Saturday 13 December 2008

Systematic Roman Urdu (Eur-Urdu)

Urdu consonants

Examples

b

kyA bAt

bh

mere bhAi

c

camcA

ch

choTi chwri

d

dudh

dh

dudh

D

DanDA

Dh

Dhili DhAli

g

gaNgA

gh

desi ghi

G

Garib

h

hamAra hAl

j

jadid

jh

mwjh se

k

kahAN?

kh

khylARi

l

lAl qyllA

m

mwmkyn

n

nigAh

N

mEN hwN

q

lAl qyllA

r

mere bhAi

R

baRi bAt

s

swbut

s

sylsylA

s

surat

S

Ser o SAyri

t

tamASA

th

thoRa thoRa

T

TuTnA

Th

Thag

t

tAlyb

v

vidhvA

x

xAndAn

z

zymmadAri

z

zabAn

z

zAhyr

z

zarur

Z

TelivyZan

y

yakAyak

Urdu vowels

Examples

a

sab ras

A

Ap kA nAm kyA hE?

e

mere xeyAl meN

E

mEN ne kiyA hE

y

dyl

i

meri bivi

o

zor

O

kOn?

w

twm

u

zarur

This alphabet was devised to facilitate convenient transcription of Urdu into the Roman alphabet. It represents sounds rather than the Urdu letters. se, sin, svAd are represented by ‘s’, and ze, zvAd, zoe and zAl are represented by ‘z’. The underlying principle is that each Urdu sound should be represented by one letter available in English language word processing programmes. Note that the combination ‘ah’ followed by a consonant is usually pronounced more like ‘eh’ (kahnA, rahnA, etc).

Sept 08





A note on the transliteration system
‘Systematic Roman Urdu’ (Eur-Urdu)
Urdu/Persianconsonants Examples Rough Standard UK English Equivalent
b kyA bAt Ordinary ‘b’
bh mere bhAi As in ‘clubhouse’
c camcA ch as in church (no audible ‘h’)
ch choTi chwri As in witchhunt (‘h’ clearly audible)
d dudh Dental ‘d’, (tongue near teeth)
dh dudh As in bloodhound (dental ‘d’, ‘h clearly audible)
D DanDA Retroflex ‘d’ (tongue hits back of roof of mouth)
Dh Dhili DhAli As in clodhopper but retroflex ‘d’ and audible ‘h’
g gaNgA Ordinary ‘g’
gh desi ghi As in plughole, h clearly audible
G Garib Fricative ‘g’, like French ‘r’, a bit growly
h hamArA hAl Ordinary ‘h’
j jadid Ordinary ‘j’
jh mwjh se As in bilge-hole (aspirated ‘j’)
k kahAN? Ordinary ‘k’ but with no audible ‘h after it
kh khylARi Ordinary ‘k’ with audible ‘h’, brickhouse
l lAl qyllA Ordinary ‘l’ made near front of mouth
m mwmkyn Ordinary ‘m’
n nigAh Ordinary ‘n’
N mEN hwN Nasal ‘n as in string (no ‘g’)
q lAl qyllA Like ‘k’ but said deeper in throat
r mere bhAi Lightly rolled ‘r’
R baRi bAt Retroflex ‘r’ (tongue hits back of roof of mouth)
s swbut Ordinary ‘s’ (These three ‘s’ words …..)
s sylsylA Ordinary ‘s’ (…. use different letters ….)
s surat Ordinary ‘s’ ( …….of the Urdu alphabet)
S Ser o SAyri sh as in ship-shape, mission, station
t tamASA Dental ‘t’ (tongue near teeth) no audible ‘h’ after it
th thoRA thoRA As in coathanger, dental ‘t’ audible ‘h’
T TuTnA Retroflex ‘t’ (tongue hits back of roof of mouth) no ‘h’
Th Thag As in boathouse, retroflex ‘t’, audible ‘h’
t tAlyb Dental ‘t’, no ‘h’, (different letter in Urdu)
v vidhvA Very soft ‘v’
x xAndAn Gutteral fricative as in Scottish loch
z zymmadAri Ordinary ‘z’ (These four ‘z’ words …..)
z zabAn Ordinary ‘z’ (…. use four different letters …..)
z zAhyr Ordinary ‘z’ ( …….in the Urdu, Persian ….. )
z zarur Ordinary ‘z’ ( ….. and Arabic alphabets.)
Z TelivyZan The fricative ‘zh’ sound as in television)
y yakAyak Ordinary ‘y’








Urdu vowels Examples Rough Standard UK English Equivalent
a sab ras ‘the bloody bus does enough’
A Ap kA nAm kyA hE? Long ‘a’ as in ,art, heart, mirage, moustache,
e mere xeyAl meN ‘Then Ben said’
E mEN ne kiyA hE Big open ‘e’ (listen for examples)
y dyl Short ‘i’ as in ‘fix it’ ‘women’
i meri bivi Long ‘i’ as in ‘leave, grief, receipt’
o zor As in ‘four, more, broad’
O kOn? Big open ‘o’ (listen for examples)
w twm ‘should, look’
u zarur ‘move, food’


This alphabet was devised to facilitate convenient transcription of Urdu, Punjabi and Indian Persian into the Roman alphabet. It represents sounds rather than the Urdu letters. SO se, sin and svAd are represented by ‘s’, and ze, zvAd, zoe and zAl are represented by ‘z’. The underlying principle is that each Urdu sound should be represented by one letter available in English language word processing programmes. Punjabi has wide dialectal variation but Punjabi and Indian Persian are considered to be similar in pronunciation to Urdu for the purposes of this essay. Note that the combination ‘ah’ followed by a consonant is usually pronounced more like ‘eh’ (kahnA, rahnA, etc). Note also that in Punjabi, the ‘h’ is not pronounced in all dialects, but is included here for the sake of clarity, because it sometimes affects the tone of the word.

July 2009

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