The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Georgian 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 Georgian phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Georgian.

Consonants
IPA Mkhedruli Asomtavruli Nuskhuri Romanization English approximation
b[1] b bash
ɡ[1] g gate
d[1] d do
v v, w van
ʷ[2] quick
z z zoo
t table
roughly like the unaspirated "k" in sky (but also ejective)[3]
l[4] l leaf
m m much
n n not
roughly like the unaspirated "p" in spy (but also ejective)[3]
ʒ zh pleasure
r[5] r Spanish río
s s sue
roughly like the unaspirated "t" in sty (but also ejective)[3]
p pan
k can
ʁ gh Scottish English loch, but voiced. Cf. alsoguttural R,
χʼ[6] Dakota hã.χʼãna (ejective)[3]
ʃ sh shoe
tʃʰ ch choose
tsʰ ts, c cats
dz dz pads
tsʼ tsʼ, cʼ Navajo ts'in (ejective)[3]
tʃʼ chʼ roughly like the unaspirated "ch" in question (but also ejective)[3]
χ kh, x Scottish loch; the English exclamation "ugh"
j hedge
h h head
Marginal consonants
f[7] f fan
Vowels
IPA Mkhedruli Asomtavruli Nuskhuri Romanization English approximation
a a taco
e e let
i i feet
o o story
u u rule
Suprasegmentals
IPA Explanation
ˈ stress mark (placed before the stressed syllable)[8]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c In word-final position, /b, d, g/ may be devoiced to [ ].
  2. ^ /v/ is realized as [ʷ] after a consonant.
  3. ^ a b c d e f The ejectives have no equivalent in English. The way that ejectives are sounded is by building up pressure in your throat, like when you sneeze, and then release the built-up air as you articulate the consonant where you normally would. So, /t'/ and /t/ are articulated in the same place but the difference is whether you build up pressure or not.
  4. ^ /l/ has two allophones, velarized [ɫ] before back vowels /ɑ, ɔ, u,/ and plain [l] before front vowels /i, ɛ,/
  5. ^ Often realized as an alveolar tap [ɾ].
  6. ^ [χʼ] is commonly phonemicized as /qʼ/.
  7. ^ [f~ɸ] are allophones of /v/ before voiceless consonants.
  8. ^ In Georgian, word stress falls on the first syllable of a word [1][2]

See also

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