Help:IPA for Haitian Creole

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

English approximations are in some cases very loose, and only intended to give a general idea of the pronunciation. See Haitian Creole phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Haitian Creole.

Consonants
Haitian orthography IPA Examples English approximation
b b bagay bow
ch ʃ cho shoe
d d dous do
f f fig festival
g ɡ gòch gain
h h hèn hotel
j ʒ jedi measure
k k kle sky
l l liv clean
m m machin mother
n n nòt note
ng ŋ bilding feeling
p p pase spy
r ɣ rezon [1] between go and loch
s s sis six
t t tout tie
v v vyann vent
z z zero zero
Non-native consonants
dj djaz jazz
Semivowels
w w wi [1] we
y j pye yes
ui ɥi uit roughly like sweet
Vowels
Haitian orthography IPA Examples English approximation
a[2] a abako; pàn bra
e e ale hey
è ɛ fèt festival
i i lide see
o o zwazo roughly like law (British English)
ò ɔ deyò sort
ou u nou you
Nasal vowels
an[3] ã anpil No English equivalent; nasalized [ɒ]
en[3] ɛ̃ mwen No English equivalent; nasalized [ɛ]
on[3] ɔ̃ tonton No English equivalent; nasalized [o]
oun[3] ũ moun No English equivalent; nasalized [un]

Notes

  • There are no silent letters in Haitian creole, unless it is being written with the traditional orthography.
  • All sounds are always spelled the same, except when a vowel carries a grave accent ⟨`⟩ before ⟨n⟩, which makes it an open vowel instead of a nasal vowel (e.g. ⟨en⟩ for /ɛ̃/ and ⟨èn⟩ for /ɛn/; ⟨on⟩ = /ɔ̃/, but ⟨òn⟩ = /ɔn/; <an> = /ã/, but <àn> = /an/).
  • When immediately followed by a vowel in a word, the letters forming the nasal vowels (an, en, on, oun) are to be pronounced separately.
  1. 1.0 1.1 The contrast between /ɣ/ and /w/ is lost before rounded vowels; the two phonemes merge as /w/ in that environment. Some orthographies of Haitian Creole follow the etymology of the word, using ‹r› for /w/ before a rounded vowel where this comes from an original /ɣ/, e.g. gro /ɡwo/ "big" (cf. French gros /ɡʁo/). The official orthography follows the modern pronunciation of the word and uses ‹w› for /w/ in all cases, so that /ɡwo/ is spelled ‹gwo›.
  2. or à before an n
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 when not followed by a vowel