Help:IPA/Navajo

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Navajo language 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 Navajo phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Navajo.

Consonants
IPA Orthography English approximation
ʔ the catch in uh-oh
p b spill[1]
tʃʰ ch child
tʃʼ ch' a glottalized version of ch
t d stay[2]
tɬ dl somewhat like atlas
ts dz cats
k g skate[3]
ɰ gh war, but unrounded
h h he[4]
hw blowing out a candle, or as in which (without the witch-which merger)
j teacher
k king
k' somewhat like bike, with glottalization
ʼ kw' liquid with glottalization
l l lake
ɬ ł no English equivalent; Welsh llwyd
m m man
n n nice
s s sad
ʃ sh shell
t "t" in tie
t' somewhat like right with glottalization
tɬʰ no English equivalent
tɬʼ tł' no English equivalent
tsʰ ts cats with aspiration
tsʼ ts' somewhat like cats with glottalization
w w was
j y yellow
z z was
ʒ zh garage, pleasure
Oral vowels
IPA Orthography English approximation
a˩ a somewhat like bra with low tone
a˥ á somewhat like bra with high tone
aː˩ aa long "a" in bra with low tone
aː˥ áá long "a" in bra with high tone
e˩ e met with low tone
e˥ é met with high tone
eː˩ ee long "e" in met with low tone
eː˥ éé long "e" in met with high tone
i˩ i[5] seet with low tone
i˥ í seet with high tone
iː˩ ii long "ee" in see with low tone
iː˥ íí long "ee" in see with high tone
o˩ o somewhat like story with low tone
o˥ ó somewhat like story with high tone
oː˩ oo long "o" with low tone
oː˥ óó long "o" with high tone
Nasal vowels
IPA Orthography English approximation
ã˩ ą nasal "a" for bra with low tone
ã˥ ą́ nasal "a" for bra with high tone
ãː˩ ąą long nasal "a" for bra with low tone
ãː˥ ą́ą́ long nasal "a" for bra with high tone
˩ ę nasal "e" for met with low tone
˥ ę́ nasal "e" for met with high tone
ː˩ ęę long nasal "e" for met with low tone
ː˥ ę́ę́ long nasal "e" for met with high tone
ĩ˩ į nasal "ee" for see with low tone
ĩ˥ į́ nasal "ee" for see with high tone
ĩː˩ įį long nasal "ee" for see with low tone
ĩː˥ į́į́ long nasal "ee" for see with high tone
õ˩ ǫ nasal "oa" for story with low tone
õ˥ ǫ́ nasal "oa" for story with high tone
õː˩ ǫǫ long nasal "oa" for story with low tone
õː˥ ǫ́ǫ́ long nasal "oa" for story with high tone
  1. ^ "Native Languages" website
  2. ^ "Native Languages" website
  3. ^ "Native Languages" website
  4. ^ "Native Languages" says it can be realized also as the raspy x, somewhat like the "h" in he.
  5. ^ "Native Languages" says it can be realized also as the "i" in sit (ɪ).