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

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

IPA Yale Jyutping Character English approximation
Nonsyllabic consonants
p syllable-initial b 幫 span
pʰ syllable-initial p 滂 pan
m m 明 moon
f f 非 fan
t syllable-initial d 端 stand
tʰ syllable-initial t 透 tan
n n 泥 noon
l l 來 leaf
ts[1] j z 精 cats
tsʰ[2] ch c 清 cats hissing
s s 心 saw
k syllable-initial g 見 scan
kʰ syllable-initial k 溪 can
kʷ gw[3] 古 squeak
kʷʰ kw[4] 困 quick
ŋ ng 我 singing
h h 曉 house
j y j 以 you
w w 云 water
p̚ syllable-final p 濕 apt
t̚ syllable-final t 失 Atkins
k̚ syllable-final k 識 doctor
Syllabic consonants
m̩ m 唔 rhythm
ŋ̩
ŋ̍ 		ng[5] 五 (syllabic ng)

All non-syllabic consonants except [p̚, t̚, k̚] may begin a
syllable, but some speakers don't have initial [n, ŋ].[6]
The six non-syllabic consonants [p̚, t̚, k̚, m, n, ŋ] may end a syllable.[7]

IPA Yale Jyutping Character English approximation
Vowels
aː aa,
syllable-final a		 aa 亞 father (Australian English)
aːi aai 界 time
aːu aau 交 how
ɐ non-syllable-final a a 甩 cut
ɐi ai 矮 Canadian price (see Canadian Raising)
ɐu au 歐 Canadian clout (see Canadian Raising)
ɛː e 些 yes
ei ei 悲 hey
ɛːu — eu 掉[8] roughly like yeah well
e i before k or ng 色 sick
œː eu before k or ng
or syllable-finally		 oe 靴 roughly like fur in British English; fleuve in French
ɵy eui eoi 去 No English equivalent; like Japanese koi but rounded even at the end
ɵ eu before n or t eo 出 roughly like again but rounded
ɔː o 我 law
ɔːy oi 哀 roughly like boy
ou ou 奧 hoe (American English)
o u before k or ng 福 look
iː i 意 see
iːu iu 橋 roughly like few
yː non-syllable-initial yu[9] yu 於 No English equivalent; menu in French
uː u 烏 food
uːy ui 回 roughly like phooey
IPA Yale Jyutping Tone number Character Description
Tones
síː sī si1[10] 1 詩 high level: siː˥
sîː sì 1b (7) 絲 high falling: siː˥˧
sǐː sí si2 2 史 mid rising: siː˧˥
sīː si si3 3 試 mid level: siː˧
si̭ː
sȉː 		sìh si4 4 時 low falling: siː˨˩
or very low: siː˩
si̬ː síh si5 5 市 low rising: siː˨˧
sìː sih si6 6 是 low level: siː˨
píːt̚ bīt bit1 7 (1) 必 high checked: piːt̚˥
sīːt̚ sit sit3 8 (3) 薛 mid checked: siːt̚˧
sìːt̚ siht sit6 9 (6) 蝕 low checked: siːt̚˨

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Often pronounced as /t͡ʃ/ (Hong Kong)
  2. ^ Often pronounced as /t͡ʃʰ/ (Hong Kong)
  3. ^ [kʷ] is often merged with [k] before [ɔː] in Hong Kong Cantonese.
  4. ^ [kʷʰ] is often merged with [kʰ] before [ɔː] in Hong Kong Cantonese.
  5. ^ Some speakers replace [ŋ̩] by [m̩].
  6. ^ Non-syllabic initial [ŋ] is not pronounced in Hong Kong Cantonese by younger speakers, who replace it with a glottal stop [ʔ] before a, e, o. Also, initial [n] may be replaced by [l].
  7. ^ Non-syllabic final [ŋ] may be replaced by [n] in Hong Kong Cantonese except after [e, o]. [i, u] in diphthongs are equivalent to a final /j, w/. After rounded vowels, an i becomes [y].
  8. ^ [ɛːu] is pronounced only in colloquial speech.
  9. ^ Syllable-initial yu is [jo] before k or ng, and [jyː] otherwise.
  10. ^ The high level and high falling tones have merged to high level in Hong Kong Cantonese for most words.

Bibliography[edit]

Comparisons
Introductory guides
Category