Questions tagged [pronunciation]

Questions related to pronunciation or Esperanto phonology.

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Is 'ŭ' pronounced differently from 'u'?

The country name Australia is Aŭstralio in Esperanto, not just Australio. Another example is ambaŭ. For me, it looks weird because just spelling as Australio would sound the same as Aŭstralio. Why ...
user67275's user avatar
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3 answers
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Difference between the pronunciations of ĝo and ĵo

I saw this sentence in the Duolingo course. La infano ŝatas oranĝojn pli on kokaĵon. The 'ĝo' and 'ĵo' sound exactly same to me. If they are different pronunciations, how can I pronounce them ...
user67275's user avatar
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Difference between pronunciations of 'ca' and 'ĉa'

I cannot tell how the pronunciations of 'ca' and 'ĉa' are different. For me, they sound the same. (I am a native Korean speaker.) Mi ne povas distingi la diferencon 'ĉa'r mi estas komen'ca'nto. In ...
user67275's user avatar
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2 answers
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Does pronounciation always respect morpheme boundaries?

I am principally thinking of compound words (though other counter/examples are welcome). To illustrate: is ŝatokupo normally pronounced as ŝa-to-ku-po ("easier" to pronounce, in terms of ...
Sabrina's user avatar
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4 answers
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TTS for Esperanto

Does anyone know of a good text to speech service or program for Esperanto? Have been fiddling with AWS Polly Polish, but it doesn't say glaciaĵo right and other such words -- Note, access to AWS ...
ina's user avatar
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Ĉu DZ estas fonemo?

Mi jam vidis iujn aserti ke la literkombino DZ estas fonemo, sed aliaj diras, ke ne. La argumento por estas ke ĝi ofte prononciĝas kiel afrikato, kiel en "edzo", kiu plej ofte prononĉigas e-dzo ...
SlayerGames44's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
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Words with double letters claimed to be used by Zamenhof but not found in Tekstaro in his texts

So there are two words that PIV claims they were used by Zamenhof: nett/ (for net in "net weight") and ghett/ (ghetto), which doesn't sound like an Esperanto word at all due to the gh beginning. ...
SlayerGames44's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
129 views

Minimumaj paroj inter afrikato kaj plosivo+frikativo

Ĉu ekzistas minimumaj paroj en Esperanto, kiuj distingigas la sonajn parojn c/ts, ĉ/tŝ, kaj ĝ/dĵ? Minimuma paro por du sonoj estas paro da vortoj, kies sola diferenco inter si estas tiuj du sonoj. ...
Joffysloffy's user avatar
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3 answers
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Pronunciation of "r" in Esperanto

Is the letter r in Esperanto pronounced like غ in Arabic? Or like r in French?
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Kiel diri @ en Esperanto? [duplicate]

Mi rimarkis ke mi tute ne scias kiel diri @ en Esperanto kaj mi guglis, sed nenion trovis pri tio. I noticed that I don't know how to say @ in Esperanto. I searched the internet, but I can't find an ...
Charlotte SL's user avatar
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Ŝanĝiĝo de akcento rilate aldonon de -on al fremdaj nomoj

Mi legas la libron La Fermita Urbo de István Nemere. En tiu libro la aŭtoro uzas ne tute Esperantigitajn nomojn, ekzemple Terlik. Mi prononcus tion kiel Térlik, kun akcento sur la unua silabo (la ...
Joffysloffy's user avatar
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7 votes
4 answers
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Why is initial J- allowed in Esperanto but not initial Ŭ-?

Both ŭ and j are used to make diphthongs in Esperanto: morgaŭ, homoj, Eŭropo, ejo. Yet only j is allowed in front of syllables: jam, juvelo. Why is this so?
Bjørn's user avatar
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Kiel oni devus diri la literojn 'ng'?

En la angla, la literoj ng miksaĵas kune kaj ŝanĝiĝas. Ĉu mi devus diri ilin kiel la anglan vorton singer aŭ kiel ongoing kun la literoj apartigaj?
Slepz's user avatar
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Understanding properly what's being said

I have started recently learning esperanto using the Duolingo platform. And I have a reccuring problem at recognizing and differentiating "mi" and "ni". I suppose that in an exchange the context will ...
mycroft34's user avatar
8 votes
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Are double consonants pronounced distinctively from single consonants in Esperanto?

For example: Is it best practice to pronounce Finnlando as [fin.nlando] (like double consonants in Arabic languages) or maybe [fin:lando] (like long consonants in old Scandinavian languages) or would ...
Emile Bouwer's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
212 views

Esperanto stress with dipthongs

I am having issues knowing the stressed (tonic) syllable, especially when a noun or adjective is pluralized. I am not sure if I should be treating endings like -oj and -aj as separate sounds or as ...
AdamS's user avatar
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Pronunciation of 'o' in Esperanto [duplicate]

Based on what I've learnt so far in Esperanto, it send to be rather consistent and straightforward in pronunciation - as in, each letter has a unique pronunciation.(I learn from Duolingo, by the way) ...
Myungjin Hyun's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
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How is the Ĥ letter pronounced?

The way people explain the pronunciation of the Ĥ letter is rather confusing. The sources I've seen explained it in two very different ways: 1) Like the German CH (like in Sternchen), which is in the ...
Spooikypok_Dev's user avatar
3 votes
5 answers
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The letter O and the sound it makes

When people say words like "profesoro", "konas", or "sinjoro", the letter O is very pronounced. It sounds like the English word "oh". When ON appears at the end of the word, people lighten the O so ...
Lumo5's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
750 views

What is the proper way to pronouce EJ?

I want to make sure that I am pronouncing -ej- properly. What is the correct way of pronouncing it?
Lumo5's user avatar
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Why do dĵ (ĝ) and tŝ (ĉ) have special characters, but ks does not?

There is a thing about Esperanto's special characters (with accents) that I do not understand. On the one side we have the characters ĝ and ĵ. As far as I understand, ĝ and ĉ are pronounced as ...
Ulukai's user avatar
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How to transliterate 中文 in Mandarin pronunciation to Esperanto?

I am working on an art project that I would like to collect the hundreds of different transliterations of 「中文」 zhōng wén in Mandarin Chinese. (Pronunciation available here: https://translate.google....
Lun's user avatar
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2 answers
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Is Esperanto language's pronunciation systematic?

I mean, Is the alphabet and pronunciation correspond to each other?
ra1ned's user avatar
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What is the name for the dash character

With regard to this sentence, ...oni povas krei el ĝi 15-20 vortojn..., how would you say the dash character? If you were reading that sentence, would you say "dek kvin ĝis dudek?"
Lumo5's user avatar
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1 vote
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417 views

How to pronounce eŭ

I don't get to hear Esperanto speech often so I am not sure how to pronounce eŭ. For example Neŭtrala or Eŭropo. How do you pronounce it?
Lumo5's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
132 views

How to correctly pronounce the "ie" in "scienco"?

I have read the interesting discussions e.g. in the comments here and concluded that there should be a glide between the wovels, rather than a glottal stop, since the ie occurs within a single root, ...
La Vo-o's user avatar
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How important really is stress in pronunciation?

I am lucky to find the phonetic structure of Esperanto extremely close to home, but a stress in the middle of a word has always been alien to me. (I am inclined to read everything I see with a stress ...
La Vo-o's user avatar
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9 votes
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Why are there consonant clusters that are not uniformly voiced?

I am learning Esperanto and I have come across the word "akvon" which of course means water. Something I find distressing is that the consonant cluster contains a voiceless and then a voiced consonant....
MissDemeanor's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
863 views

Why does Wikipedia list an improper pronunciation of Esperanto?

The very first line of English Wikipedia's entry on Esperanto proudly informs us that the name of the language is pronounced /ˌɛspəˈræntoʊ/ (and reinforces that using two common notations and an "...
La Vo-o's user avatar
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12 votes
6 answers
654 views

Where can I find a good source of perfect Esperanto enunciation/pronunciation audio examples?

I know that the stressed syllable in any given word is the second to last, but it would be helpful to hear a set of vetted examples (and also incorrect examples, if possible).
esperblue's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
227 views

Is "oi" a valid pair of letters in esperanto?

I haven't run into any words that have oi in them that I recall. Is it a valid construction? How is it pronounced if so?
esperblue's user avatar
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7 votes
3 answers
305 views

What is the standard phonology of Esperanto?

In the Fundamento de Esperanto, Zamonhof provides notes on the pronunciation of each of the Esperanto characters, comparing them to sounds in French, English, German, Russian, and Polish. ...
Alkali's user avatar
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8 votes
2 answers
136 views

Vela kaj uvula prononco de R

PMEG diras ke la prononco de R devas esti trema kaj ke la tremo povas okazi ne nur ĉe la dentoj, sed ankaŭ ĉe uvulo (mi nomos ĝin “franca R” sube). Mi miras pri tiu permeso, ĉar laŭ miaj oreloj tiu ...
marcus's user avatar
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8 votes
3 answers
725 views

Why is laughing in written Esperanto often written as "ĥaĥa"?

I often see the Esperanto laugh as "ĥaĥa" or some variation using "ĥ". I know that Esperanto is pronounced as written, but this seems like a very odd choice, laŭ mia opinio. I have tried to ...
Aubrey Lavigne's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
475 views

SAMPA and IPA pronunciation of Esperanto letters

To aid pronunciation, is there a table converting the letters in Esperanto to SAMPA and to IPA?
conor's user avatar
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6 votes
5 answers
159 views

Ĉu oni elparolas la sufikson '-ĉjo' malsame ol 'ĉo'?

Ĉu la vira karesforma sufikso '-ĉjo' efektive havas malsaman prononcon ol 'ĉo'? Se jes, kio estas la diferenco?
jzknuckles's user avatar
12 votes
7 answers
1k views

How to represent schwa [ə] (and similar sounds) in Esperanto?

In Esperanto (and English too), there are five vowel letters. However, in many languages, including my native Bulgarian, there are more, for example the letter ъ. (Don't confuse it with the way it is ...
Lyubomir Vasilev's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
213 views

Pronunciation of "punkto"

My understanding is that Esperanto consonants are all supposed to be pronounced moreorless as they sound individually. However, in certain cases of three consonants in a row, it seems like speakers ...
skepsis's user avatar
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11 votes
2 answers
171 views

How are the letters "x", "w" and "y" pronounced?

The letters "x", "y" and "w" do not exist in Esperanto. But when one has to pronounce them to spell names or other non-Esperanto things, how to do that? La literoj "x", "y" kaj "w" ne ekzistas en ...
Aviadisto's user avatar
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15 votes
3 answers
1k views

Is the letter R supposed to be trilled?

I understand that one's accent will vary depending on one's nationality, but I have heard some people speak without the trilled R and have wondered about that letter in particular. I personally roll ...
Chris McDowell's user avatar