The tone of a syllable depends mostly on its initial consonant. In this table, each initial is given in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) with the vowel a and a tone mark to present tone register (high/low).
The seventeen vowels of the Lhasa dialect are represented in Tibetan pinyin as follows:
IPA
Tibetan
pinyin
IPA
Tibetan
pinyin
i
i
ĩ
in
e
ê
ẽ
en
ɛ
ai/ä
ɛ̃
ain/än
a
a
ã
an
u
u
ũ
un
o
o
õ
on
ɔ
o
y
ü
ün
ø
oi/ö
ø̃
oin/ön
Syllable-final -r is usually not spoken, but lengthens the preceding vowel. Syllable-final -n of the written forms usually nasalises the preceding vowel. This is how syllable-final consonants are transcribed:
Guójiā cèhuìjú dìmíng yánjiūsuǒ 国家测绘局地名研究所 (Institute for Place Names of the State Survey Bureau; ed.). Zhōngguó dìmínglù 中国地名录 / Gazetteer of China. (Beijing, Zhōngguó dìtú chūbǎnshè 中国地图出版社 1997); ISBN 7-5031-1718-4. Contains official spellings for place names.
Zàngwén pīnyīn jiàocái - Lāsàyīn 藏文拼音教材•拉萨音 / bod yig gi sgra sbyor slob deb, lha sa'i skad (Course in the transcription of Tibetan, Lhasa dialect; Běijīng 北京, Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社 1983), ISBN 7-105-02577-8. A modified version of the official transcription, with tone letters.
