Old Tupi phonemes as they are represented by theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The Tupian alphabet used is the one developed by Antônio Lemos Barbosa[1] and slightly modified by Eduardo de Almeida Navarro.[2]
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | m | n | (ɲ)[n 1] | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | prenasalized | (ᵐb) | (ⁿd) | (ᵑɡ) | ||
| voiceless | p | t | k | ʔ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | β | s | ʃ[n 2] | (ɣ)[n 3] | h? |
| voiced | (ʒ)[n 4] | |||||
| Semivowel | (w~ɡʷ)[n 5] | (j)[n 6] | (ɨ̯) | |||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | m | n | (ɲ)[n 1] | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | prenasalized | (ᵐb) | (ⁿd) | (ᵑɡ) | ||
| voiceless | p | t | k | (ʔ)[n 7] | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | (β)[n 8] | s | ʃ | (ɣ)[n 3] | |
| voiced | (ʒ)[n 4] | |||||
| Semivowel | (w~ɡʷ)[n 5] | (j)[n 6] | (ɨ̯) | |||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||
| Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | m | n | (ɲ)[n 1] | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
| voiced | b | ɡ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | ʃ | ||
| voiced | v | ʒ | |||
| Semivowel | (w~ɡʷ)[n 5] | (j)[n 6] | |||
| Flap | ɾ | ||||
| Lateral approximant | l | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iĩ | ɨɨ̃ | uũ[n 9] |
| Mid | eẽ | oõ | |
| Open | aã |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iĩ | (ɨ)(ɨ̃)[n 10] | uũ[n 9] |
| Mid | eẽ | oõ | |
| Open | aã |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iĩ | uũ | |
| Mid | eẽ | oõ | |
| Open | aã |
| IPA | Representation | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tupi | LGA | LGP | Hist. | Norm. | |
| Consonants | |||||
| ʔ | ∅, ¨ | ' | mba'e(“thing”) | ||
| β | b | b | abá(“man”) | ||
| ɣ | g | g | ygara(“canoe”) | ||
| h | h | h | hẽhẽ(“yes”) | ||
| k | c, g, qu, x (ky) | k | ka'a(“forest”) | ||
| m | m | m | mokaba(“gun”) | ||
| ᵐb | b, mb | mb | mboîa(“snake”) | ||
| n | n | n | nambi(“ear”) | ||
| ⁿd | d | nd | nde(“you”) | ||
| ŋ | g, ng | ng | nhe'eng(“to speak”) | ||
| ᵑɡ | ng | ||||
| ɲ | gn, ñ, nh | nh | kunhã(“woman”) | ||
| p | b, p | p | pó(“hand”) | ||
| ɾ | r | r | gûariba(“howler monkey”) | ||
| s | s | s | sy(“mother”) | ||
| t | t | t | tatu(“armadillo”) | ||
| ʃ | ch, sch, x | x | ixé(“I”) | ||
| l | l | columi(“boy”) | |||
| v | v | uvaca(“sky”) | |||
| ɡ | g | gurâſû(“sun”) | |||
| ʒ | g, j | ragira(“daughter”) | |||
| j | i, j, y | î | îasy(“moon”) | ||
| w | o, u, w | û | apûã(“pointy”) | ||
| ɡʷ[n 1] | go, gu | gû | gûará(“scarlet ibis”) | ||
| ɨ̯ | i, ig, y, yg | ŷ | apŷaba(“man”) | ||
| Vowels | |||||
| a | a | a | arara(“macaw”) | ||
| e | e | e | sykyîé(“fear”) | ||
| i | i, j, y | i | karaíba(“white man”) | ||
| o | au, o | o | só(“to go”) | ||
| u | ou | u | gûasu(“big”) | ||
| ɨ | e, i, î, ig, j, ou, ouy, u, y, yg | y | 'ybá(“fruit”) | ||
| ã | â, ã, an | ã | marã(“evil”) | ||
| ẽ | ẽ, em | ẽ | nha'ẽ(“plate”) | ||
| ĩ | ĩ, im | ĩ | mirĩ(“small”) | ||
| õ | õ, om | õ | mokõi(“two”) | ||
| ũ | ũ, um | ũ | apekũ(“tongue”) | ||
| ɨ̃ | u, ũ | ỹ | amỹîa(“grandfather”) | ||
| Diacritics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Use | ||
| ◌́ | Primary stress | |
| ◌̃ | Nasalisation | |
| ◌̯ | Semivowel | |