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Appendix:Yiddish pronunciation

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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

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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

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  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

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Vowels

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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)
u דאָ (do) כּשר (kosher)
ו u ʊ ʊ ɪ ɨ ʊ גוט (gut) חופּה (khupe)
i בוך (bukh) פּורים (purem)
י i ɪ ɪ ɪ ɨ ɪ זילבער (zilber) גבור (giber)
i בריוו (briv) מדינה (medine)
ע e ɛ ɛ ɛ ɛ ɛ עסן (esn) אמת (emes)
ɛɪ̯ ɛɪ̯~i לעבן (lebn) בגד (beged)
וי oy ɔɪ̯ oː~oʊ̯~aʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ eɪ̯ גרויס (groys) עולם (oylem)
בוים (boym)
oʊ̯ oː~oʊ̯ oʊ̯~ɔɪ̯~u ɔɪ̯ הויז (hoyz) גוי (goy)
יי ey ɛɪ̯ aɪ̯ ɛɪ̯ eɪ̯ פֿריילעך (freylekh) חן (kheyn)
פֿלייש (fleysh)
ײַ ay aɪ̯ aɪ̯ 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

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