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Brezhoneg
Introduction to the Breton
Language Course
A bep seurt
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Phonetic transcription and general rules of
pronunciation
Phonetic transcription
The transcription used here is largely that of the
international system with some modifications for display
on the web.
Vowels
| Phonetic |
Pronunciation |
| /a/ |
a as in man |
| /ã/ |
an as in French manger
approximately as o in English got but releasing some air through the
nose |
| /e/ |
é as in French été or ay
as in English day without the
'y' sound (e.g. Scottish pronunciation) |
| /ê/ |
e as in bed. |
| /i/ |
i as in machine |
| /o/ |
o as in Scottish pronunciation (i.e. a single
sound, keeping rounded lips still) of go |
| /õ/ |
on as in French pont or
for previous 'o' but releasing some air through the
nose |
| /ö/ |
eu as in French feu
approximately as in the English hesitation 'errrr'
but shorter with tightly rounded-lips |
| /O/ |
as in British English soft |
| /Ö/ |
oe as in French coeur or
similar to e in English her |
| /u/ |
ou as in French hibou
similar to oo in English zoo
but longer with more rounded lips |
| /y/ |
u as in French mur a
little like ew in few but
shorter with tightened lips |
Long vowels are shown by a following ":" : /a:/, ...
Consonants
| Phonetic |
Pronunciation |
| /b/ |
b as in boy |
| /k/ |
k as in kind |
| /x/ |
ch slightly guttural as in Scottish loch or j as in Spanish jota |
| /d/ |
d as in do |
| /f/ |
f as in free |
| /g/ |
g as in go |
| /h/ |
h as in happy |
| /l/ |
l as in like |
| /m/ |
m as in me |
| /n/ |
n as in no |
| /p/ |
p as in please |
| /r/ |
r as in French rapace a
light friction of the soft palate or gargle |
| /s/ |
s as in snake |
| /t/ |
t as in tea |
| /v/ |
v as in virtual |
| /w/ |
w as in west |
| /z/ |
z as in zebra |
| /j/ |
y as in you |
The main stress in a word is shown by a "'"
placed immediately before the stressed syllable.
General Rules of Pronunciation
Breton is a strongly stressed language. Stress
is generally on the penultimate syllable of the
word.
Final consonants not followed by a vowel become
hard (voiceless) : a G sounds like a K, a D like
a T, Z-S, B-P, etc ... (a bit like in German). If however
they are followed by a vowel, the
opposite effect happens (K sounds like G etc).
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| Introduction to the Breton Language
Course |
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