Help:IPA/Mongolian

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

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Mongolian 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 Mongolian language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. The dialect used in this chart is Khalkha Mongolian. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Consonants
IPA	Cyrillic	English approximation
f	ф^[1]	five
g	г^[2]	got
ɢ	г^[2]	similar to got (but deeper in the throat)
ʲ	ь^[3]	Russian пять, English f[y]ew; occasionally unpronounced^[4]
kʰ	к^[1]	cot
ɮ	л	Not found in English; Welsh llwyd (but voiced)
ɬʰ	лх^[5]	Not found in English; Welsh llwyd (remaining voiceless)
m	м	mother
n	н	north
ŋ	н	link, sing
p	б	spend
pʰ	п^[6]	pen
r	р	Scottish roll; Spanish rosa
s	с	seven
ʃ	ш	shirt
ʃ	щ^[1]	shirt
t	д	stand
tʰ	т	tan
t͡s	з	cats
t͡sʰ	ц	let's have
t͡ʃ	ж	exchange
t͡ʃʰ	ч	change
w	в	win
x	х	Scottish loch; German Bach
	ъ^[6]	Unpronounced.^[7]

Vowels
IPA	Cyrillic	English approximation
Monophthongs
a	а	between fat and father (short)
aː	аа	between fat and father (long)
e	э	bet (short)
eː	ээ	fairy (long)
i	и^[8]	leaf (short)
iː	ий^[9], ы^[10]	leaf (long)
ɔ	о	off (short)
ɔː	оо	off (long)
ɵ	ө	Southern England put; somewhat like nurse in other dialects
oː	өө	story
u	ү	cool (short)
uː	үү	cool (long)
ʊ	у	pull (short)
ʊː	уу	pull (long)
iotated vowels
ja	я	between yam and yahoo
jɵ	е	yurt
jɔ	ё	yonder
ju	ю^[11]	yule
jʊ	ю^[11]	yuck, with a vowel like look
diphthongs
ai^[12]	ай	price
ei	эй^[13]	flame
ɔi	ой	choice
ui	үй	phooey
ʊi	уй	roughly like weary or Uyghur

^ ^a ^b ^c Used only in loanwords.
^ [g] and [ɢ] are contrastive in Ulaanbaatar Mongolian, but are allophones of the single phoneme /g/ in some other dialects.
^ Always follows another consonant, and usually modifies the sound with iotation (unless used before е, in which case it is unpronounced).
^ Occasionally used before е to indicate that its pronunciation should not be blended with the consonant before it (as its sound is iotated).
^ Uncommon, and only found in loanwords of Tibetan origin, but occurs in some high-frequency words such as лхагва ("Wednesday").
^ ^a ^b Uncommon, but more often found in loanwords.
^ Used before я and ё to indicate that its pronunciation should not be blended with the consonant before it (as its sound is iotated).
^ In addition to the vowel sound, и also palatalizes any consonant immediately before it.
^ Resembles a diphthong, but is phonetically and phonemically a long monophthong. ии is not used.
^ The only long vowel represented by a single letter. Although pronounced with the same vowel sound as ий, it does not palatalize the preceding consonant. Other than loanwords, it is only found in inflectional suffixes.
^ Generally, /ju/ in words containing э, ө, ү & е; /jʊ/ in words containing а, о у, я & ё. See vowel harmony.
^ The allophone [ɛː] is predominant.
^ Also used where өй would occur, as it is not used.

[loanwords-1] Used only in loanwords.

[2] [g] and [ɢ] are contrastive in Ulaanbaatar Mongolian, but are allophones of the single phoneme /g/ in some other dialects.

[3] Always follows another consonant, and usually modifies the sound with iotation (unless used before е, in which case it is unpronounced).

[4] Occasionally used before е to indicate that its pronunciation should not be blended with the consonant before it (as its sound is iotated).

[5] Uncommon, and only found in loanwords of Tibetan origin, but occurs in some high-frequency words such as лхагва ("Wednesday").

[loanwords_2-6] Uncommon, but more often found in loanwords.

[7] Used before я and ё to indicate that its pronunciation should not be blended with the consonant before it (as its sound is iotated).

[8] In addition to the vowel sound, и also palatalizes any consonant immediately before it.

[9] Resembles a diphthong, but is phonetically and phonemically a long monophthong. ии is not used.

[10] The only long vowel represented by a single letter. Although pronounced with the same vowel sound as ий, it does not palatalize the preceding consonant. Other than loanwords, it is only found in inflectional suffixes.

[11] Generally, /ju/ in words containing э, ө, ү & е; /jʊ/ in words containing а, о у, я & ё. See vowel harmony.

[12] The allophone [ɛː] is predominant.

[13] Also used where өй would occur, as it is not used.

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