Based on linguistic analysis of the Rohingya language, we have developed the following alphabet for learning to read and write in Rohingya. The goal has been to create an alphabet that is easy to learn and is natural to use.
The Rohingya alphabet has 22 consonants and 10 vowels. Each letter (grapheme) is accompanied by the sound (phoneme) it represents in IPA, pronunciation guide and examples words in Rohingya in the following table.
| Letter | IPA | Pronunciation guide | Examples in Rohingya |
|---|---|---|---|
| A a | /ɑ/ | pronounced openly as a in the Italian ‘amore’ | anḍa "egg" asman "sky" |
| Ã ã | /ɑ̃/ | nasalized pronunciation of /ɑ/ | ãi "I (1SG)" ãra "we (1PL)" |
| B b | /b/ | as b in ‘boy’ | bat "cooked rice" bayon "eggplant" |
| D d | /d/ | as d in ‘dog’ | dan "rice plant" |
| Ḍ ḍ | /ɖ/ | This is a retroflexed sound, pronounced with the underside of the tongue curled up just behind the alveolar ridge. | ḍõr "big" anḍa "egg" |
| E e | /e/ | as e in ‘pet’. | enaš "pineapple" tel "oil" |
| Ẽ ẽ | /ẽ/ | nasalized pronunciation of /e/ | fẽsa "owl" kẽs "body hair" |
| F f | /f/ | as f in ‘fun'. | fuwa "child" fani "water" |
| G g | /ɡ/ | as g in ‘go’. | gór "house" gá "body" gula "fruit" gas "tree" |
| H h | /h/ | as h in ‘home’. | hana "food" hat "hand" hosara "dust" |
| I i | /i/ | as ee in ‘sheep’. | isamas "shrimp" |
| Ĩ ĩ | /ĩ/ | nasalized pronunciation of /i/ | gĩyu "grain, seed" |
| J j | /d͡ʒ/ | as j in ‘jam’. | januwar "animal" |
| K k | /k/ | pronounced as k in ‘car’ (without much aspiration). | kitab "book" kura "chicken" |
| L l | /l/ | as l in ‘lap’, not as l in ‘pal’. | lal "red" lamba "tall, high" |
| M m | /m/ | as m in ‘man’ | manuš "man" miyula "cloud" mas "fish" |
| N n | /n/ | as n in ‘name’. | nun "salt" nak "nose" |
| O o | /ɔ/ | pronounced openly as oo in ‘door’. | ošuk "sick" |
| Õ õ | /ɔ̃/ | nasalized pronunciation of /ɔ/. | õṛi "ring" õl "finger" ḍõr "big" |
| P p | /p/ | pronounced as p in ‘pet’ (without much aspiration). | in loan words or foreign words |
| R r | /ɾ/ | as the flap in r of Italian ‘primo’. | ruṭi "bread" rari "widow" |
| Ṛ ṛ | /ɽ/ | Retroflexed sound (a flap), pronounced with the underside of the tongue just behind the alveolar ridge. | ṛaṭ "famine" |
| S s | /s/ | as s in ‘same’. | sini "sugar" sul "hair" |
| Š š | /ʃ/ | as sh in ‘ship’. | šõṛo "small" šohor "city" |
| T t | /t/ | This is a dental sound, pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching upper teeth, as the t in the French word ‘tres’ for ‘very.’ | tormus "watermelon" |
| Ṭ ṭ | /ʈ/ | This is the voiceless equivalent of ḍ. For pronunciation tip, see ḍ. | ṭayon "tomato" ṭam "a type of mango" ṭoka "to deceive" |
| U u | /u/ | as oo in ‘noon’. | usol "high" |
| Ũ ũ | /ũ/ | Nasalized pronunciation of /u/. | ũṭ "lips" kũir "dog" |
| V v | /v/ | This voiced fricative is found only in foreign names or borrowed words. | |
| W w | /w/ | as w in ‘wax’ | wada "promise" |
| Y y | /j/ | as y in ‘year’ | |
| Z z | /z/ | as z in ‘zebra’ | zaga "place" zamai "husband" zir "tongue" zuta "shoes" |