Gurmukhi Pronunciation
From SikhiWiki
Pronunciation of Gurmukhi Letters:
The list below explains the way the various Gurmukhi letters are pronounced.
ੳ ਅ ੲ ਸ ਹ ਕ ਖ ਗ ਘ ਙ ਚ ਛ ਜ ਝ ਞ ਟ ਠ ਡ ਢ ਣ ਤ ਥ ਦ ਧ ਨ ਪ ਫ ਬ ਭ ਮ ਯ ਰ ਲ ਵ ੜ
| Letter | Pronunciation |
| ਸ | is pronounced like the s in snake |
|---|---|
| ਹ | is pronounced like h as in hot |
| ਕ | is said like k as in kite |
| ਖ | does not have an English equivalent, but is pronounced like kh as in khaki. |
| ਗ | is pronounced as g as in goat. |
| ਘ | is the same as gh in ghost. |
| ਙ | is pronounced like the middle of Penguin or the end in wing. |
| ਚ | is pronounced as ch as in the word cheat. |
| ਛ | is pronounced like sh as in shower, robustly aspirated |
| ਜ | is pronounced like j as in Jungle, the tongue being positioned next to the lower teeth |
| ਝ | is pronounced as jh robustly aspirated |
| ਞ | is a sound not found in the western languages, and is uttered with a palatal sound |
| ਟ | is pronounced like t as in the middle of the word constrain, with less discharge of breath and the tongue placed further back |
| ਠ | sounds like the end of wheat, with the last letter robustly aspirated |
| ਡ | is pronounced as d as in dumb, the d rounded heavily, however less expiration of breath and the tongue much further back |
| ਢ | is pronounced as dh is in drummer robustly aspirated |
| ਣ | is a retroflex nasal sound as in ' nah' if the 'a' was deleted |
| ਤ | is softly unaspirated, being similar to a softly said 'Tim' |
| ਥ | is pronounced as th as in the word third, but robustly aspirated |
| ਦ | is pronounced as d as in then, with less expiration of breath |
| ਧ | is pronounced dh as is like 'then', powerfully aspirated |
| ਨ | is pronounced as n as in night, with the tongue firmly placed next to the teeth |
| ਪ | is pronounced as p as in aspirin with less expiration of air |
| ਫ | is pronounced as f as in fight, being the aspirated version of p |
| ਬ | is pronounced as b as in bin and bat |
| ਭ | is pronounced as bh as in bard, if the word was pronounced as a halfway between a p and bh |
| ਮ | is pronounced as m as in marriage or mother |
| ਯ | is pronounced as y as in yard |
| ਰ | is pronounced as r as in matador or in razor , without dropping the r |
| ਲ | is pronounced as l as in like or lion |
| ਵ | pronounced as v and is a cross between a V in vexed and W in wart, without rounding the lips and without the upper teeth being grazed by the lower lip |
| ੜ | the closest example to this is the English name ' Barrat', but said as if a h is placed in between the two R's |
| ਸ਼ | is as in Shimmer |
| ਖ਼ | As in the Scottish Loch |
| ਗ਼ | as in gosh pronounced as if a h follows g |
| ਜ਼ | as in Zebra |
| ਫ਼ | As in Frankenstein |
This section completed with help from www.5abi.com
