Òwe Yorùbá (Yoruba Proverbs) wrote a new note: Introduction to Yoruba Language: Yoruba Alphabet. YORUBA ALPHABET Letters of the Alphabet The complete letters making up Yoruba Alphabets in both capital and small cases are as follows: A a - (Always pronounced as the a in cat) B b - (pronounced as in English) D d - (pronounced as in English) E e - (always pronounced as in the letter A of the English alphabet) Ẹ ẹ - (always pronounced as the e in get or bet) F f - (pronounced as in English) G g - (always pronounced as the g in get) GB gb - (No English equivalent. But sound can be closely simulated by attempting to pronounce g and b together simultaneously (not sequentially).) H h - ( always pronounced as the h in hat) I i - (always pronounced as i in sit or bit) J i - (pronounced as in English K k - (pronounced as in English letter K) L l - (pronounced as in English letter L) M m - (pronounced as in English letter M) N n - (pronounced as in English; nasal when preceding a consonant and hard as n in not when preceding a vowel) O o - (always pronounced as o in English go) Ọ ọ - ( always pronounced as o in English got) P p - (No English equivalent. An approximate sound is to attempt pronouncing k and p simultaneously as in kp (but not sequentially)) R r - ( pronounced as in English) S s - (pronounced as in English letter S) Ṣ ṣ - (always pronounced as sh in sharp) T t - (pronounced as in English letter T) U u - (pronounced as in u in look or book) W w - (always pronounced as w in world) Y y - (always pronounced as y in yell) Please Note: 1) The following English alphabets therefore do not exist in Yoruba: C, Q, V, X, Z. In addition, except C, their phonetic sounds do not exist in Yoruba. 2) All Yoruba letters have only one sound. This makes the language quite easy to learn... — Yoruba Vowels Yoruba language has 7 vowels and these vowels (both in capital and small cases) are as follows: Aa Ee Ẹẹ Ii Oo Ọọ Uu Again their pronunciation are as follows: A a - (Always pronounced as the a in cat) E e - (always pronounced as in the letter A of the English alphabet) Ẹ ẹ - (always pronounced as the e in get or bet) I i - (always pronounced as i in sit or bit) O o - (always pronounced as o in English go) Ọ ọ - ( always pronounced as o in English got) U u - (pronounced as in u in look or book) Please Note: 1) Yoruba vowels are quite unique compared with other languages because they form the basis of the pronounciation of a Yoruba word. 2) With only one exception, consonants do not stand on their own nor is a consonant the last letter in a Yoruba word. Consonants must always be followed by a vowel to give them the relevant sound. The only exception to this is with the letter N, where it takes on the nasal sound when it ends, begins a word or is interspersed in a word not followed by a vowel. In other words, any time letter n is not followed by a vowel in a word, it is nasal.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 07:21:23 +0000
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