Help:IPA/Basque

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Basque on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Basque 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.

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Basque language 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 Basque dialects for a more thorough discussion of regional variation.

Consonants
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	bat	best
β	alaba^[1]	between baby and bevy
c	kuttun	skew
d	doa	dead
ð	adar^[1]	this
f	foru	face
ɡ	gauak	got
ɣ	hego^[1]	between gold and ahold
h	hamar^[2]	hot
j	jakintsu^[3]	you
ɟ	onddo	argue
k	ke	scan
l	lagun	lean
ʎ	zailenak	million
m	maixu	mother
n	naharo	need
ɲ	ikurrina, ñaka^[4]	canyon
p	piztu	spouse
r	urre^[5]	Spanish rojo
ʁ	urre^[5]	French Paris
ɾ	zauri	American English atom
s̻	zeru^[6]	sip^[6]
s̺	uso	between sip and ship (retracted), European Spanish hostia^[6]
ʃ	xehe	ship^[6]
t	talde	stand
ts̻	aitzin	cats, pizza^[6]
ts̺	urretsu	between cats and catch (retracted), Serbo-Croatian biće^[6]
tʃ	tximist	catch^[6]

Vowels
IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	gela	father
e	eder	bed
i	nire	see
o	aho	bore
u	hiru	cool
y	hirü^[7]	roughly like cute

Diphthongs
IPA	Examples	English approximation
ai	bai	eye
oi	doinu	boy
ei	leiho	ray
au	hau	house
eu	euri	roughly like go in some dialects of English^[8]; Italian / Spanish Europa

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Examples	English approximation
.	gauak [ɡau.ak]	moai
ˈ	euskara [eusˈkaɾa]^[9]	recycle (primary stress)
ˌ	^{[example needed]}^[10]	motorcycle (secondary stress)

^ ^a ^b ^c Lenition of /b d g/ occurs in regular speech in most Southern Basque dialects. Hualde (1991:99-100).
^ Silent in Southern Basque dialects.
^ The realisation of the grapheme j varies depending on dialect and can be [j, ʝ, ɟ, dʒ, ʒ, ʃ, χ]. The last, resembling Scottish English loch, is typical of Gipuzkoan, and it has also become common in eastern varieties of Biscayan and the Sakana variety of the Upper Navarrese. However, the standard pronunciation ruled by Euskaltzaindia is [j], and is the one followed in this help.
^ Euskaltzaindia. "Ñ Letra". Retrieved 4 January 2024.
^ The double rr is pronounced as a trill [r] in Southern Basque dialects but is often a guttural [ʁ] in Northern Basque dialects, especially among younger speakers. Trask (1978:77) Egurtzegi & Carignan (2020:2794, 2800).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Basque contrasts two consonants that sound similar to the /s/ of Englishː /s̻/, which is laminal, and /s̺/, which is apical. /ts̻/ and /ts̺/ are contrasted the same way. The contrast between /s̻, ts̻/, /s̺, ts̺/ and /ʃ, tʃ/ is similar to the contrast between /s, ts/, /ʂ, tʂ/ and /ɕ, tɕ/ in Polish.
^ Only occurring in Souletin.
^ These dialects include Southern England (including Received Pronunciation), English Midlands, Australian, New Zealand, the Southern American, Midland American, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Western Pennsylvania and younger Californian English. Other dialects of English, such as most other forms of American English, Northern England English, Welsh English, Scottish English and Irish English, have no close equiavalent vowel.
^ Stress in Basque is complex and varies between regions, the Euskaltzaindia broadly recommends high-pitched weak stress on the second syllable of a syntagma.
^ Secondary stress is low-pitched and weaker than primary stress, with the recommendation being for it to be the last syllable broadly speaking.

[lenition-1] Lenition of /b d g/ occurs in regular speech in most Southern Basque dialects. Hualde (1991:99-100).

[2] Silent in Southern Basque dialects.

[3] The realisation of the grapheme j varies depending on dialect and can be [j, ʝ, ɟ, dʒ, ʒ, ʃ, χ]. The last, resembling Scottish English loch, is typical of Gipuzkoan, and it has also become common in eastern varieties of Biscayan and the Sakana variety of the Upper Navarrese. However, the standard pronunciation ruled by Euskaltzaindia is [j], and is the one followed in this help.

[4] Euskaltzaindia. "Ñ Letra". Retrieved 4 January 2024.

[5] The double rr is pronounced as a trill [r] in Southern Basque dialects but is often a guttural [ʁ] in Northern Basque dialects, especially among younger speakers. Trask (1978:77) Egurtzegi & Carignan (2020:2794, 2800).

[sibilants-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Basque contrasts two consonants that sound similar to the /s/ of Englishː /s̻/, which is laminal, and /s̺/, which is apical. /ts̻/ and /ts̺/ are contrasted the same way. The contrast between /s̻, ts̻/, /s̺, ts̺/ and /ʃ, tʃ/ is similar to the contrast between /s, ts/, /ʂ, tʂ/ and /ɕ, tɕ/ in Polish.

[7] Only occurring in Souletin.

[8] These dialects include Southern England (including Received Pronunciation), English Midlands, Australian, New Zealand, the Southern American, Midland American, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Western Pennsylvania and younger Californian English. Other dialects of English, such as most other forms of American English, Northern England English, Welsh English, Scottish English and Irish English, have no close equiavalent vowel.

[9] Stress in Basque is complex and varies between regions, the Euskaltzaindia broadly recommends high-pitched weak stress on the second syllable of a syntagma.

[10] Secondary stress is low-pitched and weaker than primary stress, with the recommendation being for it to be the last syllable broadly speaking.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]