मद्दत:IPA for Hindi and Urdu

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Hindi and Urdu pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.

See Hindustani phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Hindi-Urdu. See Devanagari and Urdu alphabet for help converting Hindi and Urdu spelling to pronunciation.

Key

Consonants
IPA^[१]	Hindi^[१]	ISO 15919 ^[१]	Urdu	Approximate English equivalent
k	क	ka	ک	sky
kʰ	ख	kha	کھ	ache (khh sound)
ɡ	ग	ga	گ	again
ɡʱ	घ	gha	گھ	aghast
ŋ	ङ	ṅa	ن	bank (mostly Hindi; Urdu uses [n] (ن)).
tʃ	च	ca	چ	catch
tʃʰ	छ	cha	چھ	choose
dʒ	ज	ja	ج	jazz
dʒʱ	झ	jha	جھ	hedgehog (strong jhh sound)
ɲ	ञ	ña	ن	roughly like canyon (mostly Hindi; Urdu uses [n] (ن)).
ʈ^[२]	ट	ṭa	ٹ	artist
ʈʰ^[२]	ठ	ṭha	ٹھ	Thai, tarp (deeper thh sound)
ɖ^[२]	ड	ḍa	ڈ	odd, depot
ɖʱ^[२]	ढ	ḍha	ڈھ	adhere
ɳ	ण	ṇa	ن	bunny (mostly Hindi; Urdu uses [n] (ن)).
t̪^[२]	त	ta	ت، ط	kite
t̪ʰ^[२]	थ	tha	تھ	thump (dental thh sound)
d̪^[२]	द	da	د	the
d̪ʱ^[२]	ध	dha	دھ	within (as a dhh sound, tongue touches palate, strong air exhalation)
n	न	na	ن	not
p	प	pa	پ	pencil
pʰ	फ	pha	پھ	pith (phh sound)
b	ब	ba	ب	butter
bʱ	भ	bha	بھ	abhor
m	म	ma	م	much
j	य	ya	ی	yak
r	र	ra	ر	rapture (r may be trilled)
l	ल	la	ل	leaf
ʋ^[३]	व	va	و	varies between w and v
ʃ	श	śa	ش	shoe (light s with h sound)
ʂ	ष	ṣa	ش/س	assure (strong s; no h sound) (mostly Hindi; Urdu uses either [ʃ] (ش) or [s] (س)).
s	स	sa	ث، س، ص	sue
ɦ	ह	ha	ح	head
q	क़	qa	ق	quail (k in the throat, tongue not touching palate) (mostly Urdu; sometimes substituted for [k] (क) in Hindi)
x	ख़	k͟ha	خ	Bach (kh in the throat, tongue not touching palate) (mostly Urdu; sometimes substituted for [kʰ] (ख) in Hindi)
ɣ	ग़	ġa	غ	similar to a French r (mostly Urdu; sometimes substituted for [ɡ] (ग) in Hindi).
z	ज़	za	ذ، ز، ض، ظ	zen, zero
ʒ	झ़	zha	ژ	pleasure, seizure
ɽ	ड़	ṛa	ڑ	gourd
ɽʱ	ढ़	ṛha	ڑھ	as [ɽ] plus h; somewhat as the US: warhead or Greek rho
f	फ़	fa	ف	phantom, food (f sound)

Vowels
IPA	Hindi	ISO 15919	Urdu	Approximate English equivalent
ə^[४]	अ, प	a	اَ، بَ	strut, but
aː	आ, पा	ā	آ, بَا	far, heart
ɪ^[५]	इ, पि	i	اِ، بِ	dill, still
iː^[५]	ई, पी	ī	اِی، بِی	feed
ʊ^[५]	उ, पु	u	اُ، بُ	book, took
uː^[५]	ऊ, पू	ū	اُو، بُو	moon
rɪ	ऋ, पृ	r̥	ری، پر	Syllabic ‹r›: repaired
eː	ए, पे	ē	اے، بے	Yale
ɛː	ऐ, पै	ai	اَے، بَے	rain,, feign
oː	ओ, पो	ō	او، بو	roar
ɔː	औ, पौ	au	اَو، بَو	awe
◌̃	ँ	m̐	ـں	nasal vowel faun ([ãː, õː], etc.)
ŋ, ɲ, ɳ, n, m, ◌̃	ं	ṁ	ـں	jungle
ɦ	ः	ḥ	ه	ahead

Suprasegmentals
IPA
ˈ◌	stress (placed before stressed syllable)
◌ː	doubled consonant (placed after doubled consonant)

Notes

↑ ^१.० ^१.१ ^१.२ In the letter series beginning with क, क= क् + अ; ka= k+ a.Thus 'क' has the inherent vowel 'अ', giving 'क' without added vowel sign using diacritics (The halant "्" is removed). But the IPA shown here has the consonant 'k' only & does not include the vowel 'a'.
↑ ^२.० ^२.१ ^२.२ ^२.३ ^२.४ ^२.५ ^२.६ ^२.७ To an English-speaker's ear, [ʈ ʈʰ t̪ t̪ʰ] all sound like /t/, and [ɖ ɖʱ d̪ d̪ʱ] all sound like /d/. However, to a Hindi-Urdu-speaker's ear, each is a very different sound. [t̪ d̪] are like the Spanish or French [t d], with the tongue touching the teeth. [t̪ʰ d̪ʱ] are how a Hindi-Urdu speaker hears English [θ ð] (the th and dh sounds). Hindi-Urdu [ʈ ɖ] are pronounced with the tongue further back, touching behind the teeth mid-palate. [ʈʰ ɖʱ] are how a Hindi-Urdu speaker hears English t d, and [ʈ] is how they hear the English t after an s (as in st).
↑ [v], [w] and intermediate [ʋ] are allophonic in Hindi-Urdu. Some words, such as vrat ('व्रत', 'ورت', religious fast), are pronounced with [v]; others, such as pakwan ('पकवान', 'پكوان', cooked food), are pronounced with [w].
↑ /ɛ/ occurs as a conditioned allophone of /ə/ near an /h/ surrounded on both sides by schwas. Usually, the second schwa undergoes syncopation, and the resultant is just an /ɛ/ preceding an /h/.
↑ ^५.० ^५.१ ^५.२ ^५.३ /iː, ɪ/ and /uː, ʊ/ are neutralised to [i, u] at the end of a word.

[inherentv-1] १.० ^१.१ ^१.२ In the letter series beginning with क, क= क् + अ; ka= k+ a.Thus 'क' has the inherent vowel 'अ', giving 'क' without added vowel sign using diacritics (The halant "्" is removed). But the IPA shown here has the consonant 'k' only & does not include the vowel 'a'.

[coronal-2] २.० ^२.१ ^२.२ ^२.३ ^२.४ ^२.५ ^२.६ ^२.७ To an English-speaker's ear, [ʈ ʈʰ t̪ t̪ʰ] all sound like /t/, and [ɖ ɖʱ d̪ d̪ʱ] all sound like /d/. However, to a Hindi-Urdu-speaker's ear, each is a very different sound. [t̪ d̪] are like the Spanish or French [t d], with the tongue touching the teeth. [t̪ʰ d̪ʱ] are how a Hindi-Urdu speaker hears English [θ ð] (the th and dh sounds). Hindi-Urdu [ʈ ɖ] are pronounced with the tongue further back, touching behind the teeth mid-palate. [ʈʰ ɖʱ] are how a Hindi-Urdu speaker hears English t d, and [ʈ] is how they hear the English t after an s (as in st).

[vwallophone-3] [v], [w] and intermediate [ʋ] are allophonic in Hindi-Urdu. Some words, such as vrat ('व्रत', 'ورت', religious fast), are pronounced with [v]; others, such as pakwan ('पकवान', 'پكوان', cooked food), are pronounced with [w].

[4] /ɛ/ occurs as a conditioned allophone of /ə/ near an /h/ surrounded on both sides by schwas. Usually, the second schwa undergoes syncopation, and the resultant is just an /ɛ/ preceding an /h/.

[V-5] ५.० ^५.१ ^५.२ ^५.३ /iː, ɪ/ and /uː, ʊ/ are neutralised to [i, u] at the end of a word.

[१]

[२]

[३]

[४]

[५]

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Key

See also

Notes