THE ‘PLAIN ROMAN’
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=========== | =ROUGH ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION GUIDE= | ||
alif | aa | aa | as in ‘fAther’ |
dagger alif | ;aa | ;aa | as in ‘fAther’ |
word-internal alif-madd | ))aa | ))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’ |
;Te | ;T | ;T | as in English, but with the tongue curved back to touch the front of the hard palate |
;se | ;s | ;s | as in ‘So’ |
jiim | j | j | as in ‘Jar’ |
che | ch | ch | as in ‘esCHew’ |
;he | ;h | ;h | as in ‘Hope’ |
;xe | ;x | ;x | as in the Scottish ‘loCH’ |
daal | d | d | as in English, but with the tip of the tongue touching the teeth as in ‘breadth’ |
;Daal | ;D | ;D | as in English, but with the tongue curved back to touch the front of the hard palate |
;zaal | ;z | ;z | as in ‘Zoo’ |
re | r | r | as in ‘dRama’ |
;Re | ;R | ;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’ |
siin | s | s | as in ‘So’ |
shiin | sh | sh | as in ‘SHove’ |
.svaad | .s | .s | as in ‘So’ |
.zvaad | .z | .z | as in ‘Zoo’ |
:to))e | :t | :t | as in English, but with the tip of the tongue touching the teeth as in ‘breadth’ |
:zo))e | :z | :z | as in ‘Zoo’ |
((ain | (( | (( | 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!’) |
;Gain | ;G | ;G | more or less as in the French ‘Rien’ (though from the back of the throat) |
fe | f | f | as in ‘Fast’ |
qaaf | 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 |
kaaf | k | k | as in ‘sKate’ |
gaaf | g | g | as in ‘Gate’ |
laam | l | l | as in ‘Love’ |
miim | m | m | as in ‘Mother’ |
nuun | n | n | as in ‘Not’ |
tanviin | a:n | a:n | as in ‘Not’ |
vaa))o | uu |
uu o au v |
as in ‘pOOl’ as in ‘rOte’ as in ‘cAUght’ as in ‘Vile’ |
he | h | h | as in ‘Hope’ |
chho;Tii ye | ii y |
ii y |
as in ‘bEEt’ as in ‘Yellow’ |
ba;Rii ye | e y |
e y |
as in ‘gAte’ as in ‘Yellow’ |
hamzah | )) | )) | as a glide between two vowels, or sometimes as in ‘bIt’ |
i.zaafat | -e | -e | as in ‘gAte’ |
nuun-e ;Gunnah | ;N | ;N | as a nasaliser following any vowel |
do-chashmii 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 — |