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• Pronunciation

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Basics: Pronunciation

• Consonants
• Vowels
• Stress
• Comparison of dialects

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Consonants🠉

The letters b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, v, w, y and z are pronounced the same as in English.

Romani- zation	IPA	Description
g	[g]	hard G as in get (Egyptian Arabic and loanwords only)
j	[dʒ] or [ʒ]	J as in jump or S as in pleasure
h	[h]	H as in have, silent in word final position
q	[ʔ] [g] [q]	- same as ' (glottal stop) in urban accents - same as g by the Bedouin and many men in Jordan - same as q̈ by the Druze
q̈	[q]	guttural K, deeper in the throat than K
r	[r]	trilled R as in Spanish or Italian
ġ	[ɣ] or [ʁ]	similar to French guttural R, voiced counterpart of ḫ
ḫ	[x] or [χ]	like German Ch or Spanish J, voiceless counterpart of ġ
š	[ʃ]	Sh as in sheep
ḏ	[ð]	voiced Th as in this
ṯ	[θ]	voicless Th as in think
'	[ʔ]	glottal stop as between the vowels in uh-oh!
ˁ	[ʕ]	voiced sound in the middle of the throat, voiced counterpart of ḥ
ḥ	[ħ]	guttural or whispered H, stronger than normal H, voiceless counterpart of ˁ
ḍ	[dˤ]	empathic D (constricted throat)
ḷ	[lˤ]	empathic L (constricted throat) (used in Allah and derived words)
ṣ	[sˤ]	empathic S (constricted throat)
ṭ	[tˤ]	empathic T (constricted throat)
ẓ	[zˤ] or [ðˤ]	empathic Z or voiced Th (constricted throat)

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Vowels🠉

The vowels differ by region, the table below shows the Palestinian and Jordanian pronunciation.

Written	Romani- zation	IPA	Description
ـَ	α	[ɑ]	as in American English got
	a	[a~æ]	as in cat
ـِ	e	[e]	as in get
	i	[ɪ]	as in kit
ـُ	o	[o]	as in lot, but closed vowel
	u	[ʊ]	as in full
ـَا	ᾱ	[ɑː]	as in father
	ā	[aː~æː]	as in can
ـَي	ē	[eː]	as in face, but plain vowel
ـِي	ī	[iː]	as in see
ـَو	ō	[oː]	as in boat, but plain vowel
ـُو	ū	[uː]	as in food

The long vowels are pronounced short in unstressed final position:

Written	Romani- zation	IPA	Description
ـَا or ـَة or ـَى	α	[ɑ]	as in American English got
	a	[a~æ]	as in cat
ـِة	e	[e]	as in get
ـِي	i	[i]	as in see, but shorter
ـُه	o	[o]	as in lot, but closed vowel
ـُو	u	[u]	as in food, but shorter

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Stress🠉

The stress in Levantine Arabic can be predicted by rules, however it is marked on this website.

Rules:

1. If the last syllable is superheavy, it takes the stress.
2. If the second last syllable is heavy or superheavy, it takes the stress.
3. Otherwhise the third last syllable is stressed (or the first syllable in shorter words).

Heavy syllable:

• consonant(s) + long vowel
• consonant(s) + vowel + consonant

Superheavy syllable:

• consonant(s) + long vowel + consonant
• consonant(s) + vowel + two consonants

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Comparison of dialects🠉

Lebanese (Beirut) and Syrian (Damascus):

• ā is pronunced as ē in front context (Imāla)
• stressed u merges with i in front context
• final ـَا is pronounced as e

Lebanese (Beirut) only:

• final e and i are merged to e
• final o and u are merged to o
• ē in open syllables is pronounced as diphthong ay
• ō in open syllables is pronounced as diphthong aw

Syrian (Damascus) only:

• stressed i and u are pronounced as shwa [ə]

Rural Palestinian:

• k is sometimes or always pronounced as č [tʃ]
• q is pronounces as k or emphatic k [kˤ]