Wikipedia:IPA_for_Nahuatl

Help:IPA/Nahuatl

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

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Nahuatl on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Nahuatl in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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Distinction is made between Classical Nahuatl (nci; the one used in colonial times), Huasteca Nahuatl (nhe; the most spoken variant) and Orizaba Nahuatl (nlv; the third most spoken), which are the main Nahuan languages, so this pronunciation guide is based on the phonology of the three. Neither variant is preferred at Wikipedia, except in cases where a pronunciation is clearly more relevant, such as an individual in the Aztec Empire or a town in La Huasteca.

More information Consonants, IPA ...

Consonants^[1]
IPA			Examples	English approximation
nci	nhe	nlv	Examples	English approximation
ʔ^[2]	h^[3]		tlahtōlli, ahki, ehēkatl, ihīya	nci: uh-oh nhe & nlv: ahead
j			yāōtl, yōllōtl, āmēyalli	yellow
k^[4]	h^[5]	k^[6]	tikchīwah, niknōtsas	nci & nlv: scan nhe: ahead
k^[4]	k^[7]	k^[6]	kōlōtl, kalli, kēski, ātōyāk	scan
kʷ^[8]	k^[9]		tēkwtli, nekwtli	nci: squall nhe & nlv: scan
kʷ^[8]	kʷ^[10]		kwalli, mokwi, kwetlaxtli	squall
l^[11]			lichīnia, alaxox, pīwilia	clear l as in leave
ɬ^[12]			mātlālki, nokal, axkwallākatl	Welsh llwyd
m			mistli, kōmitl, kwamekatl	man
n^[13]			nāntsin, nemi, kanah	nose
n̥^[14]	—	ŋ^[15]	inōn, tlālpan, Āmatitlan	nci: Welsh fy nhad nlv: sing
ŋ^[16]			kenke, tlanki, Tōllāntsinko	sing
p^[17]			pitsotl, nopa, wīptla	span
s̻			sōlin, tlasalōlli, mōstla	sack
ʃ			xowitl, kaxitl, xāmitl, Xālīxko	shoe
t^[18]			tīsatl, tlākatki, moīxtēnno	stand
t͡ɬ^[19]			tlālli, tlitl, chīchīwalātl	stop + Welsh llwyd (pronouncing both simultaneously will produce a clicking sound)
t͡ʃ^[20]			chāntli, tōchin, chokolātl	choo
t͡s^[21]			tsahtsi, tsotso, wītsilin	cats
w^[22]		β^[23]	kichīwa, mēwa, kitlapōwia	nci & nhe: witch nlv: van
w^[22]		ɸ^[24]	ihwitl, yehwān, ilwitl, nokalwan	nci & nhe: witch nlv: leaf
ʍ^[25]	h^[26]		tōnatiw, kwāwtli, mochīwkeh	nci: which (as "hwich") nhe & nlv: ahead
Marginal phonemes^[27]
IPA			Examples	English approximation
b			botōntik, bokol	about
β			ēbofotōn, hoēbes	about, but without lips completely closed
d			desfilāroa, dīskoh	today
ð			presidēnteh	this
ɸ			fōlsahyōtl, fiolin, fiērohtik	leaf
ɡ			gayētah, teposgarrōteh	again
ɣ			kikastigāroa, kigānchohwia	again, but without the tongue touching the roof of the mouth
ɲ			kwamoñēkoh, piñātah	canyon
r			wirrīni, rerrechoka	trilled r
ɾ			rowēnteh, pohreāroh	atom (with flapping)

Vowels
IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	astatl, kalli	bra
aː	āmatl, siwātl	(long a)
ɛ^[28]	epatl, metl	length
ɛː	ēli, mētstli	mate
i^[29]	itskwīntli, xilin	city
iː	īpanpa, tomīn	see
o^[30]	nokka, tolōntik	go^[31]
oː	ōllama, mōlli	go

Stress
ˈ	Primary stress^[32] Placed immediately before the stressed syllable.
Diacritics
◌ˀ		wāki [ˈwaːkɪˀ]	Glottal stop^[33]
◌̥		xālloh [ˈʃaːlːoo̥]	Devoiced vowel^[34]
◌̃		Tōllān [ˈtoːlːãː]	Nasal vowel^[35]
Other representations
( )		tlahtoāni [t͡ɬahtu(w)aːnɪˀ]	Optional sound^[36]
Orthography^[37]
INALI		SEP	ACK	Jesuit
tlahtohkeh		tlajtojkej	tlahtohqueh	tlàtòquê
teohkalli, kēmman		teojkali, keman	teohcalli, quēmman	teòcalli, quēnman
nekwtsin, mākkwawitl		neuktsin, majkuauitl	neuctzin, māccuahuitl	neuctzin, mācquahuitl
astēkah, ahso, sintli		astekaj, ajso, sintli	aztēcah, ahzo, cintli	aztēcâ, àço, cintli
Wītsilōpōchtli, xiwpōwalli		Uitsilopochtli, xiujpouali	Huītzilōpōchtli, xiuhpōhualli

Notes

[1]
Consonants can be geminated, including [lː] (spelled as ll, but not pronounced as in Spanish) (Andrews 2003, p. 33).
[2]
⟨h⟩ is always pronounced [ʔ] in Classical Nahuatl in the middle of a word.
[3]
⟨h⟩ is pronounced [h] in Huasteca and Orizaba Nahuatl in the middle of a word, [x] at the beginning of a word, and [ç] when it comes before ⟨y⟩.
[4]
⟨k⟩ is always pronounced [k] in Classical Nahuatl.
[5]
⟨k⟩ is pronounced [h] in Huasteca Nahuatl only when it comes before another ⟨k⟩ or it represents a third person singular specific object prefix and is followed by a consonant. Second ⟨k⟩ may be pronounced as [h] too.
[6]
⟨k⟩ is pronounced [k] in Orizaba Nahuatl. There may be variation with [kʼ]~[kʰ].
[7]
⟨k⟩ is pronounced [k] in Huasteca Nahuatl when it comes before a vowel.
[8]
⟨kw⟩ is always pronounced [kʷ] in Classical Nahuatl.
[9]
⟨kw⟩ is pronounced [k] in Huasteca and Orizaba Nahuatl before another consonant. In Huasteca, when it comes before a ⟨k⟩, it is pronounced [h].
[10]
⟨kw⟩ is pronounced [kʷ] in Huasteca and Orizaba Nahuatl before a vowel. There may be variation with [kꟹ]~[gʷ]. In some towns of La Huasteca it is pronounced [ɓ].
[11]
⟨l⟩ is always pronounced [l] when it comes before a vowel, ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩. When there's a double L, it is geminated.
[12]
⟨l⟩ is always pronounced [ɬ] when it comes before a consonant (that is neither ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩) or is at the end of a word.
[13]
⟨n⟩ is always pronounced [n] when it comes before a vowel, and pronounced [m] when it comes before ⟨m⟩ or ⟨p⟩. In Huasteca Nahuatl, when it comes before ⟨y⟩, it is pronounced [j].
[14]
⟨n⟩ is always pronounced [n̥] in Classical Nahuatl at the end of a word. This is why ⟨n⟩ is considered the weakest consonant in Nahuatl.
[15]
⟨n⟩ is pronounced [ŋ] in Orizaba Nahuatl at the end of a word.
[16]
⟨n⟩ is always pronounced [ŋ] when it comes before a ⟨k⟩.
[17]
⟨p⟩ is pronounced [p]. In Orizaba Nahuatl there may be variation with [pʼ]~[pʰ].
[18]
⟨t⟩ is pronounced [t]. In Orizaba Nahuatl there may be variation with [tʼ]~[tʰ]. In Huasteca Nahuatl there are some cases where it is pronounced [h] only when it comes before another ⟨t⟩.
[19]
⟨tl⟩ is pronounced [t͡ɬ]. In some towns of La Huasteca it is pronounced [t].
[20]
⟨ch⟩ is pronounced [t͡ʃ]. It may become [ʃ] before another consonant (this depends on the variant, region and speaker).
[21]
⟨ts⟩ is pronounced [t͡s]. It may become [s] before another consonant (this depends on the variant, region and speaker).
[22]
⟨w⟩ is always pronounced [w] in Classical and Huasteca Nahuatl before a vowel. In some towns of La Huasteca it is pronounced as in Orizaba.
[23]
⟨w⟩ is pronounced [β] in Orizaba Nahuatl before a vowel but never after ⟨h⟩ or ⟨l⟩. There may be variation with [w]~[v].
[24]
⟨w⟩ is pronounced [ɸ] in Orizaba Nahuatl after ⟨h⟩ or ⟨l⟩. There may be variation with [w]~[f].
[25]
⟨w⟩ is always pronounced [ʍ] in Classical Nahuatl when it is before another consonant or at the end of a word.
[26]
⟨w⟩ is always pronounced [h] in Huasteca and Orizaba Nahuatl when it is before another consonant or at the end of a word.
[27]
These are phonemes that are not common or can only be found in loanwords.
[28]
⟨e⟩ is generally pronounced [ɛ], but before any semiconsonant it is pronounced [e].
[29]
⟨i⟩ is generally pronounced [i], but at the end of a word it is pronounced [ɪ]. This is why ⟨i⟩ is considered the weakest vowel in Nahuatl.
[30]
⟨o⟩ is generally pronounced [o], but in some regions it is pronounced [u]. This happens because native speakers of Nahuatl hear these two vowels as a single sound. In Huasteca Nahuatl, when it comes before a ⟨w⟩, it is generally pronounced [u].
[31]
The Nahuatl [o] is different from every English vowel, but the nearest equivalents are the vowel of coat (for most English dialects) and the vowel of saw.
[32]
Primary stress nearly always occurs on the penultimate (second to last) syllable. The only exceptions are vocative forms, in which case the final syllable is stressed, and words composed of two monosyllables. In Orizaba Nahuatl there are many words that stress the antepenultimate syllable, when the root of the nouns is two syllables or more and ends in a consonant.
[33]
All ending vowels are pronounced with a glottal stop. This is not to be confused with the midword glottal stop found in Classical, which is written with ⟨h⟩.
[34]
This only occurs with final ⟨h⟩ if it is the plural suffix of verbs in present tense, the plural suffix of nouns, the plural suffix of the preterite tense and of agentive nouns, the ending of the preterite nucleus of class 3 verbs (including agentive nouns), and the end of Spanish loanwords that end in a vowel.
[35]
Nasalization only occurs when a word ends with ⟨n⟩ in Huasteca Nahuatl.
[36]
This occurs mainly with words ending in -ia / -iya and -oa / -owa, where phonemes [j] and [w] may disappear (this depends on the variant, region and speaker).
[37]
Andrews 2003, p. 655-658

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[1] [1]
Consonants can be geminated, including [lː] (spelled as ll, but not pronounced as in Spanish) (Andrews 2003, p. 33).

[2] [2]
⟨h⟩ is always pronounced [ʔ] in Classical Nahuatl in the middle of a word.

[3] [3]
⟨h⟩ is pronounced [h] in Huasteca and Orizaba Nahuatl in the middle of a word, [x] at the beginning of a word, and [ç] when it comes before ⟨y⟩.

[4] [4]
⟨k⟩ is always pronounced [k] in Classical Nahuatl.

[5] [5]
⟨k⟩ is pronounced [h] in Huasteca Nahuatl only when it comes before another ⟨k⟩ or it represents a third person singular specific object prefix and is followed by a consonant. Second ⟨k⟩ may be pronounced as [h] too.

[6] [6]
⟨k⟩ is pronounced [k] in Orizaba Nahuatl. There may be variation with [kʼ]~[kʰ].

[7] [7]
⟨k⟩ is pronounced [k] in Huasteca Nahuatl when it comes before a vowel.

[8] [8]
⟨kw⟩ is always pronounced [kʷ] in Classical Nahuatl.

[9] [9]
⟨kw⟩ is pronounced [k] in Huasteca and Orizaba Nahuatl before another consonant. In Huasteca, when it comes before a ⟨k⟩, it is pronounced [h].

[10] [10]
⟨kw⟩ is pronounced [kʷ] in Huasteca and Orizaba Nahuatl before a vowel. There may be variation with [kꟹ]~[gʷ]. In some towns of La Huasteca it is pronounced [ɓ].

[11] [11]
⟨l⟩ is always pronounced [l] when it comes before a vowel, ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩. When there's a double L, it is geminated.

[12] [12]
⟨l⟩ is always pronounced [ɬ] when it comes before a consonant (that is neither ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩) or is at the end of a word.

[13] [13]
⟨n⟩ is always pronounced [n] when it comes before a vowel, and pronounced [m] when it comes before ⟨m⟩ or ⟨p⟩. In Huasteca Nahuatl, when it comes before ⟨y⟩, it is pronounced [j].

[14] [14]
⟨n⟩ is always pronounced [n̥] in Classical Nahuatl at the end of a word. This is why ⟨n⟩ is considered the weakest consonant in Nahuatl.

[15] [15]
⟨n⟩ is pronounced [ŋ] in Orizaba Nahuatl at the end of a word.

[16] [16]
⟨n⟩ is always pronounced [ŋ] when it comes before a ⟨k⟩.

[17] [17]
⟨p⟩ is pronounced [p]. In Orizaba Nahuatl there may be variation with [pʼ]~[pʰ].

[18] [18]
⟨t⟩ is pronounced [t]. In Orizaba Nahuatl there may be variation with [tʼ]~[tʰ]. In Huasteca Nahuatl there are some cases where it is pronounced [h] only when it comes before another ⟨t⟩.

[19] [19]
⟨tl⟩ is pronounced [t͡ɬ]. In some towns of La Huasteca it is pronounced [t].

[20] [20]
⟨ch⟩ is pronounced [t͡ʃ]. It may become [ʃ] before another consonant (this depends on the variant, region and speaker).

[21] [21]
⟨ts⟩ is pronounced [t͡s]. It may become [s] before another consonant (this depends on the variant, region and speaker).

[22] [22]
⟨w⟩ is always pronounced [w] in Classical and Huasteca Nahuatl before a vowel. In some towns of La Huasteca it is pronounced as in Orizaba.

[23] [23]
⟨w⟩ is pronounced [β] in Orizaba Nahuatl before a vowel but never after ⟨h⟩ or ⟨l⟩. There may be variation with [w]~[v].

[24] [24]
⟨w⟩ is pronounced [ɸ] in Orizaba Nahuatl after ⟨h⟩ or ⟨l⟩. There may be variation with [w]~[f].

[25] [25]
⟨w⟩ is always pronounced [ʍ] in Classical Nahuatl when it is before another consonant or at the end of a word.

[26] [26]
⟨w⟩ is always pronounced [h] in Huasteca and Orizaba Nahuatl when it is before another consonant or at the end of a word.

[27] [27]
These are phonemes that are not common or can only be found in loanwords.

[28] [28]
⟨e⟩ is generally pronounced [ɛ], but before any semiconsonant it is pronounced [e].

[29] [29]
⟨i⟩ is generally pronounced [i], but at the end of a word it is pronounced [ɪ]. This is why ⟨i⟩ is considered the weakest vowel in Nahuatl.

[30] [30]
⟨o⟩ is generally pronounced [o], but in some regions it is pronounced [u]. This happens because native speakers of Nahuatl hear these two vowels as a single sound. In Huasteca Nahuatl, when it comes before a ⟨w⟩, it is generally pronounced [u].

[31] [31]
The Nahuatl [o] is different from every English vowel, but the nearest equivalents are the vowel of coat (for most English dialects) and the vowel of saw.

[32] [32]
Primary stress nearly always occurs on the penultimate (second to last) syllable. The only exceptions are vocative forms, in which case the final syllable is stressed, and words composed of two monosyllables. In Orizaba Nahuatl there are many words that stress the antepenultimate syllable, when the root of the nouns is two syllables or more and ends in a consonant.

[33] [33]
All ending vowels are pronounced with a glottal stop. This is not to be confused with the midword glottal stop found in Classical, which is written with ⟨h⟩.

[34] [34]
This only occurs with final ⟨h⟩ if it is the plural suffix of verbs in present tense, the plural suffix of nouns, the plural suffix of the preterite tense and of agentive nouns, the ending of the preterite nucleus of class 3 verbs (including agentive nouns), and the end of Spanish loanwords that end in a vowel.

[35] [35]
Nasalization only occurs when a word ends with ⟨n⟩ in Huasteca Nahuatl.

[36] [36]
This occurs mainly with words ending in -ia / -iya and -oa / -owa, where phonemes [j] and [w] may disappear (this depends on the variant, region and speaker).

[37] [37]
Andrews 2003, p. 655-658

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Wikipedia:IPA_for_Nahuatl

Help:IPA/Nahuatl

Notes

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See also

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