, o. Also, initial [n] may be replaced by [l].

[7] Non-syllabic final [ŋ] may be replaced by [n] in Hong Kong Cantonese except after [e, o]. [i, u] in diphthongs are equivalent to a final /j, w/. After rounded vowels, an i becomes [y].

[8] [ɛːu] is pronounced only in colloquial speech.

[9] Syllable-initial yu is [jo] before k or ng, and [jyː] otherwise.

[10] The high level and high falling tones have merged to high level in Hong Kong Cantonese for most words.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

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