Appendix:Yiddish pronunciation

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Yiddish pronunciations in Wiktionary entries.

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

Standard YIVO Yiddish[edit]

Consonants
IPA Examples English approximation
/b/ באַר (bar) ball
/d/ דאָס (dos) done
/d͡z/ האַלדז (haldz) adze
/d͡ʒ/ דזשוכע (dzhukhe) jungle
/f/ פֿאַר (far) fuss
/ɡ/ גוט (gut) guest
/h/ האָר (hor) hut
/j/ יאָר (yor) yard
/k/ קאַץ (kats) cold
/ɫ/ ליד (lid) ball
/m/ מויז (moyz) must
/n/ ניין (neyn) not
[ŋ][1] צונג (tsung) long
/p/ פּויק (poyk) puck
/ʁ/ רעדן (redn) like a French R
(a voiced uvular fricative)[2]
/s/ סידור (sider) soon
/ʃ/ שיר (shir) shall
/t/ טאָג (tog) tall
/t͡s/ צאָן (tson) cats
/t͡ʃ/ טשאָלנט (tsholnt) chair
/v/ וואָס (vos) vanish
/χ/ כאָטש (khotsh) loch (Scottish)
/ʎ/ מיליאָן (milyon) million
/z/ זאָגן (zogn) zoo
/ʒ/ זשאַבע (zhabe) beige, measure
Stress
/ˈ/ אייזל (eyzl)
(/ˈɛɪ̯zl̩/)		 as in easel /ˈiːzl̩/
Vowels
IPA Examples English approximation
Monophthongs
/a/ אַקסל (aksl) bra (but shorter)
/ɛ/ עסן (esn) bed
/ɪ/ איבער (iber) sit
/ɔ/ אָרעם (orem) boss
/ʊ/ אונדז (undz) took
Diphthongs
/aɪ̯/ דרײַ (dray) tie
/ɛɪ̯/ בייגל (beygl) hay
/ɔɪ̯/ בויך (boykh) boy
Reduced vowels
/ə/ געזאָגט (gezogt) comma
/l̩/ אייזל (eyzl) bottle
/n̩/ רעדן (redn) button

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ [ŋ] is not a separate phoneme but an allophone of /n/ when directly followed by /k/ or /ɡ/.
  2. ^ The rhotic /r/ is realized by most speakers as a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ]; some use an alveolar trill [r] or an alveolar flap [ɾ].

Dialectal differences[edit]

Vowels[edit]

Vowel phoneme correspondences across dialects
Standard Yiddish WY[1] CY[2] SEY[3] NEY[4] Germanic Examples Semitic Examples
Vowel Translit. IPA
אַ a a a a ɔ a וואַלד (vald) גנבֿ (ganef)
אָ o ɔ ɔ ɔ ɔ אָבער (ober) סוד (sod)
oː uː u דאָ (do) כּשר (kosher)
ו u ʊ ʊ ɪ ɨ ʊ גוט (gut) חופּה (khupe)
uː iː i בוך (bukh) פּורים (purem)
י i ɪ ɪ ɪ ɨ ɪ זילבער (zilber) גבור (giber)
iː iː i בריוו (briv) מדינה (medine)
ע e ɛ ɛ ɛ ɛ ɛ עסן (esn) אמת (emes)
eː ɛɪ̯ ɛɪ̯~i לעבן (lebn) בגד (beged)
וי oy ɔɪ̯ oː~oʊ̯~aʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɛɪ̯ גרויס (groys) עולם (oylem)
aː בוים (boym) —
oʊ̯ oː~oʊ̯ oʊ̯~ɔɪ̯~u ɔɪ̯ הויז (hoyz) גוי (goy)
יי ey ɛɪ̯ eː aɪ̯ ɛɪ̯ ɛɪ̯ פֿריילעך (freylekh) חן (kheyn)
aː פֿלייש (fleysh) —
ײַ ay aɪ̯ aɪ̯ aː a aɪ̯ שנײַדער (shnayder) חייל (khayel)
  1. ^ WY: Western Yiddish
  2. ^ CY: Central Yiddish (Poylish)
  3. ^ SEY: Southeastern Yiddish (Ukraynish)
  4. ^ NEY: Northeastern Yiddish (Litvish)

References[edit]

  • Jacobs, Neil G. (2005) Yiddish: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge University Press. →ISBN.
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