‫األلفبائية الصوتية الدولية‬

The International Phonetic Alphabet

Transliteration and IPA of Arabic Consonants and Vowels

Table 1 Transliteration and IPA of Arabic Consonants
The Arabic Alphabet Letter Name Transliteration IPA

(JSS)
‫ء‬ hamzah ᵓ ʔ

‫ب‬ bā b b

‫ت‬ tā t t

‫ث‬ ṯā ṯ θ

‫ج‬ ǧīm ǧ ɟ/ʤ

‫ح‬ ḥā ḥ ħ

‫خ‬ xā x χ

‫د‬ dāl d d

‫ذ‬ ḏāl ḏ ð

‫ر‬ rā r r

‫ز‬ zāy z z

‫س‬ sīn s s

‫ش‬ šīn š ʃ

‫ص‬ ṣād ṣ sˁ

‫ض‬ ḍād ḍ dˁ

‫ط‬ ṭā ṭ tˁ

‫ظ‬ ḏ̣ā ḏ̣ ðˁ

‫ع‬ ᶜayn ᶜ ʕ

‫غ‬ ġayn ġ ʁ

‫ف‬ Fā f f

‫ق‬ qāf q q

1
 ‫ك‬ kāf k k

‫ل‬ lām l l

‫م‬ mīm m m

‫ن‬ nūn n n

‫هـ‬ hā h h

‫و‬ wāw w w

‫ي‬ yā y j

Note, when final /h/ indicates what is known as tāᵓ marbūṭah, and is the head of a construct (i.e.

possessive) phrase, it changes into a /t/. Thus, waraqah (paper), but waragat al-kitāb (book’s

paper). Consonants can be geminated, i.e. doubled, giving words such as faᶜᶜal (to activate).

Table 2 Transliteration and IPA of Arabic vowels

Vowel Names Short Vowel in Long vowel in Short vowels in Long vowels in IPA

Transliteration Transliteration IPA

fatḥah a ā a/ɑ a:/ ɑ:

ḍammah u ū u u:

kasrah i ī i i:

3- Differences between Phonemic Transcription and Phonetic Transcription

1. Written English: represented by < > Eg < port >
2. Phonemic Transcription: represented by / / Eg /pɔːt/
3. Phonetic Transcription: represented by [ ] Eg [pʰɔˑt]
1. Written Arabic: represented by < > Ar < ‫ب‬
َ ‫ض َر‬
َ >
2. Phonemic Transcription: represented by / / Ar / dˁaraba /

3. Phonetic Transcription: represented by [ ] Ar [dˁaɾaba]