Help:IPA/Basque

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

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Basque 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. Some keys are built on consensus more strongly than others; if the conventions of this key are already in wide use, any substantive change to it should be discussed on the talk page first as it would affect a large number of articles.

Shortcut: H:IPA-EU

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

Consonants
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	bat	best
β	alaba^[1]	between baby and bevy
c	kuttun	skew
d	doa	dead
ð	adar^[1]	this
f	foru	face
ɡ	gauak	got
ɣ	hego^[1]	between gold and ahold
h	hamar^[2]	hot
j	jakintsu^[3]	you
ɟ	onddo	argue
k	ke	scan
l	lagun	lean
ʎ	zailenak	million
m	maixu	mother
n	naharo	need
ɲ	ikurrina	canyon
p	piztu	spouse
r	urre^[4]	Spanish rojo
ʁ	urre^[4]	French Paris
ɾ	zauri	American English atom
s̺	uso	between sip and ship (retracted), Polish szyć^[5]
s̻	zeru^[5]	sip, Polish syty^[5]
ʃ	xehe	ship, Polish śnieg^[5]
t	talde	stand
ts̺	urretsu	between cats and catch (retracted), Polish czekać^[5]
ts̻	aitzin	cats, Polish cena^[5]
tʃ	tximist	catch, Polish ćma^[5]

Vowels
IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	gela	father
e	eder	bed
i	nire	see
o	aho	bore
u	hiru	food
y	hirü^[6]	roughly like cute

Diphthongs
IPA	Examples	English approximation
ai	bai	eye
oi	doinu	boy
ei	leiho	ray
au	hau	house
eu	euri	Italian / Spanish Europa

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Examples	English approximation
.	gauak [ɡau.ak]	moai

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Lenition of /b d g/ occurs in regular speech in most Southern Basque dialects. Hualde (1991:99-100).
↑ Silent in Southern Basque dialects.
↑ The realisation of the grapheme j varies depending on dialect and can be [j, ʝ, ɟ, dʒ, ʒ, ʃ, χ]. The last, resembling Scottish English loch, is typical of Gipuzkoan, and it has also become common in eastern varieties of Biscayan and the Sakana variety of the Upper Navarrese. However, the standard pronunciation ruled by Euskaltzaindia is [j], and is the one followed in this help.
↑ The double rr is pronounced as a trill [r] in Southern Basque dialects but as a guttural [ʁ] in Northern Basque dialects.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 ^5.5 ^5.6 Basque contrasts two consonants that sound similar to the /s/ of Englishː /s̺/, which is apical, and /s̻/, which is laminal. /ts̺/ and /ts̻/ are contrasted the same way. The contrast between /s̺, ts̺/, /s̻, ts̻/ and /ʃ, tʃ/ is similar to the contrast between /ʂ, tʂ/, /s, ts/ and /ɕ, tɕ/ in Polish.
↑ Only occurring in Souletin.

References

Trask, Larry (1997), The History of Basque, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-13116-2
Hualde, José Ignacio (1991), Basque Phonology, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-05655-1

[lenition-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Lenition of /b d g/ occurs in regular speech in most Southern Basque dialects. Hualde (1991:99-100).

[2] Silent in Southern Basque dialects.

[3] The realisation of the grapheme j varies depending on dialect and can be [j, ʝ, ɟ, dʒ, ʒ, ʃ, χ]. The last, resembling Scottish English loch, is typical of Gipuzkoan, and it has also become common in eastern varieties of Biscayan and the Sakana variety of the Upper Navarrese. However, the standard pronunciation ruled by Euskaltzaindia is [j], and is the one followed in this help.

[4] The double rr is pronounced as a trill [r] in Southern Basque dialects but as a guttural [ʁ] in Northern Basque dialects.

[sibilants-5] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 ^5.5 ^5.6 Basque contrasts two consonants that sound similar to the /s/ of Englishː /s̺/, which is apical, and /s̻/, which is laminal. /ts̺/ and /ts̻/ are contrasted the same way. The contrast between /s̺, ts̺/, /s̻, ts̻/ and /ʃ, tʃ/ is similar to the contrast between /ʂ, tʂ/, /s, ts/ and /ɕ, tɕ/ in Polish.

[6] Only occurring in Souletin.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]