The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Spanish language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See Spanish phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Spanish.
| IPA | Examples | English approximation | | Consonants | | b | bestia; vaca; envidia | best | | β | bebé; vivir [1] | Between baby and bevy | | d | dedo; cuando; aldaba | dead | | ð | arder; ciudad; padre [1] | this | | f | fase; café | face | | ɡ | gato; lengua; guerra | got | | ɣ | trigo; Argos[1] | between a light go and ahold | | ʝ | poyo [1] | between beige and d'you | | k | caña; laca; quisimos | scan | | l | lino; calor; principal | lean | | ʎ | llave; pollo [2] | million (like /ʝ/ in most dialects) | | m | madre; comer; anfibio | mother | | n | nido; anillo; sin | need | | ŋ | cinco; venga; Don Juan | sing; rink | | ɲ | ñoquis; cabaña | canyon | | θ | cereza; zorro; lacero; paz [3] | thing (only in the Spain dialect; otherwise, like /s/ in other dialects) | | p | pozo; topo | spouse | | r | raro; perro; enrachado; alrededor; amor eterno | trilled 'r' | | ɾ | pero; bravo; amor eterno | like ladder in American English | | s | saco; casa; puertas | sack | | t | tamiz; átomo | stand | | tʃ | chubasco; acechar | choo | | x | jamón; general; suje, reloj[4] | Loch, Bach (like ham in many dialects) | | z | rasgo, mismo | schism | | | IPA | Examples | English approximation | | Monophthongs | | a | falso | father | | e | peso | bed | | i | cinco; y | see | | o | bosque | code | | u | cucaracha | food | | Diphthongs | | ai | hay; aire | eye | | au | pausa | house; trout | | ei | rey; peine | ray; slave; vein | | eu | neutro | "eh-oo" or "ey-oo""[5] | | ja | hacia; diabólico | "yah": yonder; embryonic | | je | tierra; asiento | yellow; Juliet | | jo | radio | audio; embryo | | ju | viuda | beauty; mute; you | | oi | hoy; oiga | boycott; coin; poison | | ou | bou | broke; floating; blow | | wa | cuadro; Juan | quality; wad | | we | fuego | "weh": sequential; when | | wi | fuimos | "wee": sweet; weep | | wo | cuota | quota | | Other symbols used in transcription of Spanish pronunciation | | IPA | Explanation | | ˈ | Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable),
for example viuda [ˈbjuða] | |
- ^ a b c d /b/, /d/, /ʝ/ and /ɡ/ are approximants ([β̞], [ð̞], [ʝ˕] [ɣ˕]; represented here without the undertacks) in all places except after a pause, after an /n/ or /m/, or—in the case of /d/ and /ʝ/—after an /l/, in which contexts they are stops [b, d, ɟʝ, ɡ], not dissimilar from English b, d, j, g.(Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté 2003:257-8).
- ^ In metropolitan areas of the Iberian Peninsula and some South American countries, /ʎ/ has merged into /ʝ/; the actual realization depends on dialect; see yeísmo and Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:258) for more information.
- ^ In Andalusia, Canary Islands, and Latin America /θ/ has merged into /s/; see ceceo and Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:258) for more information.
- ^ For many speakers, the j is silent at the end of a word, in which case reloj is pronounced [reˈlo].
- ^ In English, something similar to /eu/ is sometimes heard for "oh" in exaggerations of the Queen's English by American comedians such as Carol Burnett.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Ana Ma. Fernández-Planas & Josefina Carrera-Sabaté (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255-259
