Help:IPA/Estonian

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Estonian on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Estonian 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 Estonian pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Estonian phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Estonian.

IPA	Examples	English approximation
Consonants
f	film^[1]	film
h	hobune, raha	horse
j	jõul	yolk
k	kabi	kayak
l	lina	lack
lʲ	jälk^[2]	leap
m	naasma	may
n	lina	nanny
ŋ	vang, kink^[3]	eating
nʲ	vann^[2]	onion
p	kapi	spill
r	vere	rolled r, like Spanish reino
s	sõbranna, zooloogia	sole
sʲ	vastik^[2]	super (some dialects)
ʃ	šampus, Solženistõn^[1]	shy
t	tava	stand
tʲ	vatt^[2]	RP stew
v	vere	veal
ʔ	maq	(in South Estonian) the pause in uh-oh
Stress
ˈ	hobune	Normally placed on the first syllable
	hernehirmutis [ˈherːneˈhirmutːis]	Two stressed syllables in compound words
	armee [arˈmeː]	Loanwords can have stress on non-initial syllables
Length
	vere [ˈvere] lina [ˈlinɑ]	Short syllable
ː ^[4]	veere [ˈveːre] linna [ˈlinːɑ]	Long syllable
ːː ^[4]	veere [ˈveːːre] linna [ˈlinːːɑ]	Overlong syllable

IPA	Examples	English approximation
Vowels^[4]
ɑ	lina	father, but shorter
ɑː	naasma	father
æ	mägi	cat
æː	väär	mad
e	terve	pet
eː	tee	no English equivalent: Latin aenus [aˈeː.nʊs] (bronze)
i	viha	it
iː	viin	feed
o	oks	story
oː	soo	store
ø	köha	Somewhat like hurt
øː	vöö	Somewhat like herd
ɤ	õlu	Somewhat like fern
ɤː	õõnes	Somewhat like verge
u	surm	pull
uː	suu	pool
y	küla	somewhat like cute
yː	rüüpa	Somewhat like cube

^ ^a ^b [f] and [ʃ] occur only in loanwords; the latter is replaced by [s] by many speakers.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Palatalized consonants [tʲ nʲ sʲ lʲ] are pronounced like their non-palatalized counterparts, but the tongue is constricted towards the hard palate as if a simultaneous /j/ were being pronounced.
^ Allophone of /n/ before [k].
^ ^a ^b ^c Estonian has a three-way contrast between short, long, and overlong syllables. This contrast is present on both consonants and vowels. In some IPA transcriptions long sounds are marked with a single IPA length marker /ː/ and overlong with two /ːː/, while other transcriptions use half-long /ˑ/ and long /ː/ respectively. Overlong syllables also feature a falling pitch contour, while short and long syllables have a level pitch; however this is not marked.

[loanwords-1] [f] and [ʃ] occur only in loanwords; the latter is replaced by [s] by many speakers.

[palatalization-2] Palatalized consonants [tʲ nʲ sʲ lʲ] are pronounced like their non-palatalized counterparts, but the tongue is constricted towards the hard palate as if a simultaneous /j/ were being pronounced.

[ng-3] Allophone of /n/ before [k].

[length-4] Estonian has a three-way contrast between short, long, and overlong syllables. This contrast is present on both consonants and vowels. In some IPA transcriptions long sounds are marked with a single IPA length marker /ː/ and overlong with two /ːː/, while other transcriptions use half-long /ˑ/ and long /ː/ respectively. Overlong syllables also feature a falling pitch contour, while short and long syllables have a level pitch; however this is not marked.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]