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Help:IPA/Yiddish

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This page describes how IPA is used to transcribe Yiddish words at Wikipedia. It follows the pronunciation of "Standard Yiddish" (or "YIVO Yiddish"), as described in such works as Uriel Weinreich's College Yiddish and Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Yiddish phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Yiddish.

Consonants
IPALetter(s)English examplesRomanization
bב‎ (beys) but b
dד‎ (daled) do d
דזש‎ (daledzayenshin) joy dzh
fפֿ ף‎ (fey, i.e. pey with rafe on nonfinal form) fool, leaff
ɡג‎ (giml) go g
hה‎ (hey) hen h
jי‎ (yud) yes y
kכּ‎ (kof with dagesh)[1]
ק‎ (kuf)
skin, thickk
lל‎ (lamed) belll
ʎלSimilar to million; Italian figliol
mמ ם‎ (mem) man, tamm
nנ ן‎ (nun) no, tinn
ŋ[2]נ‎ when followed by ג‎ or קfinger, drink n in the combinations ng, nk
pפּ‎ (pey with dagesh) spin, tipp
r[3]ר‎ (reysh) American atom or French rouger
sס‎ (samekh)
שׂ‎ (sin, i.e. shin with a sin dot)[1]
ת‎ (sof, i.e. tof with no dagesh)[1]
see, passs
ʃש‎ (shin) she, leashsh
tט‎ (tes)
תּ‎ (tof with dagesh)[1]
sting, bett
t͡sצ ץ‎ (tsadek) tsunami, sitsts
טש‎ (tes shin) chair, teachtsh
vבֿ‎ (veys, i.e. beys with rafe)[1]
וו‎ (tsvey vovn)
voice v
χח‎ (khes)[1]
כ ך‎ (khof, i.e. kof with no dagesh)
Like Scottish loch but with the tongue further back; French prochekh
zז‎ (zayen) zoo z
ʒזש‎ (zayen shin) pleasure zh
Vowels
Full vowels (monophthongs)
IPA Letter(s) English examples Romanization
aאַ‎ (pasekhalef) father a
ɛע‎ (ayin) bed e
ɪי‎ (yud) bid i
ɔאָ‎ (komets alef) boss o
ʊו‎ (vov) foot u
Diphthongs
ײַ‎ (pasekh tsvey yudn) fine, whyay
ɛɪיי‎ (tsvey yudn) day, pain ey
ɔɪוי‎ (vov yud) loin, boyoy
Reduced vowels
əעor nonesofae
לbottlel
נ ןbuttonn
Other symbols used in transcription of Yiddish
IPAExplanation
ˈPrimary stress (placed before the stressed syllable), e.g. אײזל[ˈɛɪzl̩] 'donkey'
ˌSecondary stress, e.g. מאַמע־לשון[ˈmaməˌlɔʃn̩] 'Yiddish as mother tongue'

Notes

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  1. ^ abcdefOnly in words of Semitic origin.
  2. ^Not a separate phoneme of Yiddish, but an allophone of /n/ before /ɡ,k/
  3. ^The rhotic/r/ is a phonetically variable consonant. It may be either alveolar or uvular, but it is more commonly a flap/tap [ɾ~ʀ̆] than a trill [r~ʀ] (Kleine (2003:263)).

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Kleine, Ane (2003), "Standard Yiddish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 261–265, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001385

See also

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