Appendix:Haitian Creole pronunciation

This appendix lists how the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) corresponds to Haitian Creole pronunciation in Wiktionary entries. See also Category:Lingua Libre pronunciation-hat.

Vowels

IPA	Haitian Creole	Example	English approximation	Notes
/a/	a (or à before an n)	abako, pàn	bra
/e/	e	ale	hey
/ɛ/	è	fèt	festival
/i/	i	lide	machine
/o/	o	zwazo	blow
/ɔ/	ò	deyò	sort
/u/	ou	nou	you

Nasal vowels

All nasal vowels, when before a voiced stop consonant, are inserted with a homorganic nasal (andan /ɑ̃dɑ̃/ [ɑ̃ndɑ̃]).

IPA	Haitian Creole	Example	English approximation	Notes
/ã/	an (when not followed by a vowel)	anpil
/ɛ̃/	en (when not followed by a vowel)	mwen
/õ/	on (when not followed by a vowel)	tonton

Consonants

IPA	Haitian Creole	Example	English approximation	Notes
/b/	b	bagay	bow
/ʃ/	ch	cho	shoe
/d/	d	dous	do	Affricated to /dz/ before /i/ or /j/.
/f/	f	fig	festival
/g/	g	gòch	gain
/h/	h	hèn	hotel
/ʒ/	j	jedi	measure
/k/	k	kle	sky
/l/	l	liv	clean
/m/	m	machin	mother
/n/	n	nòt	note
/ŋ/	ng	bilding	feelingng
/p/	p	pase	spy
/ɣ/	r	rezon	between go and loch	Varies between /ɰ/ ~ /ɣ/ ~ /ʁ/ ~ /r/ ~ /l/ (least common). Merged with /w/ before /u/, e.g. rouj.
/s/	s	sis	six
/t/	t	tout	to	Affricated to /ts/ before /i/ or /j/.
/v/	v	vyann	vent
/z/	z	zewo	zero

Non-native consonants

IPA	Haitian Creole	Example	English approximation	Notes
/dʒ/	dj	djaz	jazz

Semivowels

IPA	Haitian Creole	Example	English approximation	Notes
/w/	w	wi	we
/j/	y	pye	yes

Semivowel followed by vowel (digraph)

IPA	Haitian Creole	Example	English approximation	Notes
/ɥi/	ui	uit	roughly like sweet	Only exists in this word. All other instances become /wi/ instead (nwit ← French nuit, fwi ← French fruit).

Phonological changes

French	Haitian Creole
/y/	/i/
/ø/, /ə/	/e/
/œ/	/ɛ/
/o/ in a closed syllable	/ɔ/
Final /ʁ/	∅