THE ‘PLAIN ROMAN’
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=========== | =ROUGH ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION GUIDE= | ||
alif | ā | aa | as in ‘fAther’ |
dagger alif | â | ;aa | as in ‘fAther’ |
word-internal alif-madd | ʾā | ))aa | as in ‘fAther’ |
be | b | b | as in ‘Bin’ |
pe | p | p | as in ‘sPin’ |
te | t | t | as in English, but with the tip of the tongue touching the teeth as in ‘breadth’ |
ṭe | ṭ | ;T | as in English, but with the tongue curved back to touch the front of the hard palate |
ṡe | ṡ | ;s | as in ‘So’ |
jīm | j | j | as in ‘Jar’ |
che | ch | ch | as in ‘esCHew’ |
ḥe | ḥ | ;h | as in ‘Hope’ |
ḳhe | ḳh | ;x | as in the Scottish ‘loCH’ |
dāl | d | d | as in English, but with the tip of the tongue touching the teeth as in ‘breadth’ |
ḍāl | ḍ | ;D | as in English, but with the tongue curved back to touch the front of the hard palate |
żāl | ż | ;z | as in ‘Zoo’ |
re | r | r | as in ‘dRama’ |
ṛe | ṛ | ;R | as in /;D/, but with the tip of the tongue flapping quickly on the roof of the mouth |
ze | z | z | as in ‘Zoo’ |
zhe | zh | zh | as in ‘leiSure’ |
sīn | s | s | as in ‘So’ |
shīn | sh | sh | as in ‘SHove’ |
ṣvād | ṣ | .s | as in ‘So’ |
ẓvād | ẓ | .z | as in ‘Zoo’ |
t̤oʾe | t̤ | :t | as in English, but with the tip of the tongue touching the teeth as in ‘breadth’ |
z̤oʾe | z̤ | :z | as in ‘Zoo’ |
ʿain | ʿ | (( | in practice, as a ‘wild card’ vowel: it can emulate any of the short vowels, according to the particular word involved. (In theory, it is like the glottal stop before the ‘o’ when you say ‘Uh oh!’) |
ġhain | ġh | ;G | more or less as in the French ‘Rien’ (though from the back of the throat) |
fe | f | f | as in ‘Fast’ |
qāf | q | q | as in ‘sKate’ but pronounced much farther back in the throat; this description really does not do it justice, but I don’t know how to improve on it |
kāf | k | k | as in ‘sKate’ |
gāf | g | g | as in ‘Gate’ |
lām | l | l | as in ‘Love’ |
mīm | m | m | as in ‘Mother’ |
nūn | n | n | as in ‘Not’ |
tanvīn | aṅ | a:n | as in ‘Not’ |
vāʾo | ū |
uu o au v |
as in ‘pOOl’ as in ‘rOte’ as in ‘cAUght’ as in ‘Vile’ |
he | h | h | as in ‘Hope’ |
chhoṭī ye | ī y |
ii y |
as in ‘bEEt’ as in ‘Yellow’ |
baṛī ye | e y |
e y |
as in ‘gAte’ as in ‘Yellow’ |
hamzah | ʾ | )) | as a glide between two vowels, or sometimes as in ‘bIt’ |
iẓāfat | -e | -e | as in ‘gAte’ |
nūn-e ġhunnah | ñ | ;N | as a nasaliser following any vowel |
do-chashmī he | h | h | as an aspirator for the preceding consonant |
zer | i | i | as in ‘bIt’ |
zabar | a | a | as in ‘bUt’ |
pesh | u | u | as in ‘lOOk’ |
— Ghalib index page — sitemap — FWP’s main page — |