Help:IPA/Macedonian
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 | This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Macedonian on Wikipedia. It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Macedonian 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. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. |
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Standard Macedonian 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.
See Macedonian phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Macedonian.
| IPA | Examples | English approximation |
|---|---|---|
| b | брат, крепдешин[1] | box |
| c | ќуп, глеѓта[1], туѓ[2] | cute or Turkish tekil |
| d | дом, петгодишен[1] | dust |
| d͡z | ѕвезда, Салцбург[1] | birds |
| d͡ʒ | џеб, ланчбокс[1] | jab |
| f[3] | фали, факел, вкупно, прв, бевме, мавне[4] | fact |
| ɡ | гулаб, снекбар[1] | goo |
| ɟ | ѓавол, Коќбјал[1] | argue or Turkish güney |
| j | јас | yes |
| k | куќа, другпат[1], југ[2] | skill |
| l[5] | лек, лимон, илјада, љубов | leap |
| ɫ[5] | лав, лост, лук, булка | all |
| m | море | mocha |
| ɱ[6] | трамвај, комфор, инвестиција, информација | mocha |
| n | нос | north |
| ɲ | њоки | canyon |
| ŋ[7] | ангел, банка, инхалација | sing |
| p | пет, себство[1], даб[2] | speak |
| r | рака | trilled r, like in Spanish |
| s | стол, слузта[1], мраз[2] | salt, mask |
| ʃ | шума, надежта[1], еж[2] | sugar |
| t | тајна, градски[1], запад[2] | style |
| t͡s | цар, Клоѕко[1], Груѓонѕ[2] | bats |
| t͡ʃ | човек, Бриџтаун[1], беџ[2] | cheese |
| v | вода, мавне[4] | view |
| ʋ[8] | свет | vine (Indian English) |
| x | храна | loch (Scottish English) |
| z | зима, јурисдикција[1] | zoo |
| ʒ | жолт, фишбајн[1] | pleasure |
| IPA | Examples | English approximation |
|---|---|---|
| a | брат, касмет[9] | father |
| ɛ | шест | edge |
| i | сив | police |
| ɔ | слон | off |
| u | убав | pool |
| r̩ | прст, ’рбет[10], про’рти[10] | US: verb (trilled) |
| IPA | Examples | English approximation |
|---|---|---|
| ɤ[9] | С’лп, В’чков | sofa |
| l̩[11] | Кремљ[12] | little, but softer |
| ɫ̩[11] | мјузикл, Попокатепетл, В’лтава[13] | little |
| n̩[11] | њутн[14], Њутн[15] | button |
| IPA | Description |
|---|---|
| ˈ | Stress on the following syllable |
Notes
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Voicing assimilation is mostly reflected in writing, except in foreign names and most loanwords, as well as a few native exceptions outlined in the Orthography of the Macedonian language.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Like in most Slavic languages, voiced obstruents devoice at the end of the word.
- ↑ [f] is spelled as ф only as a replacement of the Slavic sequence -hv- or in words of foreign origin. Otherwise, it is an allophone of [v] before unvoiced obstruents, at the ends of words, and in the aorist/imperfect ending -вме.
- 1 2 The word "мавне" is the only homograph in the Macedonian language which has the same stress in all meanings. It's pronounced [ˈmavnɛ] in the meaning 'to whack, smack' (from the imperfective мава) and [ˈmafnɛ] in the meaning 'to wave (with one's hand)' (from the imperfective мавта).
- 1 2 In the standard language, л represents "clear" [l] when preceding е, и and ј, and velarized [ɫ] ("dark l") before а, о and у, as well as the end of syllables. Љ denotes the "clear" [l] in other positions. However, due to the influence of Serbian and the Skopje dialect, љ and the sequence лј are very often pronounced as the palatal lateral approximant [ʎ].
- ↑ [ɱ] is a positional allophone of [m] and [n] in front of [v] and [f].
- ↑ [ŋ] is a positional allophone of [n] in front of [g], [k] and [x].
- ↑ [v] doesn't devoice after voiceless obstruents, instead turning to [ʋ].
- 1 2 In the West-Central dialects, which are the base of standard Macedonian, phonemic schwa isn't present, and it is always replaced by [a] in Turkish loanwords. However, various dialects do feature the sound, so an apostrophe is used to denote [ɤ] in personal and place names from those dialects, as well as in transcriptions of Bulgarian names with the letter ъ.
- 1 2 Syllabic [r] is denoted as "’р" at the beginning of words. In compounds of words beginning with syllabic [r], "’р" is also used, but only after vowels. This is because "прорти" would normally be pronounced ['prɔrti] instead of ['prɔr̩ti], while "изрти" can only be read as ['izr̩ti].
- 1 2 3 In the standard language, syllabic [l], [ɫ] and [n] can occur in newer loanwords and names, primarily at the end, but some speakers have a tendency to insert other vowels in front of them. Thus, [l̩] becomes [ɛl] ("Кремељ"), [ɫ̩] becomes [aɫ] ("мјузикал", "Попокатепетал") and [n̩] becomes [on] ("њутон", "Њутон").
- ↑ Only occurs in the transcription of Russian "Кремль" (the Kremlin).
- ↑ When found in the middle of Czech and Slovak names, it's transcribed as "’л".
- ↑ The only noun which is consistently pronounced with a syllabic [n] in the standard language is "њутн" (the unit of force Newton). Some speakers pronounce "кловн" (clown) as [ˈkɫɔvn̩] (instead of [ˈkɫɔvn]), which can further lead to the insertion of "о" ("кловон").
- ↑ Isaac Newton's name is traditionally rendered as "Исак Њутн", and not "Ајзак Њутон" as predicted by the English transcription rules. However, when that surname belongs to any other person, it is written and pronounced "Њутон".
Sources
[edit]- Friedman, Victor (2001a). "Macedonian". SEELRC. Duke University. Archived from the original on 2023-08-15.
- Lunt, Horace G. (1952). Grammar of the Macedonian Literary Language. Skopje. OCLC 5137976.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Правопис на македонскиот јазик (второ издание) (PDF). Скопје: Институт за македонски јазик „Крсте Мисирков“, Култура АД. 2017. ISBN 978-608-220-042-2. Retrieved 2026-08-05.