Handbook of International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet

Sindhi

PAROONlHALANI

Department of English Language and Literature
Oita University, 700 Dannoharu, Oita-City 870-1192, Japan

The variety of Sindhi described here is roughly representative of the Vicholi dialect,
which is considered to be the ^Standard variety'. This variety has special prestige attached
to it because the most celebrated poet of Sindhi, Abdul Latif, wrote the classic 'Shah jo
Rasalo' in this dialect. The description, based on the author's own speech, has been kept
fairly close to tlie colloquial style. The transcription is based on a recording of a male first
generation speaker of Standard Sindhi who grew up in Sindh, Pakistan, before moving to
India in 1947. For a detailed discussion of Sindhi segments see Khubchandani (1961).

Consonants

Bilabial

Labio-
dental

Dental

Alveolar

Post-
alveolar

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

Plosive

P b

phbfi

t d

t" dfi

t 4
t" 4*^

k g
k" gfi

Implosive

6

cf

f

^

Affricate

Nasal

m

n
nfi

n.

p

q

Fricative

f

s z

§

X y

h

Tap

r

r

Approximant

V

j

Lateral
Approximant

1

p9nu 'leaf
butu 'shoes'

t

tsro

'bottom'

t

topi

'cap'

d

dunu

'navel'

4

cl^P"

'fear'

132 Handbook of the IP A

6 Beiru
m mst^

'rift'

'mistake'

'child'

'pitcher'

'buffalo'

fsrasi 'bed cover'

ugiru 'hair'

th

dfi

d"

n

nfi

s

z

r

t^ali

d^ars

daru

nalo

ssnfii

sufu

zab

rolu

limo
t^ulfii

'plate'

'separate'

'crevice'

'name'

'thin'

'apple'

'wife'

'wanderer'

'lemon'
'fat' (adj, fern)

'be cool'
'cover' (n)

IX mai^i 'diamond'
v^ maix% 'person'

ge

r P^'oro
r^ por^o

'thing'

'sore' (n)
'old man'

c

calu

'cunning'

J

JUltO

'shoes'

&

c^ati

'breast'

f

jfisti

'immediately

J

Jgiro

'cobweb'

Jl

JQJIQ

'marriage
procession'

jaru

'friend'

g

kh

gfi
q

X

Y
h

kano

gano

k^ano

gfioro

^sro

caqo

xofu

Yomu

haru

'straw'

'song'

'drawer'

'horse'

'heavy'

'good'

'fear'

'sorrow'

'necklace'

Vowels

Sindhi has a system of ten oral vowels.

i

sir9

'midstream'

I

sirs

'brick'

e

sers

(a measure of weight)

e

sera

'walks' (n)

a

sair^

'jealousy'

S9ra

'funeral'

csiDsndo

'you will say'

coiDsndo

'he will say'

u

suiro

'tunes'

u

sum

'aches and pains'

\\

u •
• u
o •

\'\

•

\-^

• a

Illustrations of the IP A 1 33

The vowels /e/ and hi tend to be diphthongized, as [es] and [su]. These vowels have a
limited distribution, not occurring before aspirated stops, implosives, nasals or /y/.
Vowels are audibly nasalized preceding a nasal consonant, but, as in many other modem
Indo-Aryan languages, there are a few words in Sindhi with distinctive nasalized vowels.
Compare hsil 'eighty', hsil 'we'; /ad^i/ 'half-rupee', /adfii/ 'storm'; /dshi/ 'yoghurt',
/d5hi/ 'tenth'. For this reason, vowel nasalization must be regarded as phonemic, and it
has been marked in the transcription of the passage below in positions where it is not
predictable from a preceding nasal.

Stress

Word-level stress is nondistinctive, and is fixed on the first syllable of the morpheme.
Contrastive stress may be used to give special emphasis to a word or to point to a contrast
of ideas.

Conventions

The consonants in the post-alveolar column of the chart are pronounced as apical post-
alveolars (Nihallani 1974b). They have been transcribed, following tradition, with symbols
for retroflex sounds. The consonants in the palatal column are laminal post-alveolars.
/c, c*», J, fl have an affricated release of relatively short duration. The alveolar nasal /n/
occurs mostly before dental or alveolar consonants and is pronounced homorganic with
the following consonant, [u] is in free variation with [w] as the realization of /u/.

Breathy-voiced consonants, transcribed with [«], are produced with the vocal folds
incompletely closed at the centre and with the arytenoid cartilages apart (Nihalani 1974a).
Of the rhotics /r, r, 1^1, hi is realized most often as a tap but may be a trill with two or
more contacts, /r, r^/ are typically flaps.

Vowels in open syllables tend to be longer than those in closed syllables, /a, i, u/ are
shorter than other vowels. Stops in intervocalic position preceded by these vowels tend to
be longer than those preceded by other vowels, e.g.:

[mudio]

'period'

[mado]

'capability*

[pstio]

'leaf

[pato]

'worn'

[pitia]

'curse'

[moto]

'fat' (adj, male)

Transcription of recorded passage

utsrs ji hsua e siju paip me j^o^ro ksre rohja huja to Binfii me keru
i^sdfiiko takstuaro ahe. etre me hiku musafiru gsrsm kotu pae uta sci
bqgfijo. hsua e sijs Bmfii kabul kojo to jeko musafiro jo kofu lahrae
ssgfi^ndo uho i usdfiiks takstuaro lek^jo t;endo. po utsrs ji hsua dac^fio zors
sa b^i, pors jetro uod^iks zoro sa b^i otro usdfiiks zors sa musafirs parp

134 Handbook of the IP A

k^e c^fiakiip ji kogig koji. axir me utere je hsua kogi? c^cfe cfini. po sijs ji
uso zoro sa nikti e musafirg pahipjo kotu joldi lahe psre p^iti kojo. mhis
ksre utors je hsua mspjo to siju hi Binfii me uodfiiko takotuaro ahe.

Orthographic version

.^--^ (^^" bS^. ^)i aoJL^ 3^ ^^1^^ ^U3>

References

Khubchandani, L. M. (1961). r/ie Phonology and Morphophonemics ofSindhi. M.A.

dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
NlHALAJ^n, P. (1974a). An aerodynamic study of stops in Sindhi. Phonetica 29, 193-224.
NIHALANI, P. (1974b). Lingual articulation of stops in Sindhi. Phonetica 30, 197-212.

Handbook of the International Phonetic Association :
A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Association, July 1999.