The charts below show how the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Sicilian language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-scn}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Sicilian orthography for a more thorough look at the sounds of Sicilian.

Consonants[1]
IPA Examples English approximation
b bancheri, abbentu, campu[2][3] bike
c chiancheri, cchiù, chiḍḍu[3] askew
ç ciumi, çiuçiari, xuri huge
d denti, sarda, addumannari[3][4] done (with the tongue touching the teeth)
dz cunzigghiu, panza, n sicilianu[3][5] dads
Giappuni, lèggiri, manciari[2][3] jab
ɖ beḍḍu, cavaḍḍu, dragunara, cuntrariu[2][3] done (Indian English)
f figghiu, cufuruna, nfamia[3] fast
ɡ (ɡ)[6] aggrancari, gula, jancu[3][7][8] gas
ɟ figghia, àghiru, gherciu, tri jorna, jìnchiri[7][8][9] Montague
k canigghia, accussì, quarru, muncu[3] scar
l valanza, còllira let
m mèttiri, lemmu[10] mother
ɱ nfarrainari, nvernu[10] symphony
n novu, cunnùciri, nzèmmula[10] nice
ŋ loncu, ngrisi, sangu[8][10] singing
ɳ landreḍḍu, contra[10] roughly like corndog
ɲ lagnusìa, gnuranti, nchiostru[2][8][10] roughly like canyon
p tuppu, pirchì, sìmprici[3] spin
r rùmpiri, parrata[11] trilled r or leisure
ɾ cornu, lu denti[4][11] atom (American English)
ɽ àutri, mandracchiu[11] try
s sugnu, spiari, cassulari[5] sorry
ʂ strata, mastru[5][12] shred
ʃ cascia, pisci, scena[2][5][13] ship
t tanticchia, stritta, muntunarìa[3] star (with the tongue touching the teeth)
ts zappagghiuni, pizzulari, canzuna, n sicilianu[2][3][5] cats
pacenzia, vucceri, canciamentu[3][13] clentch or clash
ʈ àutri, quatratu, cuntrariu[3] stray (Indian English)
v vucca, aviri, avvucatu, nfamia[3] vent
z sbagghiu, sdisinnata, rosmarina[5] zest
Semivowels
IPA Examples English approximation
j jinnaru, lu jornu, pajari, piaciri[7][9] you
w quannu, acqua, guadagnu wine
 
Vowels
IPA Examples English approximation
Stressed vowels[14]
a squatra, càdiri, cità father
ɛ beni, tèniri, cafè bed
i stidda, arrìmula, ripitì see
ɔ sonu, vòmmira, masinnò off
u zùccuru, curnutu, nacchiù tool
Unstressed vowels
a squatra, aviri grandma
ɪ càdiri, fitusu bitter
ʊ curnutu, càudu pull
Dialectal vowels
e (Salentino) càdiri, gammali[15] bay
 
Suprasegmentals
IPA Examples Explanation
ˈ capiḍḍu [kaˈpiɖɖʊ] primary stress
ˌ suttasupra [ˌsuttaˈsuːpɾa] secondary stress
. triangulari [ʈɽɪ.aŋŋʊˈlaːɾɪ] syllable break
ː pirtusu [pɪɾˈtuːsʊ] long vowel[16]
  1. If a consonant is doubled after a vowel, it is geminated. In IPA, gemination can be represented either by doubling the consonant (fattu [ˈfattʊ], mezzu [ˈmɛttsʊ]) or by the length marker Template:IPAalink. Sicilian, like standard Italian, also has a sandhi phenomenon called syntactic gemination, generally not represented graphically: e.g. è loncu [ˌɛ lˈlɔŋkʊ].
  2. 2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3 2,4 2,5 /b/, /dʒ/, /ɖ/, /ɲ/, /ʃ/ and /ts/ are always geminated after a vowel, before a vowel or a semivowel.
  3. 3,00 3,01 3,02 3,03 3,04 3,05 3,06 3,07 3,08 3,09 3,10 3,11 3,12 3,13 3,14 In a few (but not all) dialects, /p/, /t/, /ts/, /tʃ/, /ʈ/, /k/, /c/ and for some even /f/, when preceded by a nasal, may be replaced by their voiced counterparts [b], [d], [dz], [dʒ], [ɖ], [ɡ], [ɟ], [v].
  4. 4,0 4,1 The common realization of vowel-following single /d/ is Template:IPAblink.
  5. 5,0 5,1 5,2 5,3 5,4 5,5 Template:Angbr may be rendered as Template:IPAblink before voiceless consonants, Template:IPAblink before voiced or nasal consonants, and is always Template:IPAblink~Template:IPAblink after a nasal; it merges with following /ʈ(ɽ)/ giving Template:IPAblink (e.g. finestra [fɪˈnɛʂː(ɽ)a]).
  6. If the two characters ɡ and Template:Angbr do not match and if the first looks like a γ, then you have an issue with your default font. See Help:IPA § Rendering issues.
  7. 7,0 7,1 7,2 When not geminated nor preceded by a consonant, /ɡ/ and /ɟ/ may also be realized as Template:IPAblink / Template:IPAblink, respectively, or dropped.
  8. 8,0 8,1 8,2 8,3 After Template:Angbr, /ɡ/ and /ɟ/ might nasalize to Template:IPAblink / Template:IPAblink, respectively (e.g. lingua [ˈliŋŋwa]).
  9. 9,0 9,1 When /j/ is geminated or preceded by a nasal it is replaced by Template:IPAblink (e.g. un jencu [uɲ ˈɟɛŋkʊ]~[uɲ ˈɲɛŋkʊ]).
  10. 10,0 10,1 10,2 10,3 10,4 10,5 Nasals always assimilate their place of articulation to that of the following consonant. Thus, the n in /nk/~/nɡ/ is a velar Template:IPAblink, the one in /nc/~/nɟ/~/nɲ/ is a palatal Template:IPAblink, the one in /nʈ/~/nɖ/ is a retroflex Template:IPAblink and the one in /nf/~/nv/ is a labiodental Template:IPAblink (with /nv/ also realized as [ɱː]). A nasal before /p/, /b/ and /m/ is a bilabial Template:IPAblink.
  11. 11,0 11,1 11,2 Template:Angbr has a variety of realizations, the most common of which are: [ɾ] if single, though usually [ɽ] after Template:Angbr / Template:Angbr (or even Template:IPAblink / Template:IPAblink, respectively); Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink if geminated. At the beginning of a word it is always geminated.
  12. Always geminated.
  13. 13,0 13,1 When not geminated nor following another consonant, /tʃ/ tends to be pronounced Template:IPAblink.
  14. In unstressed positions, the mid and close front vowels /ɛ/ and /i/ are neutralized as Template:IPAblink, whereas their back counterparts /ɔ/ and /u/ are neutralized as Template:IPAblink. However, in recent borrowings (mostly from Italian) and in certain compounds, /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ may appear even in unstressed positions (e.g. ristoranti [rɪstɔˈɾantɪ], comegghiè [kɔmɛɟˈɟɛ]). The open /a/ occurs in all positions.
  15. Salentino contrasts unstressed /ɪ/ and /e/. A good illustration of that is the word gammali "boot", which in Salentino is pronounced [kamˈbaːle] in the singular and [kamˈbaːlɪ] in the plural, but is [ɡamˈmaːlɪ] for both forms elsewhere.
  16. Vowels are long when stressed in non-final open syllables: vèniri [ˈvɛːnɪɾɪ] ~ vènniri [ˈvɛnnɪɾɪ], or when they are the result of phonetic mergers, in which case they are spelled with a circumflex: nta lu = ntô, pi lu = pû.