The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Haitian Creole 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.

There are no silent letters in Haitian Creole unless a word is written with the traditional orthography.

See Haitian Creole phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Haitian Creole.

Consonants
IPA Examples English approximation
b bagay bow
ʃ cho shoe
d dous do
f fig festival
ɡ gòch gain
ɣ rezon [1] between go and loch
h hèn hotel
j pye yes
k kle sky
l liv lean
m machin mother
n nòt note
ŋ bilding feeling
p pase spy
s sis six
t tout still
v vyann vent
w wi [1] we
ɥ uit[2] roughly like sweet
z zero zero
ʒ jedi measure
Non-native consonants
djaz jazz
Vowels
IPA Examples English approximation
a abako; pàn bra
e ale hey
ɛ fèt bed
i lide see
o zwazo roughly like law (British English)
ɔ deyò off
u nou you
Nasal vowels[3]
ã anpil No English equivalent; nasalized [ɒ]
ɛ̃ mwen No English equivalent; nasalized [ɛ]
ɔ̃ tonton No English equivalent; nasalized [o]
ũ houngan No English equivalent; nasalized [u]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b The contrast between [ɣ] and [w] is lost before rounded vowels, and the two phonemes merge then as [w]. Some orthographies of Haitian Creole follow the etymology of the word by using ⟨r⟩ for [w] before a rounded vowel if it comes from an original [ɣ]: gro [ɡwo] ('big' cf. French gros [ɡʁo]). The official orthography follows the modern pronunciation of the word and uses ⟨w⟩ for [w] in all cases and so [ɡwo] is spelled ⟨gwo⟩.
  2. ^ [ɥ] is always followed by [i]. This phoneme is extremely rare and maybe only exists in this word.
  3. ^ When [n] follows an oral vowel, a grave accent ⟨`⟩ is written on the vowel before ⟨n⟩: ⟨èn⟩ represents [ɛn], ⟨òn⟩ represents [ɔn], and ⟨àn⟩ represents [an]. The oral pronunciation occurs also when ⟨n⟩ is followed by another vowel.

See also

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