Help:IPA/Finnish

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

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Finnish 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 Finnish language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

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

Consonants^[1]
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	bussi^[2]	big
d	ladot	adept
f	filmi^[2]	film
ɡ	magia^[2]	go
h	harmaa	horse
j	joulu	yolk
k	kala	kayak
k	squash^[2]
kː	lakki in the text one p: menekin, tulekaan	pic case
l	laulu	lack
lː	pullo	taillight
m	metsä, onpa^[3]	may
mː	kammio	roommate
n	nenä	nanny
nː	kannu	unnatural
ŋ	kenkä [keŋkæ]^[3]	sing
ŋː	vangita [ˈvɑŋŋitɑ]	"hang-nging"
p	puu	pool
pː	lippu in the text one p: tulepa, menepä	top paint
r	rauta	rolled r, like Spanish reino
s	sinä	sip
sː	kissa	his soup
t	tina	tip
tː	hattu	hat trick
v	viha	vet
v	Wilhelm^[2]
ʔ	vaa’an, ensi-ilta, linja-auto	the pause in uh-oh
ts	jazz [ˈjɑts],^[2] pizza [ˈpitsɑ]^[2]	parts
ks	Dixie^[2]
ʃ	Škoda^[2]
ʃ	Puškin^[2]	Pushkin
ʒ	Solženitsyn,^[2] Voronež^[2]	Solzhenitsyn, Voronezh

Stress
IPA	Examples	Explanation
ˈ	hevonen [ˈhevonen]	Normally placed on the first syllable.
ˌ	tule! [ˈtuˌle]	The second syllable in two-syllable imperatives.

Vowels^[4]
Short			Long
IPA	Examples	English approximation	IPA	Examples	English approximation
ɑ	pouta	like father, but shorter	ɑː	poutaa	father
æ	pöytä	cat	æː	päivää	mad
e	terve	let	eː	geeli	no English equivalent: Latin aenus [aˈeː.nʊs] (bronze)
i	viha	it	iː	siika	see
o	oksa	like more, but shorter	oː	koostaa	more
ø	pöly	somewhat like nurse	øː	säröön	somewhat like bird
u	surma	influence	uː	suu, ruoan	cool
y	kesy	somewhat like cute	yː	ryyppy	somewhat like cube

Diphthongs
IPA	Examples	English approximation
ɑi̯	aika	eye
ɑu̯	aura	how
æi̯	äiti	main (Australia)
æy̯	täytyy	somewhat like mouth (Estuary English)
ei̯	ei, hei	pay
eu̯	neutraali	somewhat like Dublin English mouth and Spanish neutral [neu.tral] (neutral)
ey̯	keskeytyä	no English equivalent
ie̯	kieli	somewhat like yes
iu̯	viulu	few
iy̯	siistiytyä	no English equivalent
oi̯	koittaa, koettaa	coin
ou̯	outo	role
øi̯	töitä	no English equivalent: somewhat like French feuille [ˈfœj] (blade)
øy̯	pöyristyä	RP rope
ui̯	muita	ruin
uo̯	Suomi	somewhat like woah
yi̯	syitä	somewhat like we
yø̯	yö, työtä	no English equivalent: French pollueur [pɔ.lɥœʁ] (polluter)

Notes

^ Most Finnish consonants usually contrast between shorter and longer pronunciation. Long consonants are marked with the symbol /ː/.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l [b], [f], [ɡ], [ts], [ʃ] and [ʒ] occur only in loanwords. In casual speech, they may be replaced [b] >[p], [f] > [v], [g] > [k], [ts] > [(t)s], [ʃ] and [ʒ] > [s].
^ ^a ^b /n/ has three allophones: [ŋ] before /k/, [m] before /p/ – only in the middle of a singular word, not at connection points of compound words – and [n] elsewhere.
^ All Finnish vowels have both a long and a short phoneme.

References

Suomi, Kari; Toivanen, Juhani; Ylitalo, Riikka (2008), Finnish sound structure, ISBN 978-951-42-8983-5

External links

Pronunciation of Finnish in a nutshell

[1] Most Finnish consonants usually contrast between shorter and longer pronunciation. Long consonants are marked with the symbol /ː/.

[loanwords-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l [b], [f], [ɡ], [ts], [ʃ] and [ʒ] occur only in loanwords. In casual speech, they may be replaced [b] >[p], [f] > [v], [g] > [k], [ts] > [(t)s], [ʃ] and [ʒ] > [s].

[mng-3] /n/ has three allophones: [ŋ] before /k/, [m] before /p/ – only in the middle of a singular word, not at connection points of compound words – and [n] elsewhere.

[4] All Finnish vowels have both a long and a short phoneme.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

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Notes

References

See also

External links