Home Original page

Help:IPA/Polish - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

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

Consonants[1]
IPA Polish Example English approximation
b b bardzoⓘ bike
ɕ ś, s(i)[2] Jaśⓘ she
d d dawnoⓘ door
d͡z[3] dz dzbanⓘ beds
d͡ʑ[3] dź, dz(i)[2] dziadekⓘ jeep[4]
d͡ʐ[3] dż Dżakartaⓘ jug[4]
f f fokaⓘ feist
ɡ g graćⓘ girl
ɡʲ g(i)[2] Giewontⓘ argue
ɣ ch, h klechdaⓘ Spanish amigo
j j, i[2] jakⓘ yes
j̃[5] ń Gdańskⓘ point
k k krowaⓘ scam
kʲ k(i)[2] kierowcaⓘ skew
l l lampaⓘ lion
m m[6] morzeⓘ mile
n n[6] nadⓘ Nile
ɲ ń, n(i)[6][2] nieⓘ canyon
ŋ[7] n[6] mangoⓘ doing
p p policjaⓘ spike
r r różowyⓘ American English atom
s s smakⓘ sign
ʂ sz szybkoⓘ shore[4]
t t takⓘ stow
t͡ɕ[3] ć, c(i)[2] cierpkiⓘ cheer[4]
t͡s[3] c całkiemⓘ cats
t͡ʂ[3] cz czyⓘ child[4]
v w wartośćⓘ vile
w ł ładnyⓘ way
x ch, h chlebⓘ Scottish loch
xʲ ch(i), h(i)[2] historiaⓘ huge
z z zebraⓘ raisin
ʑ ź, z(i)[2] ziarnoⓘ vision, azure[4]
ʐ ż, rz rzadkoⓘ
Vowels
IPA Polish Example English approximation
a a tamⓘ father
ɛ e kremⓘ bet
ɛ̃ ę[6] kęsⓘ French vin
i i[2] piwoⓘ eat
ɨ y myⓘ mill
ɔ o rokⓘ off
ɔ̃ ą[6] wążⓘ croissant
u u, ó dużyⓘ pool
Other symbols used for Polish
IPA Explanation
ˈ Primary stress (placed before the stressed syllable), usually the penultimate syllable of a word.
ˌ Secondary stress (placed before the stressed syllable).
. Syllable break.
  1. ^ All voiced obstruents /b, d, ɡ, v, z, ʐ, ʑ, d͡ʐ, d͡ʑ/ are devoiced to [p, t, k, f, s, ʂ, ɕ, t͡ʂ, t͡ɕ] respectively at the ends of words and in clusters ending in any unvoiced obstruents. Voiceless obstruents are voiced (/x/ becoming [ɣ], etc.) in clusters ending in any voiced obstruent except /v/ and /ʐ/ (when spelled with rz), which are then themselves devoiced.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j The letter ⟨i⟩, when it is followed by a vowel, represents a pronunciation like a ⟨j⟩ or a "soft" pronunciation of the preceding consonant (so pies is pronounced as if it were spelt *pjes). It has the same effect as an acute accent on alveolar consonants (⟨s⟩, ⟨z⟩, ⟨c⟩, ⟨dz⟩, ⟨n⟩) so się, cios and niania are pronounced as if they were spelt *śę, *ćos, *ńańa. A following ⟨i⟩ also softens consonants when it is itself pronounced as a vowel: zima, ci and dzisiaj are pronounced as if they were spelled *źima, *ći, *dźiśaj. The phonemes represented by ⟨(c)h⟩, ⟨g⟩ and ⟨k⟩ are most often analyzed as soft (i.e. palatalized) before ⟨i⟩ and ⟨ie⟩ and as hard (i.e. followed by a full [j]) before ⟨ia⟩, ⟨io⟩, ⟨iu⟩.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Polish contrasts affricates /t͡s, d͡z, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ/ with stop–fricative clusters: for example, czysta [ˈt͡ʂɨsta]ⓘ "clean" versus trzysta [ˈtʂɨsta]ⓘ "three hundred".
  4. ^ a b c d e f Polish makes a distinction between retroflex and alveolo-palatal consonants, both of which sound roughly like the English postalveolars /ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/. The retroflex sounds are pronounced "hard", with the tip of the tongue approaching the alveolar ridge and the blade of the tongue somewhat lowered, and the alveolo-palatal sounds are "soft", realized with the middle of the tongue raised, adding a bit of an ⟨ee⟩ sound to them.
  5. ^ Allophone of /ɲ/ before fricatives.
  6. ^ a b c d e f The letters ⟨ą⟩ and ⟨ę⟩ represent the nasal vowels /ɔ̃, ɛ̃/ except when they are followed by a stop or affricate, in which case they represent oral vowels /ɔ, ɛ/ followed by a nasal consonant homorganic with the following stop or affricate: kąt [ˈkɔnt], gęba [ˈɡɛmba], ręka [ˈrɛŋka], piszący [piˈʂɔnt͡sɨ], pieniądze [pjɛˈɲɔnd͡zɛ], pięć [ˈpjɛɲt͡ɕ], jęczy [ˈjɛnt͡ʂɨ] (as if spelled *kont, *gemba, *renka, *piszoncy, *pieńondze, *pieńć, *jenczy).
  7. ^ Allophone of /n/ before a velar /ɡ, k, x/ in some cases.