Phoneme guide: abjad group (Arabic script)¶
Every phoneme token of mbfa-abjad (90 tokens: 86 phonemes, 3 special tokens and the model's internal blank). The web interface shows the same text when you hover a phoneme.
How to read the tables:
- Sounds like is an approximation. The example words are the real thing: they are the most frequent words containing the token in the FLEURS test sentences (dev split) of 5 languages (Arabic, Kurdish (Sorani), Persian, Sindhi, Urdu), written in the G2P's own tokens, which is exactly what the aligner sees.
- Used most in gives the languages that use the token most, as a share of all the phonemes of that language.
- Also used for: IPA the G2P wrote that has no token of its own in this model, so it was mapped to this one.
- Rare tokens never appear in those sentences: they come from untrained languages (Uyghur, Syriac) or are very rare.
The script leaves most vowels out, so the G2P supplies them: listen for them rather than trusting the spelling. Emphatic consonants (tˤ sˤ) are tokens of their own. Sindhi and Urdu aspirated and breathy stops (kʰ, bʰ, dʰ …) are single tokens; the puff after the release belongs to the stop.
Where boundaries go¶
Suggested conventions. Agree on them before annotating, so that every annotator places boundaries the same way.
- Stops (p t k b d g …). A stop starts where the closure starts: energy drops to a near-silent gap, and the formants of the vowel before it end. It ends after its burst (and after its aspiration, for ʰ tokens), where the next sound begins.
- Vowels. Start at the first regular glottal pulse with clear formants; end where the formants fade or the next consonant's closure or noise begins.
- Fricatives (s ʃ f x …). The span of the noise: start and end where the high-frequency noise starts and stops.
- Nasals (m n ŋ …). A steady, low murmur with weak upper formants. The edges are usually sudden changes in energy.
- Glides, laterals, r (j w l ɹ …). Edges are smooth formant transitions: put the boundary at the middle of the transition.
- Diphthongs (a͡ɪ …). One token for both parts: from the start of the first vowel to the end of the second. Do not split it.
- Pauses. Leave a short pause between words as a gap, or insert SIL where the speaker clearly stops.
Diacritics¶
Marks added to a base symbol change it as follows.
| mark | name | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ◌̃ | nasalised | air also flows through the nose (French “an”, Portuguese “não”) |
| ◌̯ | non-syllabic | the weak, glide-like half of a diphthong; it is not a syllable on its own |
| ◌̩ | syllabic | forms a syllable with no vowel, as the n of “button” |
| ◌̥ | voiceless | said without vocal-fold vibration, as if whispered |
| ◌̪ | dental | the tongue tip touches the upper teeth |
| ◌̠ | retracted | made a little further back in the mouth |
| ◌̝ | raised | a little closer (tongue higher) than the plain symbol |
| ◌̞ | lowered | a little more open; a lowered fricative is a smooth approximant with no friction |
| ◌̺ | apical | made with the very tip of the tongue |
| ◌̻ | laminal | made with the blade of the tongue, just behind the tip |
| ◌̆ | extra-short | a very short version of the vowel |
| ◌́ | accent ´ (high) | the G2P's dictionary marks a pitch accent or stress here |
| ◌̀ | accent ` (low) | the G2P's dictionary marks a pitch accent or stress here |
| ◌̂ | accent ˆ (falling) | the G2P's dictionary marks a falling pitch accent |
| ◌̌ | accent ˇ (rising) | the G2P's dictionary marks a rising pitch accent |
| ʲ | palatalised | said with the tongue body raised toward the palate: a y-like colour (“soft” consonants) |
| ʰ | aspirated | followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) |
| ʷ | labialised | said with rounded lips |
| ʼ | ejective | a pop made by the throat, with no breath from the lungs |
| ʱ | breathy-voiced | voiced, then released with a breathy, murmured puff (Hindi “bh”, “gh”) |
| ˤ | pharyngealised (emphatic) | said with the tongue root pulled back: a darker, “heavy” sound (Arabic ط, ص) |
| ◌̚ | unreleased | a final stop with no audible burst: the closure is held and the sound ends silently |
| ◌̈ | centralised | said closer to the centre of the mouth than the plain vowel |
Special tokens¶
| token | meaning |
|---|---|
SIL |
silence. A pause: no speech. Use it for a pause the speaker makes inside a segment. |
noise |
noise. A non-speech sound: a breath, cough, laugh or click. |
<unk> |
unknown. The G2P wrote a sound this model has no token for. Keep its time span; the label cannot say what it is. |
Vowels¶
| token | name | sounds like | examples | used most in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | open front unrounded vowel | a as in Spanish “casa” | Arabic على /ʕ a l a/; Urdu کا /k a/; Sindhi آهي /a h i/ | Arabic 28%, Urdu 13%, Sindhi 11%, Kurdish (Sorani) 10% |
| i | close front unrounded vowel | ee as in “see” | Arabic في /f i/; Persian می /m i/; Sindhi آهي /a h i/ | Arabic 8.9%, Persian 6.6%, Sindhi 6%, Urdu 5.2% |
| e | close-mid front unrounded vowel | e as in Spanish or Italian “de”; the start of English “say” | Kurdish (Sorani) لە /l e/; Persian به /b e/; Urdu کے /k e/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 15%, Persian 7%, Urdu 6.8%, Sindhi 4% |
| o | close-mid back rounded vowel | o as in Spanish or Italian “no” | Sindhi جو /ɟ o/; Persian و /o/; Urdu اور /o r/ | Sindhi 4.5%, Persian 3.9%, Urdu 3.4%, Kurdish (Sorani) 2.3% |
| u | close back rounded vowel | oo as in “food” | Arabic أو /ʔ u/; Persian شود /ʃ u d/; Kurdish (Sorani) بووە /b u w e/ | Arabic 4.4%, Persian 2%, Kurdish (Sorani) 1%, Urdu 0.38% |
| ɪ | near-close front unrounded vowel | i as in “sit” | Urdu استعمال /ɪ s t e m a l/; Sindhi استعمال /ɪ s t e m a l/; Arabic التي /a l a t e ɪ/ | Urdu 1.3%, Sindhi 0.77%, Arabic 0.6% |
| ə | mid central vowel (schwa) | the weak vowel of “about”, “sofa” | Sindhi پنهنجي /p ə n ə h ə n ʌ ɟ i/; Urdu ثقافت /s ə q a f ə t/ | Sindhi 8.3%, Urdu 5.8% |
| ɛ | open-mid front unrounded vowel | e as in “bed” | Urdu بہت /b ɛ h ɛ t/; Sindhi ms /ɛ m ɛ s/; Arabic super-g /s y p ɛ ʁ ɡ/ | Urdu 0.46%, Sindhi 0.08% |
| ɑ | open back unrounded vowel | a as in “father” | rare | |
| ɔ | open-mid back rounded vowel | o as in British “thought” | Urdu سُپرجی /s ɔ p ə r ɟ i/; Sindhi شعبا /ʃ ɔ b a/ | Urdu 0.07% |
| ʊ | near-close back rounded vowel | oo as in “book” | Urdu مختلف /m ʊ x t a l ɪ f/; Arabic فوق /f a ʊ q/; Persian دور /d o ʊ ɾ/ | Urdu 0.51%, Arabic 0.42%, Persian 0.08%, Sindhi 0.04% |
| æ | near-open front unrounded vowel | a as in “cat” | Persian در /d æ ɾ/ | Persian 11% |
| y | close front rounded vowel | ee said with rounded lips (French “tu”, German “über”) | Kurdish (Sorani) ئەوەی /ʔ e w e y/; Arabic super-g /s y p ɛ ʁ ɡ/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 4.3% |
| œ | open-mid front rounded vowel | e as in “bed” said with rounded lips (French “neuf”, German “können”) | rare | |
| ɒ | open back rounded vowel | a rounded “ah” (British “lot”, Hungarian “a”) | Persian را /ɾ ɒ/ | Persian 10% |
| õ | close-mid back rounded vowel, nasalised | o as in Spanish or Italian “no”; nasalised: air also flows through the nose (French “an”, Portuguese “não”) | Urdu لوگوں /l o ɡ õ/ | Urdu 0.67% |
| ă | open front unrounded vowel, extra-short | a as in Spanish “casa”; extra-short: a very short version of the vowel | rare | |
| ʌ | open-mid back unrounded vowel | u as in “cup” | Sindhi ڪري /k ʌ r i/; Urdu پر /p ʌ r/ | Sindhi 9.2%, Urdu 5% |
| ẽ | close-mid front unrounded vowel, nasalised | e as in Spanish or Italian “de”; the start of English “say”; nasalised: air also flows through the nose (French “an”, Portuguese “não”) | Urdu میں /m ẽ/ | Urdu 1.6% |
| ã | open front unrounded vowel, nasalised | a as in Spanish “casa”; nasalised: air also flows through the nose (French “an”, Portuguese “não”) | Urdu وہاں /ʋ ʌ h ã/ | Urdu 0.11% |
| î | long close front vowel (Kurdish î) | ee as in “see”, long. The G2P writes Kurdish î as in Kurdish Latin spelling; not a pitch accent | Kurdish (Sorani) کاریگەری /k a r î ɡ e r î/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 5.6% |
| ê | long close-mid front vowel (Kurdish ê) | e as in Spanish “de”, long. Kurdish ê as in Kurdish Latin spelling; not a pitch accent | Kurdish (Sorani) هەندێک /h e n d ê k/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 2.7% |
| í | close front unrounded vowel, accent ´ (high) | ee as in “see”; accent ´ (high): the G2P's dictionary marks a pitch accent or stress here | rare | |
| û | long close back vowel (Kurdish û) | oo as in “food”, long. Kurdish û as in Kurdish Latin spelling; not a pitch accent | Kurdish (Sorani) بوو /b û/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 0.79% |
| ʌ̃ | open-mid back unrounded vowel, nasalised | u as in “cup”; nasalised: air also flows through the nose (French “an”, Portuguese “não”) | Sindhi هن /h ʌ̃/ | Sindhi 0.13% |
Diphthongs¶
| token | name | sounds like | examples | used most in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a͡ɪ | diphthong a to ɪ | eye | Urdu سائنس /s a͡ɪ n s/; Sindhi ai /a͡ɪ/; Kurdish (Sorani) ai /a͡ɪ/ | Urdu 0.27% |
| a͡ʊ | diphthong a to ʊ | ow as in “now” | rare |
Glides and non-syllabic vowels¶
| token | name | sounds like | examples | used most in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| j | palatal approximant | y as in “yes” | Arabic بين /b a j j i n/; Persian های /h ɒ j/; Sindhi يا /j a/ | Arabic 3.4%, Persian 2.7%, Sindhi 1.7%, Urdu 1.5% |
| w | labial-velar approximant | w as in “we” | Kurdish (Sorani) و /w i/; Arabic تكون /t u k a w w i n/; Sindhi nsw /ɛ n ɛ s w e/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 4.6%, Arabic 1.7%, Sindhi 0.01% |
| ʋ | labiodental approximant | a soft v without friction (Dutch w, Slovenian v) | Sindhi وڌيڪ /ʋ ə dʰ i k/; Urdu وہ /ʋ ʌ a/ | Sindhi 1.3%, Urdu 1.3% |
Stops¶
| token | name | sounds like | examples | used most in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| t | voiceless alveolar stop | t as in “ten” | Persian است /o s t/; Kurdish (Sorani) دەکات /d e k a t/; Urdu طور /t o r/ | Persian 4.8%, Kurdish (Sorani) 4.1%, Urdu 3.8%, Arabic 3.6% |
| k | voiceless velar stop | k as in “key” | Urdu کے /k e/; Kurdish (Sorani) کە /k e/; Sindhi ڪري /k ʌ r i/ | Urdu 5.6%, Kurdish (Sorani) 5.3%, Sindhi 3.1%, Persian 2.6% |
| d | voiced alveolar stop. Also used for dˤ. | d as in “dog” | Persian در /d æ ɾ/; Arabic قد /q a d d a/; Kurdish (Sorani) دەدات /d e d a t/ | Persian 6.3%, Arabic 3.7%, Kurdish (Sorani) 3.7%, Urdu 1.9% |
| b | voiced bilabial stop | b as in “bed” | Kurdish (Sorani) بە /b e/; Persian به /b e/; Arabic عبر /ʕ a b b a r a/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 3.8%, Persian 3.6%, Arabic 2.9%, Urdu 2.1% |
| p | voiceless bilabial stop | p as in “pen” | Urdu پر /p ʌ r/; Sindhi پر /p ʌ r/; Kurdish (Sorani) پلەی /p i l e y/ | Urdu 1.8%, Sindhi 1.4%, Kurdish (Sorani) 1.1%, Persian 0.61% |
| ɡ | voiced velar stop. Also used for ɢ. | g as in “go” | Persian قرار /ɡ æ ɾ ɒ ɾ/; Kurdish (Sorani) لەگەڵ /l e ɡ e ɫ/; Sindhi سگهي /s ə ɡ ʌ h i/ | Persian 2.4%, Kurdish (Sorani) 1.6%, Sindhi 1.4%, Urdu 1.2% |
| ʔ | glottal stop | the catch in the throat in “uh-oh” | Arabic أن /ʔ a n/; Kurdish (Sorani) ئەوەی /ʔ e w e y/; Persian بعد /b æ ʔ d/ | Arabic 3.2%, Kurdish (Sorani) 1.2%, Persian 0.82% |
| q | voiceless uvular stop | a k made further back, at the uvula (Uzbek “q”) | Arabic قبل /q i b a l/; Urdu وقت /ʋ ʌ q ə t/; Sindhi تحقيق /t̪ ə h q i q/ | Arabic 1.6%, Urdu 1.1%, Sindhi 0.7%, Kurdish (Sorani) 0.17% |
| tˤ | voiceless alveolar stop, pharyngealised (emphatic) | t as in “ten”; pharyngealised (emphatic): said with the tongue root pulled back: a darker, “heavy” sound (Arabic ط, ص) | Arabic طريق /tˤ a r i q/ | Arabic 0.66% |
| ʈ | voiceless retroflex stop | t with the tongue tip curled back (Swedish and Norwegian “rt”) | Sindhi سيٽلائيٽ /s e ʈ l a i ʈ/; Urdu رپورٹ /r ə p o r ʈ/ | Sindhi 1.2%, Urdu 0.86% |
| tʰ | voiceless alveolar stop, aspirated | t as in “ten”; aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Sindhi ٿو /tʰ o/; Urdu تھا /tʰ a/ | Sindhi 0.87%, Urdu 0.49% |
| t̪ | voiceless alveolar stop, dental | t as in “ten”; dental: the tongue tip touches the upper teeth | Sindhi تي /t̪ e/; Arabic تدريجيًا /t̪ a d r i d ʒ i h a/ | Sindhi 2.4% |
| c | voiceless palatal stop | a k made against the hard palate, close to “ty” (Hungarian “ty”, Czech “ť”) | Kurdish (Sorani) زۆرجار /z o r c a r/; Urdu نیچے /n e c e/; Sindhi چيو /c j o/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 0.62%, Urdu 0.37%, Sindhi 0.37% |
| kʰ | voiceless velar stop, aspirated | k as in “key”; aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Sindhi کي /kʰ e/; Urdu دیکھ /d e kʰ/ | Sindhi 1.1%, Urdu 0.18% |
| ɖ | voiced retroflex stop | d with the tongue tip curled back (Swedish and Norwegian “rd”) | Sindhi جڏهن /ɟ ə ɖ ə h ʌ n/; Urdu ڈبلو /ɖ ʌ b l o/ | Sindhi 1.1%, Urdu 0.26% |
| pʰ | voiceless bilabial stop, aspirated | p as in “pen”; aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Sindhi ڦري /pʰ ʌ r i/; Urdu پھل /pʰ ʌ l/ | Sindhi 0.04%, Urdu 0.03% |
| ɟ | voiced palatal stop | a g made against the hard palate, close to “dy” (Hungarian “gy”, Czech “ď”) | Sindhi جي /ɟ e/; Urdu جو /ɟ o/ | Sindhi 3.1%, Urdu 1.5% |
| cʰ | voiceless palatal stop, aspirated | a k made against the hard palate, close to “ty” (Hungarian “ty”, Czech “ť”); aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Urdu کچھ /k ʌ cʰ/; Sindhi ڇاڪاڻ /cʰ a k a ɳ/ | Urdu 0.22%, Sindhi 0.13% |
| ʈʰ | voiceless retroflex stop, aspirated | t with the tongue tip curled back (Swedish and Norwegian “rt”); aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Sindhi اٺ /a ʈʰ/; Urdu جیسےمٹھائیاں /ɟ e s e m ʈʰ a j ã/ | Sindhi 0.19%, Urdu 0.04% |
| bʰ | voiced bilabial stop, aspirated | b as in “bed”; aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Urdu بھی /bʰ i/; Sindhi سڀ /s ʌ bʰ/ | Urdu 0.27%, Sindhi 0.2% |
| dʰ | voiced alveolar stop, aspirated | d as in “dog”; aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Sindhi وڌيڪ /ʋ ə dʰ i k/; Urdu بدھ /b ʌ dʰ/ | Sindhi 0.35%, Urdu 0.05% |
| ɡʰ | voiced velar stop, aspirated | g as in “go”; aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Urdu گھر /ɡʰ ʌ r/; Sindhi ڊگھي /ɖ ʌ ɡʰ i/ | Urdu 0.07%, Sindhi 0.01% |
| ɟʰ | voiced palatal stop, aspirated | a g made against the hard palate, close to “dy” (Hungarian “gy”, Czech “ď”); aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Urdu مجھے /m ʌ ɟʰ e/ | Urdu 0.02% (rare: 5×) |
| ɖʰ | voiced retroflex stop, aspirated | d with the tongue tip curled back (Swedish and Norwegian “rd”); aspirated: followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) | Sindhi ڪڍي /k ʌ ɖʰ i/; Urdu ڈھونڈنے /ɖʰ u n ɖ n e/ | Sindhi 0.05%, Urdu 0.01% |
Affricates¶
| token | name | sounds like | examples | used most in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| t͡ʃ | voiceless postalveolar affricate | ch as in “church” | Persian هیچ /h i t͡ʃ/; Sindhi cep /t͡ʃ ɛ p/ | Persian 0.31% |
| d͡ʒ | voiced postalveolar affricate | j as in “judge” | Persian وجود /v o d͡ʒ u d/; Arabic الوَجَباتِ /a l w e d͡ʒ e b a t e/ | Persian 1.1% |
Fricatives¶
| token | name | sounds like | examples | used most in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| s | voiceless alveolar fricative. Also used for ş. | s | Kurdish (Sorani) سەر /s e r/; Urdu سے /s e/; Persian است /o s t/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 3.7%, Urdu 3.7%, Persian 3.2%, Sindhi 3% |
| f | voiceless labiodental fricative | f | Arabic في /f i/; Persian استفاده /e s t e f ɒ d e/; Urdu مختلف /m ʊ x t a l ɪ f/ | Arabic 1.8%, Persian 1.1%, Urdu 0.92%, Sindhi 0.73% |
| v | voiced labiodental fricative | v | Persian روی /ɾ æ v i/; Kurdish (Sorani) جاڤایی /c a v a y î/; Sindhi xvi /ʃ e v i/ | Persian 1.3%, Kurdish (Sorani) 0.1% |
| z | voiced alveolar fricative | z | Persian از /æ z/; Urdu زیادہ /z j a d a/; Kurdish (Sorani) زۆر /z o r/ | Persian 2.4%, Urdu 1.2%, Kurdish (Sorani) 1.2%, Sindhi 0.67% |
| ʃ | voiceless postalveolar fricative | sh as in “ship” | Persian شود /ʃ u d/; Urdu پیش /p e ʃ/; Arabic عشر /ʕ a ʃ ʃ a r a/ | Persian 2.2%, Urdu 0.91%, Arabic 0.74%, Sindhi 0.7% |
| h | voiceless glottal fricative | h as in “hat” | Sindhi آهي /a h i/; Urdu ہے /h e/; Persian های /h ɒ j/ | Sindhi 5.5%, Urdu 3.7%, Persian 3%, Kurdish (Sorani) 1.4% |
| ʁ | voiced uvular fricative | the r of French and German | Arabic super-g /s y p ɛ ʁ ɡ/ | (rare: 3×) |
| x | voiceless velar fricative | ch as in Scottish “loch”, German “Bach” | Persian خود /x o d/; Kurdish (Sorani) نەخۆشخانە /n e x o s x a n e/; Arabic خلال /x a l a l/ | Persian 0.9%, Kurdish (Sorani) 0.72%, Arabic 0.5%, Urdu 0.5% |
| ð | voiced dental fricative. Also used for ðˤ. | th as in “this” | Arabic هذه /h a ð ð a h u/ | Arabic 0.62% |
| ʒ | voiced postalveolar fricative | s as in “measure” | Arabic يجب /j a d ʒ u b/; Persian ژاپن /ʒ ɒ p o n/ | Arabic 1.1%, Persian 0.08% |
| ʂ | voiceless retroflex fricative | a hard sh with the tongue tip back (Polish “sz”) | Urdu خاص /x a ʂ/; Sindhi صرف /ʂ ə r ʌ f/ | Urdu 0.48%, Sindhi 0.41% |
| ɣ | voiced velar fricative | a g where the tongue does not close (Dutch g, Spanish g between vowels) | Arabic غالباً /ɣ a l i b a j a/; Urdu غیر /ɣ e r/; Sindhi غير /ɣ e r/ | Arabic 0.42%, Urdu 0.17%, Sindhi 0.12% |
| ʕ | voiced pharyngeal fricative | a voiced throat sound (Arabic ع) | Arabic على /ʕ a l a/; Kurdish (Sorani) عەلی /ʕ e l î/ | Arabic 2.4%, Kurdish (Sorani) 0.04% |
| ħ | voiceless pharyngeal fricative | a strong h squeezed in the throat (Arabic ح) | Arabic حيث /ħ e ɪ θ/ | Arabic 1.2% |
| sˤ | voiceless alveolar fricative, pharyngealised (emphatic) | s; pharyngealised (emphatic): said with the tongue root pulled back: a darker, “heavy” sound (Arabic ط, ص) | Arabic الصيد /a l sˤ e ɪ d/ | Arabic 0.57% |
| θ | voiceless dental fricative | th as in “thin” | Arabic حيث /ħ e ɪ θ/; Persian تأثیر /t æ ʔ θ i ɾ/ | Arabic 0.56%, Persian 0.04% |
| ç | voiceless palatal fricative | the ch of German “ich”; like a strong h before ee | Kurdish (Sorani) هیچ /h î ç/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 0.5% |
| ʐ | voiced retroflex fricative | a hard zh (Polish “ż”, “rz”) | Sindhi نظر /n a ʐ a r/; Urdu عظیم /a ʐ i m/ | Sindhi 0.11%, Urdu 0.1% |
| χ | voiceless uvular fricative | a rougher ch made at the uvula (Welsh “ch”) | rare |
Nasals¶
| token | name | sounds like | examples | used most in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | alveolar nasal | n | Sindhi کان /kʰ a n/; Kurdish (Sorani) یان /y a n/; Persian این /i n/ | Sindhi 7.3%, Kurdish (Sorani) 7.3%, Persian 6.2%, Urdu 4.6% |
| m | bilabial nasal | m | Arabic من /m i n n a/; Urdu میں /m ẽ/; Persian می /m i/ | Arabic 5%, Urdu 4.5%, Persian 4.4%, Sindhi 3.2% |
| ŋ | velar nasal | ng as in “sing” | Arabic ring /ʁ i ŋ/ | (rare: 1×) |
| ɳ | retroflex nasal | n with the tongue tip curled back | Sindhi ڪرڻ /k ə r ʌ ɳ/ | Sindhi 1.1% |
| ɲ | palatal nasal | ny, as Spanish “ñ” | Sindhi وڃي /ʋ ʌ ɲ i/ | Sindhi 0.08% |
| ŋ̩ | velar nasal, syllabic | ng as in “sing”; syllabic: forms a syllable with no vowel, as the n of “button” | Sindhi اڱڻ /a ŋ̩ ʌ ɳ/ | Sindhi 0.02% (rare: 9×) |
Laterals¶
| token | name | sounds like | examples | used most in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| l | alveolar lateral approximant | l as in “leaf” | Arabic على /ʕ a l a/; Urdu والے /ʋ a l e/; Sindhi لاءِ /l a/ | Arabic 8.8%, Urdu 3.3%, Sindhi 2.8%, Kurdish (Sorani) 2.3% |
| ɫ | velarised alveolar lateral | the dark l of “full” | Kurdish (Sorani) لەگەڵ /l e ɡ e ɫ/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 0.89% |
Rhotics (r sounds)¶
| token | name | sounds like | examples | used most in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| r | alveolar trill | a rolled r | Urdu اور /o r/; Sindhi ڪري /k ʌ r i/; Kurdish (Sorani) زۆر /z o r/ | Urdu 6.5%, Sindhi 5.7%, Kurdish (Sorani) 5.2%, Arabic 3.4% |
| ɾ | alveolar tap | one quick flap of the tongue, as in Spanish “pero” | Persian در /d æ ɾ/ | Persian 6.8% |
| ř | alveolar trill (Kurdish ڕ) | a strongly rolled r, the Kurdish ڕ (written ř in Kurdish Latin spelling) | Kurdish (Sorani) ڕێگەی /ř ê ɡ e y/ | Kurdish (Sorani) 0.93% |