Language/Khowar/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Khowar Alphabet, IPA Pronuncation, Video, Virtual Keyboard...

In today's lesson, you will learn how to write the different letters of the Khowar alphabet, how to pronounce these letters whether it is through the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), or through a video with the pronunciation of the letters by a native speaker.

You will also find at the end of this lesson a virtual keyboard to be able to type each special character of this language.

Don't hesitate to look into these other pages after completing this lesson: Say Hello and Greetings in Khowar.

Alphabet

A list of the letters of the Khowar alphabet and their pronunciation is given below.

Letter	Name of letter	Transcription	IPA
ا	alif	a	/a/
ﺁ	alif long	aa	/aa/
أ	alif hamza	a	/a/
ب	be	b	/b/
پ	pe	p	/p/
ت	te	t	/t̪/
ٹ	ṭe	ṭ	/ʈ/
ث	se	s	/s/
ج	jīm	j	/d͡ʒ/
چ	che	ch	/t͡ʃ/
ح	baṛī he	h	/h/
خ	khe	kh	/x/
څ	tse	ts	/t͡s/
ځ	dze	dze	/d͡z/
د	dāl	d	/d̪/
ڈ	ḍāl	ḍ	/ɖ/
ذ	zāl	dh	/z/
ر	re	r	/r/
ڑ	ṛe	ṛ	/ɽ/
ز	ze	z	/z/
ژ	zhe	zh	/ʒ/
ݬ	zhe	ẓh	/ʐ/
س	sīn	s	/s/
ش	shīn	sh	/ʃ/
ص	su'ād	ṣ	/s/
ض	zu'ād	z̤	/z/
ط	to'e	t	/t/
ظ	zo'e	ẓ	/z/
ع	‘ain	'	-
غ	ghain	gh	/ɣ/
ف	fe	f	/f/
ق	qāf	q	/q/
ك	kāf	k	/k/
گ	gāf	g	/ɡ/
ل	lām	l	/l/
ڵ	lām	l	/l/
م	mīm	m	/m/
ن	nūn	n	/n/
ں	nūn	n	//
و	vā'o	v, o, or ū	/ʋ/, /oː/, /ɔ/ or /uː/
ؤ	vā'o hamza	v, o, or ū	/ʋ/
ۇ	vā'o pesh	v, o, or ū	/ʋ/
ه	choṭī he	h	/h/
ة	choṭī he with te	h	/h/
ھ	do chashmī he	h	/ʰ/
ء	hamza	'	/ʔ/
ي	ye	y, i	/j/ or /iː/
ئ	ye hamza	y, i	/j/ or /iː/
ى	khowar ye	y, i	/j/ or /iː/
ے	bari ye	ai or e	/ɛː/, or /eː/
ۓ	ye hamza	y, i	/j/ or /iː/

Vowels

Vowels in Khowar are represented by letters that are also considered consonants. Many vowel sounds can be represented by one letter.

Here is a list of Khowar vowels:

Romanization	Pronunciation
a	/ə/
ā	/ɑː/
i	/ɪ/
ī	/iː/
u	/ʊ/
ū	/uː/
e	/eː/
ai	/ɛ/
o	/oː/
au	/ɔ/

Short vowels

Short vowels ("a", "i", "u") are represented by marks above and below a consonant.

Vowel	Name	Transcription	IPA
بَ	zabar	ba	/ə/
بِ	zer	bi	/ɪ/
بُ	pesh	bu	/ʊ/

Consonants

		Labial	Coronal	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Post- velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n
Stop	voiceless	p	t	ʈ		k	q
	voiced	b	d	ɖ		g
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ		kʰ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	ʈʂ	tɕ
	voiced		dz	ɖʐ	dʑ
	aspirated		tsʰ	ʈʂʰ	tɕʰ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʂ	ɕ	x		h
	voiced		z	ʐ	ʑ	ɣ
Approximant		ʋ	l(ʲ) ɫ		j	(w)
Rhotic			ɾ

Retroflex letters

Retroflex consonants were not present in the Persian alphabet, and therefore had to be created specifically for Khowar.

Letter	Name	IPA
ٹ	ṭe	[ʈ]
ڈ	ḍāl	[ɖ]
ڑ	aṛ	[ɽ]

Do chashmī he

The letter do chashmī he (ھ) is used in native Hindustānī words, for aspiration and breathy voice.

	Transcription	IPA
بھ	bhe	[bʱ ː]
پھ	phe	[pʰ ː]
تھ	the	[t̪ʰ ː]
ٹھ	ṭhe	[ʈʰ ː]
جھ	jhe	[d͡ʒʱeː]
چھ	che	[t͡ʃʰeː]
دھ	dhe	[dʱ ː]
ڈھ	ḍhe	[ɖʱ ː]
ڑھ	ṛhe	[ɽʱeː]
کھ	khe	[kʰeː]
گھ	ghe	[ɡʱeː]

Khowar Online Virtual Keyboard