Estonian

Vowels

The standard Estonian vowel system comprises 9 vowels, all of which can occur single (short) or doubled (long). The vowel /7/ is high-mid back unrounded, in the area of cardinal 15.

	SAMPA symbol	Orthography		Transcription
	i		risu			risu
	ii		riisu			riisu
	e		kere			kere
	ee		keere			keere
	{		käru			k{ru
	{{		kääru			k{{ru
	y		nüri			nyri
	yy		müüri			myyri
	2		köhi			k2hi
	22		nööri			n22ri
	u		kuri			kuri
	uu		kuuri			kuuri
	o		pori			pori
	oo		poori			poori
	7		sõre			s7re
	77		sõõre			s77re
	A		varu			vAru
	AA		vaaru			vAAru

Consonants

The consonant system comprises 17 consonant phonemes, all of which can occur single (short) or double (long). Those symbolized with /'/ are palatalized.

	p		taba			tApA
	pp		tapa			tAppA
	t		padu			pAtu
	tt		patu			pAttu
	k		kagu			kAku
	kk		kaku			kAkku
	t'		padi			pAt'i
	t't		pati			pAt'ti
	f		foori			foori
	ff		tufi			tuffi
	v		tuvi			tuvi
	vv		kavva			kAvvA
	s		kasu			kAsu
	ss		kassa			kAssA
	S		s<efi looz<i		Seffi looSi
	SS		tus<i			tuSSi
	h		sahin			sAhin
	hh		s<ahhi			SAhhi
	s'		kasi			kAs'i
	s's		kassi			kAs'si
	m		samas			sAmAs
	mm		sammas			sAmmAs
	n		kana			kAnA
	nn		kanna			kAnnA
	n'		pani			pAn'i
	n'n		panni			pAn'ni
	l		kalas			kAlAs
	ll		kallas			kAllAs
	l'		pali			pAl'i
	l'l		palli			pAl'li
	r		varas			vArAs
	rr		varras			vArrAs
	j		maja			mAjA
	jj		majja			mAj:jA

There are two types of word accent: light and heavy. The heavy accent implies additional duration, and is shown in SAMPA by using the length mark after the appropriate segmental symbol. The interaction of these two accents with single and double segments produces segmental contrasts of short vs. long vs. overlong.

(short, light)		nagi			nAki
(long cons., light)	maki			mAkki
(long cons., heavy)	makki			mAk:ki
(long vowel, light)	maagi			mAAki
(long vowel, heavy)	maagi			mAA:ki

SAMPA home page
UCL Phonetics and Linguistics home page
BABEL home page

Maintained by J.C. Wells. Last amended 1996 Sep 06