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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Belarusian language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See Belarusian phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Belarusian.
Consonants
IPA Cyrillic
IPA Cyrillic[ 1]
English approximation
b б bʲ б b oot; b eautiful
d д d o
d͡z дз d͡zʲ дз birds , adz e
d͡ʐ дж j ug
f ф fʲ ф f ool; f ew
ɣ г ɣʲ г roughly like g o but without completely
k к kʲ к c ooter; c ute
l л [ 2] lʲ л l oot; l ute (for some dialects )
m м mʲ м m oot; m ute
n н nʲ н n oon; cany on (for some dialects )
p п pʲ п p aw; p ew
r р trilled r , like in Spanish
s с sʲ с s oup; s uper (for some dialects )
ʂ ш sh ore
t т t ool
t͡s ц t͡sʲ ц cats ; quartz
t͡ʂ ч ch ild
v в [ 2] vʲ в v oodoo; v iew
x х xʲ х Bach ; h uge (for some dialects )
z з zʲ з z oo; res ume (for some dialects )
ʐ ж roug e
Marginal consonants
IPA Cyrillic
IPA Cyrillic
English approximation
ɡ г ґ ɡʲ г ґ g oo; arg ue
Other symbols
IPA
Explanation
ˈ Stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
ː
Gemination [ 6]
^ Belarusian has a contrast between palatalized ("soft") and unpalatalized ("hard") consonants. Palatalized consonants, denoted by a superscript j, ⟨ʲ ⟩ ,are pronounced with the body of the tongue raised toward the hard palate , like the articulation of the y sound in yes . /j/ is also soft, but /d, t, d͡ʐ, t͡ʂ, r, ʂ, ʐ/ are always hard.
^ a b c /v/ and /l/ merge into /w/ ⟨ў in the syllable coda .^ a b c Unstressed /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ are reduced to [a] . Unlike Russian, this is reflected in writing.
^ a b [i] and [ɨ] are in complementary distribution : [i] occurs at the beginning of words and after soft consonants; [ɨ] occurs after hard consonants.^ The "soft" vowel letters ⟨я, е, і, ё, ю represent a /j/ and a vowel when they are initial or after other vowels.
^ Nine Belarusian consonants can be contrastively geminated: /d͡zʲː, lʲː, nʲː, sʲː, ʂː, t͡sʲː, t͡ʂː, zʲː, ʐː/ .
Comparisons Introductory guides
