Summary of Pronunciation of Church Romanization according to International Phonetic Alphabet
(Church romanization) /IPA/
- (p) /p/
- (ph) /p`/
- (b) Could be /beta/ or /b/. /beta/ is a fricative, while /b/ is a stop. /beta/ is like Spanish /v/.
- (m) /m/ -- actually, this is simply /beta/ + nasal.
- (t) /t/
- (th) /t`/
- (l) /d with a rounded top/ (almost like the top of "G"'s mirror image).
- (n) /n/ -- actually, this is simply /d with a round top/ + nasal.
- (k) /k/
- (kh) /k`/
- (g) /gamma/ or /g/
- (ng) /ng --actually n with g's tail/ = /gamma/ + nasal.
-
(ch)
- /ts/ (supposedly with a slur over the two letters to indicate the fact they denote a single consonant -- affricate in this case) if in front of anything but /i/
- /tc,/ (it's really the French c with a tail underneath it) if in front of /i/
- (chh) /ts`/ when not in front of /i/, /tc,`/ when in front of /i/
- (s) /s/ when not in front of [i], /c,/ when in front of [i]
- (j) /z/ when not in front of [i], /j/ when in front of /i/
vowels
- (a) /a/
- (e) /e -- actually it's a mirror image of 3 with a round top, with the height of e/
- (i) /i/
- (u) /u/
- (o.) /o/ -- Church roman's (o.) is written with a superscripted dot
- (o) /o-slash/ -- o with a 45-degree slash thru it.
- church roman is missing /i-bar/ and /schwa/.
diphthongs
- (ai) /ai/
- (au) /au/
- (ia) /ia/
- (iu) /iu/
- (io) /io/
triphthongs
- (iau) /iau/
ideosyncratic:
- (o.a)* /ua/ or /wa/ * the dot is often omitted
- (o.e)* /ue/ or /we/
- (o.ai)* /uai/ or /wai/
- (am) /am/
- (ap) /ap/
- (an) /an/
- (at) /at/
- (ang) /ang/
- (ak) /ak/
- (o.ng)* /ong/** *the dot is usually dropped **IPA ng is n+g's tail
- (o.k)* /ok/
- (im) /im/ (ip) /ip/ (in) /in/ (it) /it/ (io.ng)* /iong/**
- (un) /un/ (ut) /ut/
- (eng) /ieng/ +** + the /e/ is actually /schwa/
- (ek) /iek/ +
- (iam) /iam/ (iap) /iap/
- (ian) /ien/ or /en/
- (iat) /iet/ or /et/
- (iang) /iang/** (iak) /iak/
- (o.an)* /wan/ or /uan/ (o.at)* /wat/ or /uat/
syllabic consonants:
- (m) /m/
- (ng) /ng/**
tone marks
| (no mark and does not end in -h,-p,-t,-k) | tone 1 (high level) |
| (/ mark) | tone 2 (high-to-middle falling) |
| (` mark) | tone 3 (low) |
| (no mark but ends in -h,-p,-t,-k) | tone 4 (middle-falling) |
| (^ mark) | tone 5 (low-to-middle rising) |
| (no tone 6) | |
| (- overbar mark, can also write ~) | tone 7 (middle-level) |
| (| mark, ends in -h,-p,-t,-k) | tone 8 |