Wikipedia key to pronunciation of Hmong
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Hmong language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. The dialect used in this chart is both White Hmong and Green Hmong . For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters .
Consonants
IPA
RPA
Pahawh
English approximation
Green
White
c
c
𖬯
Somewhat like j oke
cʰ
ch
𖬧
Somewhat lik e ch oke
d
d
𖬞𖬰
ad o
dʱ
dh
𖬞𖬵
wide h earted
tˡ
dl
𖬭𖬰
Somewhat like at l ast
tɬ̬
dlh
𖬭𖬵
Somewhat like at l ast, but with extra clicky sound
f
f
𖬜𖬵
f ive
ŋ
g
𖬠𖬵
sing
h
h
𖬟
h appy
l̥
hl
𖬥
cl ean
m̥
hm
𖬣𖬵
No English equivalent ; voiceless [m]
m̥l̥
hml
𖬠𖬰
No English equivalent
n̥
hn
𖬩
No English equivalent ; voiceless [n]
ɲ̥
hny
𖬣𖬰
No English equivalent ; voiceless [ɲ]
k
k
*
sc ope
kʰ
kh
𖬩𖬰
c ope
l
l
𖬞
l ife
m
m
𖬦
m ap
ml
ml
𖬠
haml et
n
n
𖬬
n o
ɲɟ
nc
𖬤𖬰
and y ou
ɲɟʱ
nch
𖬨
*
ⁿdˡ
ndl
𖬭
ⁿdɮ
ndlh
𖬭𖬴
No English equivalent
ŋɡ
nk
𖬢
fing er
ŋkʰ
nkh
𖬫𖬵
inc omplete
mb
np
𖬨𖬵
comb ine
mbʱ
nph
𖬡𖬰
No English equivalent, like abh or, but with prenasalization
mbl
npl
𖬫𖬰
embl em
mbɮ
nplh
𖬡𖬵
No English equivalent
ɴɢ
nq
𖬬𖬰
*
ɴɢʱ
nqh
𖬬𖬵
*
ɳɖ
nr
𖬜𖬰
No English equivalent ; somewhat like can dr ink
ɳʈʰ
nrh
𖬨𖬰
* similar to contr ol
nd
nt
𖬩𖬵
end anger
ndʱ
nth
𖬫
wound h im
ɳɖʐ
nts
𖬝
No English equivalent ; somewhat like hinge
ndz
ntx
𖬢𖬰
hands
ndzʱ
ntxh
𖬥𖬵
hands h olding
ɲ
ny
𖬮𖬵
cany on
p
p
𖬪𖬵
sp in
pʰ
ph
𖬝𖬵
p in
pl
pl
𖬟𖬵
Somewhat like appl e
pɬ
plh
𖬪
pl ay
q
q
𖬦𖬵
* similar to sk y
qʰ
qh
𖬣
* similar to c ar
ʈ
r
𖬡
*
ʈʰ
rh
𖬢𖬵
* similar to tr ough
ʂ
s
𖬤𖬵
Somewhat like sh oe
t
t
𖬧𖬵
st ool
tʰ
th
𖬟𖬰
t ool
ts
tx
𖬯𖬵
cats
tsʰ
txh
𖬦𖬰
No English equivalent
ʈʂ
ts
𖬝𖬰
Somewhat like J une
ʈʂʰ
tsh
𖬪𖬰
Somewhat like ch air
v
v
𖬜
v ery
s
x
𖬮
s ee
ç
xy
𖬧𖬰
h ue
ʝ
y
𖬤
Similar to y es
ʐ
z
𖬥𖬰
Somewhat like vis ion
ʔ
𖬮𖬰
uh-oh!
Vowels
IPA
RPA
Pahawh
English approximation
Monophthongs
a
a
𖬖, 𖬗
As in fa ther
e
e
𖬈, 𖬉
* similar to play
i
i
𖬂, 𖬃
see
ɨ
w
𖬘, 𖬙
rose s
ɔ
o
𖬒, 𖬓
law
u
u
𖬆, 𖬇
soo n
Nasalized
ẽ
ee
𖬀, 𖬁
Somewhat like sang
ã
aa
𖬚, 𖬛
Somewhat like ran
ɔ̃
oo
𖬌, 𖬍
Somewhat like song
Diphthongs
ai
ai
𖬊, 𖬋
hi
iə
ia
𖬔, 𖬕
British beer'
aɨ
aw
𖬎, 𖬏
Do not curl your tongue for the 'r' in per
au
au
𖬄, 𖬅
how
uə
ua
𖬐, 𖬑
British tour
Hmong Tone Indications
IPA
Tone
Orthographic Spelling (Example)
pɔ́
High
pob ('ball')
pɔ̰
Creaky
pom ('see')
pɔ̂
High falling
poj ('female')
pɔ̌
Mid rising
pov ('throw')
pɔ̄
Mid
po ('spleen')
pɔ̀
Low
pos ('thorn')
pɔ̤
Low falling breathy
pog ('grandmother')
^* No equivalent to English
^* ⟨k⟩ is only represented in RPA and not in Pahawh Hmong. For example, to write keeb in RPA, you have to follow the order Consonant + Vowel + Tone (CVT), so it is K + ee + b = Keeb, but in Pahawh Hmong , it is just Keeb "𖬀𖬶 " (2nd-Stage Version).
Bruhn, Daniel (2006-12-06). "The Phonetic Inventory of Mong Leng" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-03-31.
Bruhn, Daniel. "Toward a Reconstruction of Proto-Far-Western-Hmongic" (PDF) . Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-12.
"Common characteristics from multiple languages" (PDF) . Anchorage School District. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-03-31.
Everson, Michael (2012-01-20). "Final proposal to encode the Pahawh Hmong script in the UCS" (PDF) . Unicode Consortium.
Garellek, Marc; Keating, Patricia; Esposito, Christina M.; Kreiman, Jody (2013). "Voice quality and tone identification in White Hmong" . The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America . 133 (2): 1078–1089. Bibcode :2013ASAJ..133.1078G . doi :10.1121/1.4773259 . PMC 3574099 . PMID 23363123 .
"Hmong Notes" (PDF) . UCLA Phonetics Lab Data . 2014-09-17. Retrieved 2023-12-21 .
"Hmong Speech and Language Development" . Bilinguistics . Archived from the original on 2023-12-21.
Hsiu, Andrew (2015). The classification of Na Meo, a Hmong-Mien language of Vietnam . SEALS 25. Chaing Mai, Thailand. doi :10.5281/zenodo.1127804 .
Jaisser, Annie (Fall 1987). "Hmong Classifiers" (PDF) . Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area . 10 (2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-01-29.
Jaisser, Annie; Ratliff, Martha; Riddle, Elizabeth; Strecker, David; Vang, Lopao; Vang, Lyfu (1995). Hmong For Beginners Part I . Centers for South and Souteast Asia Studies, University of California at Berkeley. ISBN 0-944613-24-1 .
Ly, Chô (2020). "An Explanation of the Logic of Hmong RPA" (PDF) . Hmong Studies Journal . 21 : 1–15.
Tapp, Nicholas. "Qha Ke (Guiding the Way) From the Hmong Ntsu of China, 1943" . Hmong Studies Journal . 9 .
Thao, Kia (April 2012). Phonetics of the Hmong White Language . Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activity. University of Wisconisn, Eau Claire.
Comparisons Introductory guides