Wikipedia key to pronunciation of Belarusian
The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Belarusian 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 Belarusian phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Belarusian.
Consonants
IPA
Cyrillic
IPA
Cyrillic[ 1]
English approximation
b
б
bʲ
б
b oot; b eautiful
d
д
d o
d͡z
дз
d͡zʲ
дз
birds , adz e
d͡ʐ
дж
j ug
f
ф
fʲ
ф
f ool; f ew
ɣ
г
ɣʲ
г
Spanish hig o
k
к
kʲ
к
sc old, sk ew
l
л [ 2]
lʲ
л
l oot; l ute (in dialects without yod-dropping)
m
м
mʲ
м
m oot; m ute
n
н
nʲ
н
n oon; cany on
p
п
pʲ
п
sp an, sp ew
r
р
trilled r , like in Spanish
s
с
sʲ
с
s oup; ass ume (in dialects without yod-dropping)
ʂ
ш
sh ore
t
т
st ool
t͡s
ц
t͡sʲ
ц
cats
t͡ʂ
ч
ch ild
v
в [ 2]
vʲ
в
v oodoo; v iew
x
х
xʲ
х
Bach ; h uge (for some dialects)
z
з
zʲ
з
z oo; res ume (in dialects without yod-dropping)
ʐ
ж
roug e
Marginal consonants
IPA
Cyrillic
IPA
Cyrillic
English approximation
ɡ
г , ґ
ɡʲ
г , ґ
g oo; arg ue
Other symbols
IPA
Explanation
ˈ
Stress (placed before the stressed syllable)
ː
Gemination [ 7] (doubled consonant)
Notes
^ Belarusian has a contrast between palatalized ("soft") and unpalatalized ("hard") consonants. Palatalized consonants, denoted by a superscript j, ⟨ʲ ⟩,are pronounced with the body of the tongue raised toward the hard palate , like the articulation of the y sound in yes . /j/ is always soft, but /d, t, d͡ʐ, t͡ʂ, r, ʂ, and ʐ/ are always hard.
^ a b c /v/ and /l/ merge into /w/ ⟨ў ⟩ before consonants and at the end of words.
^ a b c Unstressed /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ are reduced to [a] . Unlike Russian, this is reflected in writing.
^ Closer to fa t in most accents of British and Irish English; closer to fa ther in most accents of North American , Australian and New Zealand English.
^ a b [i] and [ɨ] are in complementary distribution : [i] occurs after soft consonants; [ɨ] occurs after hard consonants.
^ The "soft" vowel letters ⟨я, е, і, ё, ю ⟩ represent a /j/ and a vowel when they are initial or after other vowels.
^ Ten Belarusian consonants can be contrastively geminated: /d͡zʲː, d͡ʐː, lʲː, nʲː, sʲː, ʂː, t͡sʲː, t͡ʂː, zʲː, ʐː/ .
See also
Comparisons Introductory guides