Maltese Maltese Pronunciation
Return to the MALTESE ArchiveForward to the Current MALTESE Forum
darnskippy
Monday 28th of August 2006 05:40:51 AM
Maltese Pronunciation:
a pronounced as o in come
b pronounced be as in bell
c hard c as in cat
c pronounced ch as in cherry *
d pronounced de as in devil
e pronounced e as in fell
f pronounced f as in fall
g hard g as in gun
g pronounced j as in jam *
gh unsounded aspirated glottic
h silent except at end of words when it is aspirated
h aspirated h with a guttural sound like gh in "Ugh!" **
i pronounced i as in till
j pronounced ye as in yellow
k pronounced ke as in kettle
l pronounced l as in late
m pronounced m as in male
n pronounced n as in nose
o pronounced o as in pot
p pronounced pe as in pen
q compared to the cockney sound of the final letter in the English word "that"
r pronounced r as in rain
s pronounced se as in set
t pronounced te as in tell
u pronounced u as in pull
v pronounced ve as in vessel
w pronounced we as in well
x pronounced sh as in shepherd
z pronounced ze as in zebra
z pronounced ts as in nuts *
* these letters are written with a period on top of the letter.
** this letter is written with a horizontal line running through the stem of the letter.
għ is silent but pharyngealizes and lengthens vowels
h has a simliar function to għ
għ and h at the end of a word are both pronounced as ħ
għh = ħħ
Final consonants are devoiced: b = [p], d = [t], ġ = [ʧ], g = [k], v = [f], ż = [s]
i before għ, h, ħ or q = [iː]
m followed by a consonant at the beginning of a word is pronounced im, e.g. mnejn = [imnejn]
sil_gauci
Monday 30th of October 2006 01:02:03 AM
Just some corrections: The "c hard c as in cat" does not exist. The sound of the c of cat is of the letter k.
&
When some NOUNS beginning with 2/3 consonants are added to the definite article (l-), then you add the "i" in the begining of the word to pronounce it better.
Eg: skola (school) => l-iskola
sptar (hospital) => l-isptar
Mdina (Malta's old capital city) => l-Imdina
The "i" is used in other circumstances to ease pronounciation , but not in the case of the example given by darnskippy.
Return to the MALTESE ArchiveForward to the Current MALTESE Forum