madat:IPA/Punjabi

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

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Punjabi 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 its value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

Shortcut: H:IPA-PA

This page contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

This page contains the Shahmukhi character lam with tah above. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Punjabi pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-pa}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Punjabi phonology, Gurmukhi, and Shahmukhi for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Punjabi.

Consonants
IPA	Examples			English Approximation
IPA	Gurmukhi	Shahmukhi	ISO 15919	English Approximation
b	ਬਿਸਤਰਾ	ابستر	bistarā	butter
d	ਦਿੱਤਾ	دتا	dittā	duck^[1]
dʒ	ਜਦੋਂ	جدوں	jadōṁ	jug
ɖ	ਡੰਗਰ	ڈنگر	ḍangar	guard^[1] (Rhotic dialects)
ɡ	ਗੱਡੀ	گڈی	gaḍḍī	gut
ɦ	ਹਾਏ	ہائے	hāe	ahead
j	ਯਾਰੀ	یاری	yārī	yuck
k	ਕਿੱਖੇ ਘਰ	کتھے گھر	kitthe ghar	scab
kʰ	ਔਖਾ	اوکھا	aukhā	cab
l	ਲਾਂਬਾ	لانبا	lāṉbā	leaf
ɭ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	ਰੌਲ਼ਾ	روࣇا	rauḷā	garlic (Rhotic dialects)
m	ਮਸੀਤ	مسیت	masīt	much
n	ਨੂਹ	نوہ	nūh	not
ɳ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	ਸੋਹਣਾ	سوہݨا	sohṇā	burn
ɲ	ਉਂਜ	انج	uñj	canyon
ŋ	ਕੰਗਣ	کنگݨ	kaṅgaṇ	bang
p	ਸੁਪਨਾ ਭਰਿਆ	سپنا بھریا	supnā bhariyā	spot
pʰ	ਫੁੱਲ	پھلّ‎	phull	pot
ɾ	ਵਾਰੀ	واری	wārī	American atom^[2]
ɽ	ਕੂੜ	کوڑ	kūṛ	garter (Rhotic dialects)
ɽʱ	ਉਲੇੜ੍ਹ	الیڑھ	uleṛh	guard her (Rhotic dialects)
s	ਸਾਡਾ	ساڈا	sāḍā	sun
t	ਤਿੱਲੜ	تلّڑ	tillaṛ	stub^[1]
tʰ	ਓਥੇ	اوتھے	othē	tub^[1]
tʃ	ਚੜ੍ਹਦਾ ਝੂਠ	چڑھدا جھوٹھ	caṛhdā jhūṭh	catch
tʃʰ	ਛੱਡ	چھڈّ‎	chaḍḍ	choose
ʈ	ਸੱਟ ਢੀਠ	سٹ ڈھیٹھ	saṭṭa ḍhīṭh	carts^[1]
ʈʰ	ਕਾਠ	کاٹھ	kāṭh	trip^[1]
ʋ	ਵਹੁਟੀ	وہوٹی	vahuṭī	vat^[3]

Marginal consonants
f^{[lower-alpha 2]}	ਫ਼ੇਰ	فیر	fer	fuss
ɣ^{[lower-alpha 3]}	ਕਾਗ਼ਜ਼	کاغذ	kāġaz	similar to a French r
q^{[lower-alpha 3]}	ਕ਼ਲਮ	قلم	qalam	somewhat like caught
r^{[lower-alpha 4]}	ਮੁਕ਼ੱਰਰ	مقرّر	muqarrar	trilled r, like in Castillian Spanish
ʃ	ਹੋਸ਼	ہوش	hoś	shoe
x^{[lower-alpha 2]}	ਖ਼ਾਲਿਸ	خالص	k͟hālis	Scottish Loch
z^{[lower-alpha 3]}	ਹਜ਼ਾਰ	ہزار	hazār	zoo

Vowels
IPA	Examples			English Approximation
IPA	Gurmukhi	Shahmukhi	ISO 15919	English Approximation
ə	ਕਮ	کم	kam	about
aː	ਨਾਲ਼	ناࣇ	nāḷ	father
e	ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ	واہِگرو	vāhiguru	say (shortened ē)
eː	ਜੇਬ	جیب	jēb	say
ɛ	ਰਹਿਣਾ	رَہݨا	rahiṇā	pen^[5]
ɛː	ਪੈਂਦਾ	پَیندا	painda	fairy
ɪ	ਇਮਲੀ	اِملی	imalī	sit^[6]
iː	ਈਖ	اِیکھ	īkh	seat^[6]
i	ਬੱਤੀ	بَتّی	battī	happy^[6]
oː	ਬੋਲੋ	بولو	bōlō	border (Received Pronunciation) go (General American)
ɔː	ਕੌਣ	کَوݨ	kaun	dog (Received Pronunciation) horse (General American)
ʊ	ਤੁਕ	تُک	tuk	book
uː	ਸੂਤ	سُوت	sūt	moon^[6]
◌̃	ਹੰਸ	ہن٘س	ham̐s	nasal vowel faun ([ãː, õː], etc.)
◌̃	ਮੈਂ	مَیں	maiṁ	nasal vowel faun ([ãː, õː], etc.)

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Example	Notes
ˈ◌	[pənˈdʒaːb]	stress (placed before stressed syllable)
◌ː	[ˈʊtːəɾ pɾəˈdeːʃ]	doubled consonant (placed after doubled consonant)
á, é, ...	ਕੋੜ੍ਹਾ کوڑھا kohṛā 'leper'	high, or high-falling tone
à, è, ...	ਘੋੜਾ گھوڑا ghoṛā 'horse'	low, or low-rising tone

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 Punjabi contrast dental [t] and [d] with apical postalveolar [ʈ] and [ɖ] (as well as aspirated variants). Both sets sound like /t/ and /d/ to most English speakers.
↑ /ɾ/ can surface as a trill [r] in word-initial and syllable-final positions. Geminate /ɾː/ is always a trill.
↑ [w] occurs as an allophone of [ʋ] when /व و/ is in an onglide position between an onset consonant and a following vowel while [ʋ], which may phonetically be [v], occurs otherwise.
↑ Bhardwaj, Mangat (25 August 2016) (in English). Panjabi: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. p. 390. ISBN 978-1-317-64326-5. "Almost all Panjabi speakers (and many Urdu speakers as well) pronounce the first two of these words with k instead of q."
↑ [ɛ] occurs as an allophone of /ə/ near an /ɦ/ that is surrounded on both sides by schwas. Usually, the second schwa becomes silent, which results in an [ɛ] preceding an /ɦ/.
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 ^6.2 ^6.3 /iː, ɪ/ and /uː, ʊ/ are neutralised to [i, u] at the end of a word.

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Considered an allophone of l and n in the Shahmukhi alphabet, though pronounced.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 f and x are not considered native sounds and are present only in loanwords. f they can be considered as tonal sounds of pʰ for Indian dialects, though in Pakistani dialects and in the Shahmukhi alphabet, it is not considered a tonal sound, and some words are natively derived such as فیر 'fer' (ਫ਼ੇਰ 'pher' ~ ਫਿਰ 'phir'). x may, however, be considered a tonal sound for kʰ in Pakistani dialects but not written as such.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Not considered a native sound (nor a native letter in Gurmukhi, hence are represented with Gurmukhi characters paired with the Nuqta - unlike Shahmukhi, for which the original letter from Persian (which is derived from the Arabic script) is used. The phonology is, however, retained in Pakistani dialects except for /q/ for which only the spelling is retained, but it is pronounced interchangeably with /k/.^[4] In Indian dialects, /ɣ/ is sometimes substituted with /[[Error using {{IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "g" not found in list|g]]/; /z/ with /d͡ʒ/, and /x/ with /kʰ/.
↑ /ɾ/ can surface as a trill [r] in word-initial and syllable-final positions. Geminate /ɾː/ is always a trill.

[coronal-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 Punjabi contrast dental [t] and [d] with apical postalveolar [ʈ] and [ɖ] (as well as aspirated variants). Both sets sound like /t/ and /d/ to most English speakers.

[rhotic-3] /ɾ/ can surface as a trill [r] in word-initial and syllable-final positions. Geminate /ɾː/ is always a trill.

[V-4] [w] occurs as an allophone of [ʋ] when /व و/ is in an onglide position between an onset consonant and a following vowel while [ʋ], which may phonetically be [v], occurs otherwise.

[Bhardwaj2016-6] Bhardwaj, Mangat (25 August 2016) (in English). Panjabi: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. p. 390. ISBN 978-1-317-64326-5. "Almost all Panjabi speakers (and many Urdu speakers as well) pronounce the first two of these words with k instead of q."

[9] [ɛ] occurs as an allophone of /ə/ near an /ɦ/ that is surrounded on both sides by schwas. Usually, the second schwa becomes silent, which results in an [ɛ] preceding an /ɦ/.

[Vowels-10] 6.0 ^6.1 ^6.2 ^6.3 /iː, ɪ/ and /uː, ʊ/ are neutralised to [i, u] at the end of a word.

[retroflex-2] 1.0 ^1.1 Considered an allophone of l and n in the Shahmukhi alphabet, though pronounced.

[borrowed-5] 2.0 ^2.1 f and x are not considered native sounds and are present only in loanwords. f they can be considered as tonal sounds of pʰ for Indian dialects, though in Pakistani dialects and in the Shahmukhi alphabet, it is not considered a tonal sound, and some words are natively derived such as فیر 'fer' (ਫ਼ੇਰ 'pher' ~ ਫਿਰ 'phir'). x may, however, be considered a tonal sound for kʰ in Pakistani dialects but not written as such.

[tone-7] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Not considered a native sound (nor a native letter in Gurmukhi, hence are represented with Gurmukhi characters paired with the Nuqta - unlike Shahmukhi, for which the original letter from Persian (which is derived from the Arabic script) is used. The phonology is, however, retained in Pakistani dialects except for /q/ for which only the spelling is retained, but it is pronounced interchangeably with /k/.^[4] In Indian dialects, /ɣ/ is sometimes substituted with /[[Error using {{IPAsym}}: IPA symbol "g" not found in list|g]]/; /z/ with /d͡ʒ/, and /x/ with /kʰ/.

[trill-8] /ɾ/ can surface as a trill [r] in word-initial and syllable-final positions. Geminate /ɾː/ is always a trill.

[1]

[lower-alpha 1]

[2]

[3]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[lower-alpha 4]

[5]

[6]

[4]

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