Phone-label cheat sheet (v1.0)

These are the labels the project uses internally. When you correct a word in the review form, type the corrected pronunciation using these labels. Spaces between phones, . for syllable boundaries.

Vowels — oral (6)

Label	IPA	Example
`i`	i	इमान — `i m aa n`
`e`	e	एक — `e k`
`ax`	ʌ	अब — `ax . b ax` (the schwa)
`aa`	a	आज — `aa . dz ax`
`o`	o	ओखर — `o . kh ax r`
`u`	u	उमेर — `u . m e r`

Vowels — nasalized (5)

Append n: in en axn aan un. There is no nasalized o in default mode (Khatiwada 2009: 378 — “the high mid back vowel /o/ does not have a nasal counterpart at the phonological level”).

Diphthongs — oral (7)

Label	IPA	Example
`axj`	ʌi̯	कैले — `k axj . l e`
`axw`	ʌu̯	जौ — `dz axw`
`aaj`	ai̯	भाइ — `bh aaj`
`aaw`	au̯	आऊ — `aaw`
`oj`	oi̯	पोइ — `p oj`
`ew`	eu̯	एउटा — `ew . tx aa`
`ow`	ou̯	(rare)

Plus 6 nasalized counterparts: axjn axwn aajn aawn ojn own.

Consonants — stops (16)

Place	Voiceless	Aspirated	Voiced	Breathy
Bilabial	`p`	`ph`	`b`	`bh`
Dental	`t`	`th`	`d`	`dh`
Retroflex	`tx`	`txh`	`dx`	`dxh`
Velar	`k`	`kh`	`g`	`gh`

Affricates (4, alveolar per Khatiwada 2009)

ts — tsh — dz — dzh (these were called c ch j jh in the project's earlier draft inventory; renamed in v1.0 to reflect alveolar place).

Nasals (3 in default mode)

m, n, ng. Default mode collapses ञ → n and ण → n per Regmi (2025: 123).

Other consonants

r (alveolar tap/trill), s (default sibilant — collapses श, ष, स), h (voiced glottal /ɦ/), l, y, w.

Special characters in phone strings

. — syllable boundary (e.g. between consonant clusters and vowels)
: — gemination (after a phone), e.g. p: for /pː/ as in चप्पल

Style-gated phones — do NOT use in default mode

sh sx ny nx f z are reserved for the careful_sanskritized mode. If you think a word needs them, leave the default phones and add a comment in the notes field.

Worked examples

Word	Gloss	Default phones
नेपाल	Nepal	`n e . p aa l`
राम	Ram	`r aa m`
आज	today	`aa . dz ax`
भाइ	brother	`bh aaj`
गाउँ	village	`g aawn`
श्रेष्ठ	Shrestha (surname)	`s r e s . txh ax`
चप्पल	slipper	`ts ax . p: ax l`
कीटपतङ्ग	insect	`k i tx . p ax . t ax . ng g ax`