Language/Paraguayan-guarani/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

🤗 Paraguayan Guaraní Alphabet & Pronunciation

Alphabet & IPA Pronunciation (Summary)

Letter	A a	à ã	CH ch	E e	Ẽ ẽ	G g	G̃ g̃	H h	I i	Ĩ ĩ	J j	K k	L l	M m	MB mb	N n	ND nd	NG ng	NT nt	Ñ ñ	O o	Õ õ	P p	R r	RR rr	S s	T t	U u	Ũ ũ	V v	Y y	Ỹ ỹ	ʼ
Name	a	ã	ch	e	ẽ	g	g̃	h	i	ĩ	j	k	l	m	mb	n	nd	ng	nt	ñ	o	õ	p	r	rr	s	t	u	ũ	v	y	ỹ	puso
IPA	a	ã	ʃ	e	ẽ	g	ŋ	h	I	ĩ	j, dʒ	k	l	m	mb	n	nd	ng	nt	ñ	o	õ	p	ɾ	r	s	t	l	ũ	v	ɨ	ɨ̃	ʔ

Guarani Vowels

Character	Also Used	IPA	Pronunciation approximants
a		a	Like the a in father.
e		e	Like Spanish e, pronounced somewhat like the a in gate.
i		i	Like the i in police.
o		o ~	Like the o in note. In some dialects the Guaraní pronunciation sounds more like the au in caught.
u		u	Like the u in flute.
y	ï, i	i	This sound does not exist in English. It sounds like the i in police only pronounced further back in the mouth. If you've ever heard a Slavic language like Russian or Polish being spoken, it is the same "dark i" sound from those languages.

Guarani Nasal Vowels

Nasal vowels don't exist in English, but you may be familiar with them from French (or from hearing people speak English with a French accent.) They are pronounced just like oral ("regular") vowels, only using your nose as well as your mouth. To English speakers, a nasal vowel often sounds like a vowel with a half-pronounced "n" at the end of it. You can hear examples of nasal vowels at the end of the French words "bon" and "Jean," or in the middle of the word "Français."

Character	Also Used	IPA
ã	ą, añ	ã
ẽ	ę, eñ	ẽ
ĩ	į, iñ	ĩ
õ	, oñ	õ
ũ	ų, uñ	ũ
ỹ	ĩ, ïñ	ĩ

Guarani Diphthongs

Character	Also Used	IPA	English approximant
au	aw	aw	Like ow in English cow.
ai	ay	aj	Like English eye.

Guarani Consonants

Character	Also Used	IPA	Pronunciation (approximant)
ch	sh, x		Like sh in shy.
h	j	x	Raspy sound like the j in Spanish jalapeño.
j	ll	~ d	This is a plosive y sound that does not exist in English. It sounds like the y in yes only stronger, as if you were saying yyyy-es. If you have ever heard Hungarian spoken, it is the same sound as the Hungarian gy (as in Magyar.) Some Guarani speakers, especially younger speakers, prounounce this sound like the j in jar instead.
g		g	Like the g in go.
g̃	g	ŋ	Like the ng in wing. Most Guarani speakers don't use this character, instead spelling this sound the same as a plain g.
k	c, qu	k	Like the k in kite.
l		l	Like l in light.
m		m	Like m in moon.
mb		mb	A prenasalized b sound, something like the b in umbrella.
n		n	Like n in night.
nd		nd	A prenasalized d sound, something like the d in under.
ng		ng	A prenasalized g sound, something like the g in finger.
nt		nt	A prenasalized t sound, something like the t in enter.
ñ		ɲ	Like ny in canyon.
p		p	Like the p in pie.
r			Like a Spanish r, similar to the tt in English butter.
s		s	Like the s in see.
t		t	Like the t in tell.
v		υ ~ β	This is an approximant v sound that doesn't exist in English. If you've ever heard Scandinavian languages such as Norwegian, Danish or Finnish being spoken, it is the same v sound from those languages. It sounds like a cross between a v and a w to English speakers. Some younger Guarani speakers pronounce this sound like the bilabial Spanish v in navidad instead.
’			A pause sound, like the one in the middle of the word "uh-oh."

Phonology

		Labial	Alveolar	Alveolo- palatal	Velar		Glottal
					plain	lab.
Stop	Voiceless	p	t		k	kʷ ⟨ku⟩	ʔ ⟨'⟩
	Voiced	ᵐb~m ⟨mb~m⟩	ⁿd~n ⟨nd~n⟩	ᵈj~ɲ ⟨j~ñ⟩	ᵑɡ~ŋ ⟨ng⟩	ᵑɡʷ~ŋʷ ⟨ngu⟩
Fricative			s	ɕ ⟨ch⟩	x ~ h ⟨h⟩
Approximant		ʋ ⟨v⟩			ɰ ~ ɰ̃ ⟨g⟩ ~ ⟨g̃⟩	w ~ w̃ ⟨gu⟩ ~ ⟨g̃u⟩
Flap			ɾ ⟨r⟩

The voiced consonants have oral allophones (left) before oral vowels, and nasal allophones (right) before nasal vowels. The oral allophones of the voiced stops are prenasalized.

There is also a sequence /ⁿt/ (written ⟨nt⟩). A trill /r/ (written ⟨rr⟩), and the consonants /l/, /f/, and /j/ (written ⟨ll⟩) are not native to Guarani, but come from Spanish.

Oral [ᵈj] is often pronounced [dʒ], [ɟ], [ʒ], [j], depending on the dialect, but the nasal allophone is always [ɲ].

The dorsal fricative is in free variation between [x] and [h].

⟨g⟩, ⟨gu⟩ are approximants, not fricatives, but are sometimes transcribed [ɣ], [ɣʷ], as is conventional for Spanish. ⟨gu⟩ is also transcribed [ɰʷ], which is essentially identical to [w].

All syllables are open, viz. CV or V, ending in a vowel.

Stress

Guarani has a less pronounced emphasis on words than English. In English, unstressed vowels are often weakened in schwas, making the stress very strong. (An example of this is the word “rebel.” When “rebel” is a noun, the emphasis is on the first syllable and the word is pronounced REH-bəl. When “rebel” is a verb, the stress is put on the second syllable and the word is pronounced rə-BELL.) But in Guarani pronunciation, all vowels are fully pronounced regardless of stress. If you weaken an unstressed vowel you can change the meaning of the word, so be careful not to!

Although the stress is less pronounced than in English, it is still present. The emphasis usually falls on the last syllable of a Guarani word. In the spelling we use, an acute accent (like á) is used to mark an stressed syllable if it falls in a different position in a word.

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Sources

• http://www.native-languages.org/guarani_guide.htm
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarani_language