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
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^[1]		瓜	squeak
kʷʰ	kw^[2]		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^[3]		五	(syllabic ng)

All non-syllabic consonants except [p̚, t̚, k̚] may begin a
syllable, but some speakers do not have initial [n, ŋ].^[4]
The six non-syllabic consonants [p̚, t̚, k̚, m, n, ŋ] may end a syllable.^[5]

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	kite (short)
ɐu	au		歐	house (short)
ei	ei		悲	hey
ɛː	e		些	yes
ɛːu	—	eu	掉^[6]	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^[7]	yu	於	No English equivalent; menu in French

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

Notes

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

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

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

[4] 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].

[5] 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].

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

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

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

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

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