Wikipedia key to pronunciation of Maltese
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Maltese language 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 .
See Maltese phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Maltese.
Consonants
IPA Example
English approximation
b b allunb oy
d d ard uck
d͡z gazz etta pads
d͡ʒ ġ elatj ail
ʒ televix in visi on
f f wieħaf our
ɡ g allettinag ame
ħ ħ ademh at or Arabic ḥ arām حَرَامْ[ 1]
j j umy es
k k elbsc ar
l l ibsal ook
m m aram ole
n n adifn o
p p aġnasp at
r r er eal or American at om[ 2]
s s aqafs ow
ʃ x adinash ell
t t ieqast ake
t͡s z okksits
t͡ʃ ċ avettach ew
v v azunv et
w w ardaw all
z ż aqqz oo
ʔ Luq a Cockney tt on
Vowels
IPA Example
English approximation
ɐ fa tt RP u t
ɐː ra ni somewhat like RP fa ther
ɛ be lt me t
ɛː deh ra fai ry
iː i dbee t
ɪ wi sa' bi t
ɪː wie d bi t but longer
ɔː so d law n
ɔ mo ħħ o ff
uː mu r poo l
ʊ ku ntratt loo k
Diphthongs
ɐɪ̯ għi drigh t
ɐːɪ̯ għaj nri de
ɛɪ̯ bej nrai n
ɐʊ̯ għaw mScottish cow
ɐːʊ̯ Għaw dexScottish cow but longer
ɛʊ̯ jew somewhat like go (some dialects[ 3] ; Italian and Spanish Eu ropa
ɔʊ̯ għu mho le
ɔɪ̯ supereroj boy
^ Varies between [ħ~χ~h] depending on the speaker.
^ The realization of the phoneme /r/ varies; some speakers pronounce it as an approximant [ɻ ] virtually identical to that used for r eal in the western United States, while others pronounce it as a tap [ɾ ] , similar to the pronunciation of ⟨t⟩ and ⟨d⟩ between vowels in American and Australian English . When geminated, it may be pronounced as a lengthened approximant [ɻː] , a tap [ɾ] , or a trill [r ] .
^ These dialects include Southern England (including Received Pronunciation ), English Midlands , Australian , New Zealand , the Southern American , Midland American , Philadelphia , Baltimore , Western Pennsylvania and younger Californian English. Other dialects of English, such as most other forms of American , Northern England , Welsh , Scottish and Irish English, have no close equivalent vowel.
Hume, Elizabeth (1996). "Coronal consonant, front vowel parallels in Maltese". Natural Language & Linguistic Theory . 14 (1): 163–203.
Comparisons Introductory guides
