LISTS OF SYMBOLS AND PHONETIC LABELS

The conventions and symbols of the International Phonetic Asso-

ciation (IPA) and their acceptable substitutes are listed below
and they have been used throughout this book. The Arabic al-
phabet and its diacritics are also listed because they have been
employed where necessary. The following is a list of symbols
and conventions used:

Vowels Phonetic Description

 Close front with spread lips
 Close front to close-mid (somewhat central-
ized) with spread lips
 Close-mid front with unrounded lips
 Open-mid front with unrounded lips
 Open-mid central with unrounded lips
 Near-open front with unrounded lips
 Open front with unrounded lips
 Open back with unrounded lips
 Open-mid back with rounded lips
 Close-mid back with rounded lips
u Close back with rounded lips
 Near-close near-back with rounded lips
 Open-mid back with unrounded lips
 Mid central (neutral) vowel (schwa)
ɚ R-colored (rhotacized) mid central (schwar)
ɝ R-colored (rhotacized) open-mid central

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xxii PRONUNCIATION IS IN THE BRAIN

Consonants Phonetic Description

b Voiced bilabial plosive
p Voiceless unaspirated bilabial plosive
p h
Voiceless aspirated bilabial plosive
d Voiced alveolar plosive
t Voiceless unaspirated alveolar plosive
t h
Voiceless aspirated alveolar plosive
 Voiced palatal plosive
g Voiced velar plosive
k Voiceless unaspirated velar plosive
k h
Voiceless aspirated velar plosive
c Voiceless unaspirated palatal plosive
c h
Voiceless aspirated palatal plosive
q Voiceless (unaspirated) uvular plosive
 Glottal stop
ʤ Voiced postalveolar affricate
ʧ Voiceless postalveolar affricate
v Voiced labialdental fricative
f Voiceless labialdental fricative
 Voiced interdental fricative
 Voiceless interdental fricative
z Voiced alveolar fricative
s Voiceless alveolar fricative
 Voiced postalveolar fricative
 Voiceless postalveolar fricative
 Voiced uvular fricative
 Voiceless uvular fricative
 Voiced pharyngeal fricative
 Voiceless pharyngeal fricative
h Voiceless glottal fricative
 LIST OF SYMBOLS AND PHONETIC LABELS xxiii

 Voiced labialdental approximant

 Voiced labialpalatal approximant
 Voiced alveolar approximant
 Voiced retroflex approximant
l Voiced alveolar lateral approximant
j Voiced palatal approximant
w Voiced labialvelar approximant
m Voiced bilabial nasal (approximant)
n Voiced alveolar nasal (approximant)
 Voiced velar nasal (approximant)
 Voiced dental/alveolar tap
 Voiced retroflex tap
r Voiced dental/alveolar trill

Diphthongs in RP English
au as in <how, now>
ai as in <high, tie>
oi as in <boy, noise>
ou as in <go, know>
ei as in <bait, gate>
i as in <here, dear>
e as in <there, bear>
u as in <poor, tour>

Conventions
/ / Phonemic transcription
[] Phonetic transcription
 Vowel full length
 Vowel half-length
_ Superscript indicating aspiration
_ Superscript indicating strong stress
xxiv PRONUNCIATION IS IN THE BRAIN

– Subscript dot under /d t  s/ = [    ] indi-

cates /‫ض‬, ‫ ط‬, ‫ ظ‬, ‫ ص‬/ the emphatic sounds of Ar-
abic
C In syllable structure patterns, ‘C’ stands for a ‘Con-
sonant’
V stands for a ‘Vowel’

Arabic Symbols

Consonants IPA Phonetic Description

‫ء‬ [] glottal stop
‫ب‬ [] voiced bilabial plosive
‫ت‬ [h] voiceless aspirated alveolar plosive
‫ث‬ [] voiceless interdental fricative
‫ﭖ‬ [p] voiceless bilabial plosive (Farsi)
‫ج‬ [ʤ] voiced postalveolar affricate
‫ﭺ‬ [ʧ] voiceless postalveolar affricate (Farsi)
‫ح‬ [] voiceless pharyngeal fricative
‫خ‬ [] voiceless uvular fricative
‫د‬ [d] voiced alveolar plosive
‫ذ‬ [] voiced interdental fricative
‫ر‬ [] voiced alveolar trill
‫ز‬ [] voiced alveolar fricative
‫ﮊ‬ [] voiced postalveolar fricative (Farsi)
‫س‬ [] voiceless alveolar fricative
‫ش‬ [] voiceless postalveolar fricative
‫ص‬ [s voiceless emphatic alveolar fricative
‫ض‬ [d voiced emphatic alveolar plosive
‫ط‬ [t voiceless (unaspirated) emphatic alveolar
plosive
‫ظ‬ [ voiced emphatic interdental fricative
 LIST OF SYMBOLS AND PHONETIC LABELS xxv

‫ع‬ [ʕ] voiced pharyngeal fricative

‫غ‬ [] voiced uvular fricative
‫ف‬ [] voiceless labialdental fricative
‫ﭪ‬ [v] voiced labialdental fricative (Farsi)
‫ق‬ [] voiceless unaspirated uvular plosive
‫ك‬ [] voiceless velar plosive
‫ﮒ‬ [g] voiced velar plosive (Farsi)
‫ل‬ [] voiced alveolar lateral
‫م‬ [] bilabial nasal
‫ن‬ [] alveolar nasal
‫ه‬ [] voiceless glottal fricative
‫و‬ [] labialvelar approximant
‫ي‬ [] palatal approximant
‫ــّــ‬ Superscript on consonant indicating geminated
(double) consonant.

Vowels (Letters)
‫ا‬ [a] long counterpart of [a]
‫ي‬ [i] long counterpart of [i]
‫و‬ [u] long counterpart of [u]

Vowels (Diacritics)
‫ــَــ‬ Superscript over consonant indicating short [a]
vowel.
‫ــِــ‬ Subscript over consonant indicating short [i] vow-
el.
‫ــُــ‬ Superscript on consonant indicating short [u]
vowel.
‫ـــْـ‬ Superscript on consonant indicating absence of
vowel.