Pronunciation Guide
How to read the ancient roots out loud
Nobody heard Proto-Indo-European spoken; these sounds are scholars' best reconstructions, so treat them as close approximations.
Basics
- *
- Asterisk: the form is reconstructed, never written down. Not pronounced.
- -
- A hyphen marks a root or suffix that needs more attached, e.g. *bʰer-.
- é, ó, á
- Acute accent marks the stressed syllable: *wérdʰom = WER-dhom.
- ē, ō, ā
- Macron means a long vowel: hold it longer, like 'ay' vs 'eh'.
Aspirated stops (ʰ)
- bʰ, dʰ, gʰ
- Breathy-voiced: say b/d/g with a puff of breath, like 'clu-bh-ouse' blended. Often written bh, dh, gh.
- gʷʰ
- Breathy g with rounded lips: roughly 'gwh'.
Palatals & labiovelars
- ḱ, ǵ, ǵʰ
- k/g made further forward, almost like 'ky' in 'cute' or 'gy' in 'argue'.
- kʷ, gʷ
- k/g with rounded lips: like 'qu' in 'queen' or 'gu' in 'Gwen'.
- y (or i̯)
- Consonant y, as in 'yes'.
- w (or u̯)
- Consonant w, as in 'wet'.
Laryngeals (h₁, h₂, h₃)
- h₁
- Probably a catch in the throat or a soft 'h'. Leaves vowels as e.
- h₂
- A rough throaty sound like Scottish 'loch' or German 'Bach'. Colours e to a.
- h₃
- Similar rough sound with rounded lips. Colours e to o.
- H
- A laryngeal whose exact type is unknown.
Syllabic consonants
- r̥, l̥
- A ring below: the r or l acts as a vowel, like 'burr' or the 'le' in 'bottle'.
- m̥, n̥
- Syllabic m/n, like the 'm' in 'rhythm' or 'n' in 'button'.
Later stages
- ą, į, ǫ (Proto-Germanic)
- A hook below means a nasal vowel, like French 'an'.
- þ (Old English)
- Thorn: 'th' as in 'thin'.
- ð (Old English)
- Eth: 'th' as in 'this' (often used interchangeably with þ).
- æ (Old English)
- Ash: the 'a' in 'cat'.
- ȝ (Middle English)
- Yogh: a 'y' or throaty 'gh' sound.