From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Mauritian Creole pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

The writing systems used for the language vary, but generally there are no silent letters in written Mauritian Creole unless a word is written with the traditional standard French orthography.

Consonants
IPA Examples English approximation
b bizin bow
d dodo, dim [1] dim
dz dimal, diab [1] cards
jet jet
f fin feel
ɡ golfis goldfish
j yer [2] yesterday
k kamarad sky
l lalimier light
m mo my
n nu [2] no
ŋ laŋ wrong
ɲ gany [2] canyon
p Pyer spy
ʁ frer [3] between go and loch
s saken six
t tïm [1] steam
ts timid [1] cats
chabi chav
v va vat
w wi we
z azordi zero
Marginal consonants
h maharaja [4] hotel
Vowels
IPA Examples English approximation
a rani father
e resif hey
i si see
o so, dodo roughly like saw (British English)
u ruz rude
ə rugbi [5] rugby, aroma
Nasal vowels
ɑ̃ ansam, langaz No English equivalent; nasalized [a]
ɛ̃ byin No English equivalent; nasalized [e]
ɔ̃ lontan No English equivalent; nasalized [o]
Long vowels and diphthongs [3]
ɑː aswar spa
ɛː frer
iːə kouvertir idea
inportan
uːə bonzour

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d /t, d/ are palatalized or affricated to [tʲ, dʲ] or [tˢ, dᶻ] before /i, j/ in words of French origin, but in words of English origin they remain alveolar stops.
  2. ^ a b c There are alternations between /ɲ/, /nj/, and /j̃, j/ in many words.
  3. ^ a b At the end of a word or before a consonant, the sequence of a vowel followed by ⟨r⟩ is realized as a long vowel or diphthong.
  4. ^ /h/ appears only in words of English or Indic origin, but in all cases it may be optionally omitted.
  5. ^ [ ə occurs in words which traditionally had /i/ deriving from standard French [ə, œ] in their initial syllable (e.g. dëló "water" from de l' eau). In such words, [ə] is unstressed, but a stressed [ə] is also heard as the reflex of English /ʌ/ in a few words such as rugbi " rugby". All words in which [ə] occurs also have alternative pronunciations with another vowel so [ə] is not yet phonemic.

See also