It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Punjabi in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing
consensus on the
talk page first.
^
abcdefPunjabi contrast dental [
t and [
d with apical postalveolar [
ʈ and [
ɖ (as well as aspirated variants). Both sets sound like /t/ and /d/ to most English speakers although the dental [t] and [d] are used in place of the English /θ/ and /ð/ for some speakers with
th-stopping.
^/ɾ/ can surface as a trill [r] in word-initial and syllable-final positions. Geminate /ɾː/ is always a trill (/rː/).
^[w] occurs as an allophone of [ʋ] when /वو/ is in an onglide position between an onset consonant and a following vowel while [ʋ], which may phonetically be [
v, occurs otherwise.
^Bhardwaj, Mangat (25 August 2016). Panjabi: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge. p. 390.
ISBN978-1-317-64326-5. Almost all Panjabi speakers (and many Urdu speakers as well) pronounce the first two of these words with k instead of q.
^
abcdefLong vowels are shortened in closed syllables.
^
ab/iː/ and /uː/ are neutralised to [i, u] at the end of a word.
^In
Gurmukhi, ih and uh are usually read as /éː/ (ē with rising tone) and /óː/ (ō with rising tone) respectively.
^In some dialects, word-initial /j/ is pronounced as /d͡ʒ/ (only in native words), equivalent to
Devanagariॺ.
^
abcdeIn some dialects, the voiceless aspirates /pʰ/, /t͡ʃʰ/ and /kʰ/ shift into fricatives /f/, /ɕ/ and /x/ respectively.
^
abOften considered an allophone of l and n in the
Shahmukhi alphabet, though pronounced.
^/ɭ/ is not distinguished from /l/ in
Lahnda dialects in both writing and pronunciation.
^
ab/ɾ/ can surface as a trill [r] in word-initial and syllable-final positions. Geminate /ɾː/ is always a trill [rː].
^In some dialects, /ʋ/ can shift to /b/ (only in native words). This is more common word-initially.
^
abcdefgNot considered a native sound (nor a native letter in
Gurmukhi, hence are represented with Gurmukhi characters paired with the
Nuqta - unlike
Shahmukhi, for which the original letters from
Persian (derived from the
Arabic script) are used) and present only in loanwords or words derived from loanwords. The phonology is, however, retained in urban speech.[4]
In rural dialects, /ɣ/ is sometimes substituted with /g/; /f/ with /pʰ/; /q/ with /k/; /ʃ/ with /s/; /x/ with /kʰ/; and /z, ʒ/ with /d͡ʒ/.
In some cases, words may shift to develop these non-native phonemes, e.g. phir > ਫ਼ੇਰ / فیرfer, supnā > ਸੁਫ਼ਨਾ / سُفناsufnā, rākśas > ਰਾਖ਼ਸ਼ / راخشrāk͟haś.
^/ʃ/ is considered a native sound in
Lahnda dialects, used in words like śī̃h which otherwise would become sī̃h.
^The sound /ʒ/ in Punjabi is very rare so most speakers do not pronounce it correctly (especially in
India as
Gurmukhi lacks a standard symbol to represent it) and opt to replace it with /d͡ʒ/, /z/ or even /s/.