^ abcdVoiced and voiceless aspirated/murmured labials and velars can undergo fricativization, therefore, realized as the corresponding homorganic fricatives e.g. /sʌpʰa/ transcribed phonetically as [sʌɸa], /bʱ/as [β], /kʰ/ as [x], and /ɡʱ/ as [ɣ].
^ abcdefghNepali contrasts dental [t] and [d] with apical postalveolar [ʈ] and [ɖ] (as well as aspirated variants). Both sets sound like /t/ and /d/ to most English speakers although the dental [t] and [d] are used in place of the English /θ/ and /ð/ for some speakers with th-stopping.
^ abcDue to a process of h-deletion in some words, ɦ may be replaced by a retroflex flap [ɽ] if words are pronounced with long vowels e.g. पहाडी which is phonetically [paːɽi] can be analyzed phonemically as /pʌhaɖi/. Additionally, [ɽ] can occur if ɖ or ɖʱ are flapped in postvocalic position.
^/ɳ/ may occur as a retroflex nasal flap [ɽ̃] in spellinɡ pronunciations of some Sanskrit loanwords.
^ ab/r/ is usually trilled [r] but may be tapped [ɾ] when in intervocalic position.
^The combination of the labio-velar approximant /w/ and /e, i, o, ʌi̯, r, w, j/ is constrained in Nepali, thus the orthographic ⟨व⟩ is pronounced as a bilabial stop /b/ in such cases.
^Words are pronounced with long vowels due to the process of intervocalic h deletion, e.g पहाडी phonemically /pʌɦaɖi/ is realized phonetically as [paːɽi].
Bibliography
Khatiwada, Rajesh (2009), "Nepali", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 39 (3): 337–380, doi:10.1017/S0025100309990181
Pokharel, Madhav Prasad (1989), Experimental analysis of Nepali sound system (Ph.D.), University of Pune, India
