Appendix:Portuguese pronunciation
This page is a guide for reading and adding Portuguese IPA pronunciations. Unless noted otherwise, the information here refers only to Standard European Portuguese and Standard Brazilian Portuguese.
Contents
PhonemesEdit
The transcriptions in the second column are non-canonical and should be replaced by those in the first one.
| canonical transcription |
other broad transcriptions |
orthographical representation |
narrow transcriptions |
notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | a, á, à | [a], [ä] | ||
| /ɐ/ | /ə/, /ɜ/, /ʌ/ | a, â | [ə], [ɜ], [ɐ] | |
| /ɐ̃/ | /ə̃/, /ɜ̃/ | ã, â, am, an, âm, ân | [ə̃], [ɜ̃], [ɐ̃] [ə̃ⁿ], [ɜ̃ⁿ], [ɐ̃ⁿ] [əə̯̃], [ɜə̯̃], [ɐə̯̃] [əə̯̃ⁿ], [ɜə̯̃ⁿ], [ɐə̯̃ⁿ] |
|
| /ɛ/ | e, é | [ɛ] | ||
| /e/ | e, ê | [e] | ||
| /ẽ/ | em, en, ên, êm, ém | [ẽ], [ẽⁿ], [eə̯̃], [eə̯̃ⁿ] | the /j̃/ that follows /ẽ/ in some cases needs to be transcribed separately | |
| /ɨ/ | /ɯ/, /ə/ | e, i | [ɯ̽] | European Portuguese |
| /i/ | /ɪ/ | i, e | [i], [ɪ] | |
| /ɔ/ | o, ó | [ɔ] | ||
| /o/ | o, ô | [o] | ||
| /õ/ | õ, om, on, ôm, ôn | [õ], [õⁿ], [oə̯̃] [oə̯̃ⁿ], [õʊ̯̃], [õw̃] |
||
| /u/ | /ʊ/ | o, u, ú | [u], [ʊ] | should not be used for /w/ |
| /ũ/ | um, un, úm, úm | [ũ], [ũⁿ], [uw̃] | ||
| /m/ | m | [m] | ||
| /n/ | n | [n̪] | ||
| /ɲ/ | /j̃/ | nh | [ɲ], [j̃], [ɲ̟] | |
| /p/ | p | [p] | ||
| /b/ | b | [b], [β] | [β] allophone appears only in European Portuguese | |
| /t/ | t | [t̪] | ||
| /d/ | d | [d̪], [ð] | [ð] allophone appears only in European Portuguese | |
| /k/ | c, qu, k | [k] | ||
| /ɡ/ | /g/ invalid IPA characters (g), replace g with ɡ | g, gu | [g] invalid IPA characters (g), replace g with ɡ, [ɣ] | [ɣ] allophone appears only in European Portuguese |
| /t͡ʃ/ | /tʃ/ | t, tch | [t͡ʃʷ], [t͡ɕʷ] | Brazilian Portuguese; usually considered an allophone of /t/ |
| /d͡ʒ/ | /dʒ/ | d, dj | [d͡ʒʷ], [d͡ʑʷ] | Brazilian Portuguese; usually considered an allophone of /d/ |
| /f/ | f | [f] | ||
| /v/ | v | [v] | ||
| /s/ | s, ss, ç, z, x | [s] | ||
| /z/ | s, z, x | [z] | ||
| /ʃ/ | x, ch, s | [ʃʷ], [ɕʷ] | ||
| /ʒ/ | j, g, s | [ʒʷ], [ʑʷ] | ||
| /ʁ/ | /r/, /h/, /x/, /χ/, /ř/ | r, rr | [ʁ], [ʀ], [r], [h] [ɹ], [ɻ], [ɾ], [χ] |
|
| /ɾ/ | /r/ | r | [ɾ] | |
| /l/ | l | [l], [ɫ] | ||
| /ʎ/ | lh | [ʎ], [ʎ̟] | ||
| /w/ | /u/, /ʊ/, /u̯/, /ʊ̯/, /ʷ/ | u, l, o, ü | [w], [u̯], [ʊ̯] | |
| /w̃/ | /w/, /u/, /ʊ/, /u̯/, /ʊ̯/ /ũ/, /ʊ̃/, /ũ̯/, /ʊ̯̃/ |
o | [w̃], [ũ̯], [ʊ̯̃] | usually considered an allophone of /w/ following a nasal vowel |
| /j/ | /i/, /i̯/, /ɪ̯/, /ɪ/, /ʲ/ | i | [j], [i̯], [ɪ̯] | |
| /j̃/ | /j/, /i/, /i̯/, /ɪ̯/, /ɪ/ /ĩ/, /ĩ̯/, /ɪ̯̃/, /ɪ̃/ |
e, i, ∅ | [j̃], [ĩ̯], [ɪ̯̃] | usually considered an allophone of /j/ following a nasal vowel |
IssuesEdit
Alternative pronunciationsEdit
| context | standard treatment | example |
|---|---|---|
| in European Portuguese, /ɐj/ alternates with /ej/ | each case is listed individually | queijo → /ˈkɐj.ʒu/, /ˈkej.ʒu/ |
| unstressed /i/, /u/ sometimes become /j/, /w/ when followed by another vowel, especially in relaxed, less formal pronunciation | each case is listed individually | águia → /ˈa.ɡi.ɐ/, /ˈa.ɡjɐ/ |
| in extra-careful Brazilian pronunciation, word-final vowel reduction is sometimes undone; usually /ɐ/ becomes /a/, more rarely /u/ becomes /o/ and /i/ becomes /e/ | not indicated | casa → /ˈka.zɐ/, not /ˈka.za/ |
| /lj/, /nj/ become /ʎ/, /ɲ/ in careless pronunciation | only indicated when it is relatively common | família → /fa.ˈmi.li.ɐ/, /fa.ˈmi.ljɐ/, /fa.ˈmi.ʎɐ/ |
| mid-word /o/ and /e/ sometimes become /u/ and /i/ in Brazilian Portuguese, often due to vowel harmony | each case is listed individually | dormir → /doʁ.ˈmi(ʁ)/, /duʁ.ˈmi(ʁ)/ |
| for some Brazilian speakers, a vowel becomes slightly nasalised preceding a nasal consonant | not indicated | dono → /ˈdo.nu/, not /ˈdõ.nu/ |
| semivowels between vowels are geminated | not indicated | caia → /ˈkaj.ɐ/, not /ˈkaj.jɐ/ |
| /k/ and /ɡ/ followed by /w/ may be pronounced as a rounded consonant | not indicated | quando → /ˈkwɐ̃.du/, not /ˈkʷɐ̃.du/ |
| /e/, /i/ invalid IPA characters (//) is sometimes dropped from words with the sequence esc- | each case is listed individually | escudo → /iʃ.ˈku.du/, not /ˈʃku.du/ |
Dropped and intrusive phonemesEdit
| context | standard treatment | example |
|---|---|---|
| in less formal Brazilian pronunciations, /j/ is dropped from /ej/ before certain consonants | parentheses | manteiga → /mɐ̃.ˈte(j).ɡɐ/ |
| in less formal pronunciations, /j/ is dropped before /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ | parentheses | caixa → /ˈka(j).ʃɐ/ |
| in European Portuguese, /j/ is added before /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ | parentheses | seja → /ˈsɐ(j).ʒɐ/ |
| in less formal Brazilian pronunciations, final /ʁ/ is dropped from certain verb forms | parentheses | fazer → /fa.ˈze(ʁ)/ |
| in less formal Brazilian pronunciations, /j/ is added before stressed, word-final /s/ that is not a desinence | parentheses | francês → /fɾɐ̃.ˈse(j)s/ |
| in careless pronunciation, /j/ after a palatal is dropped | not indicated | régio → /ˈʁɛ.ʒi.u/, /ˈʁɛ.ʒju/ |
| /w/ may or may not be maintained in the diphthong /ow/ | parentheses | sou → /ˈso(w)/ |
StressEdit
- Monosyllabic words should include a stress mark if they are stressed in sentences (si → /ˈsi/ but se → /si/).
- Secondary stress marks are optional, but recommended.
SandhiEdit
Sandhi should not be noted in pronunciations of individual words, as it is entirely predictable.
NotesEdit
- Due to the recentness of this page’s creation, not every entry conforms to its guidelines. Users are encouraged to correct nonstandard IPA transcriptions, tag them with
{{attention|pt|nonstandard pronunciation}}, or inform another user about them. - Some symbols are used in broad transcriptions even though they are usually considered allophones of another phoneme. The reasons for this are: they are traditionally used in broad transcriptions by other resources; preventing users from sounding foreign when not using that allophone sounds incorrect; in exceptional instances they are a distinct phoneme.