Help:IPA/Cantonese

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Cantonese pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.

See Cantonese phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Cantonese. Please note that English equivalents given in this page may only represent very approximate sounds to the original pronunciations.

IPA Yale Jyutping Chinese English approximation Non-syllabic consonants f f 風 fan h h 客 house j y j 月 you k syllable-initial g 家 scan k̚ syllable-final k 識 doctor kʰ syllable-initial k 卡 can kʷ gw 瓜 squeak kʷʰ kw 誇 quick l l 落 leaf m m 莫 moon n n 男 noon ŋ ng 牙 singing p b 班 span p̚ syllable-final p 濕 apt pʰ syllable-initial p 拍 pan s s 西 saw t d 打 stand t̚ syllable-final t 失 Atkins tʰ syllable-initial t 拖 tan ts j z 將 cats tsʰ ch c 鏘 cats hissing w w 活 water Syllabic consonants m̩ m 唔 rhythm ŋ̩ ŋ̍ ng 五 (syllabic ng) Syllables may begin with any non-syllabic consonant except [p̚, t̚, k̚], but some speakers do not have initial [n, ŋ]. The six non-syllabic consonants [p̚, t̚, k̚, m, n, ŋ] may end a syllable.

IPA Yale Jyutping Chinese 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 kite (short) ɐu au 歐 house (short) ei ei 悲 hey ɛː e 些 yes ɛːu — eu 掉 roughly like yeah well e i before k or ng 色 sick iː i 意 see iːu iu 橋 roughly like few ou ou 奧 hoe (American English) ɔː o 我 law ɔːy oi 哀 roughly like boy; Häuser in German œː eu before k or ng or syllable-finally oe 靴 roughly like fur in British English; fleuve in French ɵ eu before n or t eo 出 roughly like again but rounded ɵy eui eoi 去 No English equivalent; like Japanese koi but rounded even at the end o u before k or ng 福 look uː u 烏 food uːy ui 回 roughly like phooey; almost like nouille in French yː non-syllable-initial yu yu 於 No English equivalent; menu in French IPA Yale Jyutping Chinese Description Tones síː sī si1 詩 high level: siː˥˥ sîː sì 絲 high falling: siː˥˧ sǐː sí si2 史 mid rising: siː˧˥ sīː si si3 試 mid level: siː˧˧ si̭ː sȉː sìh si4 時 low falling: siː˨˩ or very low: siː˩˩ si̬ː síh si5 市 low rising: siː˨˧ sìː sih si6 是 low level: siː˨˨ píːt̚ bīt bit1 必 high checked: piːt̚˥ sīːt̚ sit sit3 薛 mid checked: siːt̚˧ sìːt̚ siht sit6 蝕 low checked: siːt̚˨

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