Help:IPA for Haitian Creole

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 between go and loch s s sis six t t tout tie v v vyann vent z z zero zero Non-native consonants dj dʒ djaz jazz Semivowels w w wi we y j pye yes ui ɥi uit roughly like sweet

Vowels Haitian orthography IPA Examples English approximation a 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 ã anpil No English equivalent; nasalized [ɒ] en ɛ̃ mwen No English equivalent; nasalized [ɛ] on ɔ̃ tonton No English equivalent; nasalized [o] oun 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.