Help:IPA/Persian

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

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Persian 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 Persian, Dari, and Tajik 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 Persian phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Persian.

IPA			Consonants^[1]
Farsi	Dari	Tajik	Arabic letter	Cyrillic letter	Example word		English approximation
Farsi	Dari	Tajik	Arabic letter	Cyrillic letter	Arabic script	Cyrillic script	English approximation
b			ب	б	برادر	бародар	beet^[2] - boy
d			د	д	د‫وست‬	дӯст	den - Daniel
dʒ			ج	ҷ	جوان	ҷавон	jazz - joy
f			ف	ф	فشار	фишор	fast - festival
ɡ			گ	г	گروه	гуруҳ	gate^[3] - gooseberry
ɣ , q ɢ^[4]	ɣ		غ ^[5]	ғ	باغ	боғ	Either: Spanish fuego ([ɣ]), Similar to cost (but deeper in the throat) ([q]), Similar to got (but deeper in the throat) ([ɢ])
ɣ , q ɢ^[4]	q		ق	қ	قلم	қалам
h			ه ح	ҳ	هفت	ҳафт	hat
j			ی	й	یا	ё	yard
kʰ			ک	к	کشور	кишвар	cat^[6]
l			ل	л	لب	лаб	land
m			م	м	مادر	модар	man^[7]
n			ن	н	نان	нон	neck
pʰ			‫پ‬	п	‫پدر‬	пидор	pen^[6]
ɾ			ر	р	ایران	Эрон	Flapped or rolled R^[8]
ɹ			ر	р	ایران	Эрон	ring
s			س ص ث	с	سایه	сойа	sock
ʃ			‫ش‬	ш	‫شاه‬	шоҳ	shake
tʰ			ت ط	т	تا	то	tall^[6]
tʃʰ			چ	ч	چوب	чӯб	chip^[6]
v	w	v	و	в	ویژه	вижа	Farsi & Tajik: oven, Dari: wet^[9]^[10]
x			خ	х	خانه	хона	loch (Scottish)
z			ز ذ ض ظ	з	آزاد	озод	jazz^[11]
ʒ			ژ	ж	ژاله	жола	vision^[12]
ʔ			ع ء^[13]	ъ	معنا	маъно	As in water, better, Let's go! (Cockney); button (GA and RP; see T-glottalization)
Marginal consonants
ŋ			نگ	нг	رنگ	ранг	sing^[14]
Stress
ˈ ^[15]				э	ایران [ʔiːˈɾɒːn]	Эрон	about /əˈbaʊt/

IPA			Vowels
Farsi	Dari	Tajik	Arabic letter	Cyrillic letter	Example word		English approximation
Farsi	Dari	Tajik	Arabic letter	Cyrillic letter	Arabic script	Cyrillic script	Farsi	Dari	Tajik
Monophthongs
æ^[16]	æ, a		َ‎^[17] ه	а	نه	на	bat
e^[16]^[18]	ɪ	i	ِ‎^[17] ه^[19]	и	که	ки	between bait and bet^[20]	bit	beat
o^[16]	ʊ	u	^[21]ُ و‎^[17]	у	تو	ту	story	pull	cool
ɒː^[22]	ɑː	ɔ	آ َا	о	تا	то	off, but longer	father	off
iː	eː	e̞	ی	е	شیر	шер	beat	bait	bet
iː		i	ِی	и, ӣ	شیر	шир	beat
uː	oː	ɵ̞, o̞	و	ӯ	رو	рӯ	cool	story	bet, story
uː		u	ُو	у	رو	ру	cool
Diphthongs^[23]
ej	æj		َی	ай	کی	кай	bay	buy
ow^[24]	æw	æʋ	َو	ав	نو	нав	goal	loud

Notes

^ Persian consonants can be geminated (doubled), especially in words from Arabic. This is represented in IPA by doubling the consonant: [sejjed].
^ Also an allophone of /p/ before voiced consonants.
^ Also an allophone of /k/ before voiced consonants.
^ Also an allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.
^ غ and ق denoted the original Arabic phonemes in Classical Persian, the voiced velar fricative [ɣ] and the voiceless uvular stop [q] (pronounced in Persian as voiced uvular stop [ɢ]), respectively. In the modern Tehrani accent (both colloquial and standard dialects), the phonemes of غ and ق are allophones; when /ɣ/ (spelled either غ or ق) occurs at the beginning or the end of a word, after a consonant and at the end of a syllable, it is realized as a voiced uvular plosive [ɢ]. When /ɢ/ (also spelled either غ or ق) occurs intervocalically, it is realized as a voiced velar fricative [ɣ]. The allophone is probably influenced by Turkic languages like Azeri and Turkmen. The sounds remain distinct in Persian dialects of southern Iran and Eastern Persian dialects (Dari and Tajik).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d The unvoiced stops /p, t, tʃ, k/ are aspirated much like their English counterparts: they become aspirated when they begin a syllable, but aspiration is not contrastive.
^ Also an allophone of /n/ before bilabial consonants.
^ A trilled allophone [r] occurs word-initially (Spanish, Italian, or Russian r; it can be in free variation between a trill [r] and a flap [ɾ]); trill [r] as a separate phoneme occurs word-medially especially in loanwords of Arabic origin as a result of gemination (doubling) of [ɾ]. Only [ɾ] occurs before and after consonants; in word-final position it is usually a free variation between a flap or a trill when followed by a consonant or a pause, but flap is more common, only flap before vowel-initial words.
^ While و is pronounced [v] in Iranian Persian, it is pronounced as [w] in Dari.
^ [v] is also an allophone of [f] before voiced consonants.
^ Also an allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants.
^ Also an allophone of /ʃ/ before voiced consonants.
^ Moreover spoken before all initial vowel onsets (as in ایران [ʔiːˈɾɒːn] (Iran))
^ Velar nasal [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ before [g], [k], [ɣ], [ɢ], and [x] in native vocabulary.
^ Stress falls on the last stem syllable of most words. For the various exceptions and other clarifications, see Persian phonology § Word accent.
^ ^a ^b ^c The three short or unstable vowels are actually short only in open, non-final syllables. In other environments, their length is equal to the long vowels (Toosarvandani, Maziar Doustdar (9 November 2004). "Vowel Length in Modern Farsi" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 14 (03): 241–251. doi:10.1017/S1356186304004079.).
^ ^a ^b ^c In the modern Persian script, the "short" vowels /æ/, /e/, /o/ are usually not written, like in the Arabic alphabet; only the long vowels /ɒː/, /iː/, /uː/ are represented in the text. That, of course, creates certain ambiguities.
^ [e] is also a word-final allophone of /æ/ in contemporary Iranian Persian.
^ Only word finally, when it forms the silent he.
^ The Farsi /e/ is different from any English vowel, but the nearest equivalents are the vowel of bait (for most English dialects) and the vowel of bet; the Persian vowel is usually between the two.
^ Only when it forms the silent vav.
^ The level of roundedness may vary. Campbell (1995) writes simply /ɔː/, but Majidi & Ternes (1999) describe it as "underrounded" but write /ɒ/ anyway. The vowel may be written as /ɑ/ as well.[1]^{[dead link]}[2]^{[dead link]}
^ The number and even the existence of diphthongs in Persian are disputed (Alamolhoda, Seyyed Morleza (2000). "Phonostatistics and Phonotactics of the Syllable in Modern Persian". Studia Orientalia. 89: 14–15. ISSN 0039-3282.).
^ /ou/ becomes [o] in the colloquial Tehrani dialect but is preserved in other Western dialects and standard Eastern Persian.

References

Campbell, George L. (1995). "Persian". Concise Compendium of the World's Languages (1st ed.). London: Routledge. p. 385. ISBN 0415160499. OCLC 31044817.
Majidi, Mohammad-Reza; Ternes, Elmar (1999). "Persian (Farsi)". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. pp. 124–125. ISBN 978-0521652360. OCLC 896414767.

[1] Persian consonants can be geminated (doubled), especially in words from Arabic. This is represented in IPA by doubling the consonant: [sejjed].

[2] Also an allophone of /p/ before voiced consonants.

[3] Also an allophone of /k/ before voiced consonants.

[4] Also an allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.

[q-5] غ and ق denoted the original Arabic phonemes in Classical Persian, the voiced velar fricative [ɣ] and the voiceless uvular stop [q] (pronounced in Persian as voiced uvular stop [ɢ]), respectively. In the modern Tehrani accent (both colloquial and standard dialects), the phonemes of غ and ق are allophones; when /ɣ/ (spelled either غ or ق) occurs at the beginning or the end of a word, after a consonant and at the end of a syllable, it is realized as a voiced uvular plosive [ɢ]. When /ɢ/ (also spelled either غ or ق) occurs intervocalically, it is realized as a voiced velar fricative [ɣ]. The allophone is probably influenced by Turkic languages like Azeri and Turkmen. The sounds remain distinct in Persian dialects of southern Iran and Eastern Persian dialects (Dari and Tajik).

[pt-6] The unvoiced stops /p, t, tʃ, k/ are aspirated much like their English counterparts: they become aspirated when they begin a syllable, but aspiration is not contrastive.

[7] Also an allophone of /n/ before bilabial consonants.

[8] A trilled allophone [r] occurs word-initially (Spanish, Italian, or Russian r; it can be in free variation between a trill [r] and a flap [ɾ]); trill [r] as a separate phoneme occurs word-medially especially in loanwords of Arabic origin as a result of gemination (doubling) of [ɾ]. Only [ɾ] occurs before and after consonants; in word-final position it is usually a free variation between a flap or a trill when followed by a consonant or a pause, but flap is more common, only flap before vowel-initial words.

[9] While و is pronounced [v] in Iranian Persian, it is pronounced as [w] in Dari.

[10] [v] is also an allophone of [f] before voiced consonants.

[11] Also an allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants.

[12] Also an allophone of /ʃ/ before voiced consonants.

[13] Moreover spoken before all initial vowel onsets (as in ایران [ʔiːˈɾɒːn] (Iran))

[14] Velar nasal [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ before [g], [k], [ɣ], [ɢ], and [x] in native vocabulary.

[15] Stress falls on the last stem syllable of most words. For the various exceptions and other clarifications, see Persian phonology § Word accent.

[Toosarvandani-16] The three short or unstable vowels are actually short only in open, non-final syllables. In other environments, their length is equal to the long vowels (Toosarvandani, Maziar Doustdar (9 November 2004). "Vowel Length in Modern Farsi" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 14 (03): 241–251. doi:10.1017/S1356186304004079.).

[short-17] In the modern Persian script, the "short" vowels /æ/, /e/, /o/ are usually not written, like in the Arabic alphabet; only the long vowels /ɒː/, /iː/, /uː/ are represented in the text. That, of course, creates certain ambiguities.

[18] [e] is also a word-final allophone of /æ/ in contemporary Iranian Persian.

[:0-19] Only word finally, when it forms the silent he.

[20] The Farsi /e/ is different from any English vowel, but the nearest equivalents are the vowel of bait (for most English dialects) and the vowel of bet; the Persian vowel is usually between the two.

[:354-21] Only when it forms the silent vav.

[22] The level of roundedness may vary. Campbell (1995) writes simply /ɔː/, but Majidi & Ternes (1999) describe it as "underrounded" but write /ɒ/ anyway. The vowel may be written as /ɑ/ as well.[1]^{[dead link]}[2]^{[dead link]}

[23] The number and even the existence of diphthongs in Persian are disputed (Alamolhoda, Seyyed Morleza (2000). "Phonostatistics and Phonotactics of the Syllable in Modern Persian". Studia Orientalia. 89: 14–15. ISSN 0039-3282.).

[24] /ou/ becomes [o] in the colloquial Tehrani dialect but is preserved in other Western dialects and standard Eastern Persian.

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See also

Notes

References