From 41dac78274864772aff3552587972cbfe6714041 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ronald Tse <ronald.tse@ribose.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2026 15:51:33 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?feat:=20vocalized=20gutturals=20carry=20glottal?=
 =?UTF-8?q?=20stop=20=E2=80=94=20TTS/phonikud=20convention?=
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---
 src/interscript/ml/nikud_ipa.py | 4 +++-
 tests/test_nikud_ipa.py         | 8 ++++----
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/interscript/ml/nikud_ipa.py b/src/interscript/ml/nikud_ipa.py
index 4e23f71..979b1c1 100644
--- a/src/interscript/ml/nikud_ipa.py
+++ b/src/interscript/ml/nikud_ipa.py
@@ -81,7 +81,9 @@ def nikud_to_ipa(text: str) -> str:
                 continue
 
         if letter in ("א", "ע"):
-            out.append(vowels)  # silent guttural, vowel carries
+            # gutturals carry ʔ when vocalized (Israeli/TTS convention),
+            # fully silent when bare
+            out.append("ʔ" + vowels if vowels else "")
             continue
 
         if letter == "ה" and last:
diff --git a/tests/test_nikud_ipa.py b/tests/test_nikud_ipa.py
index 4955007..623faec 100644
--- a/tests/test_nikud_ipa.py
+++ b/tests/test_nikud_ipa.py
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ def test_yod_after_vowel_is_silent_lengthener(self):
         assert nikud_to_ipa("רִי") == "ʁi"
 
     def test_gutturals_silent_with_vowel(self):
-        assert nikud_to_ipa("אָב") == "av"
-        assert nikud_to_ipa("עִיר") == "iʁ"
+        assert nikud_to_ipa("אָב") == "ʔav"
+        assert nikud_to_ipa("עִיר") == "ʔiʁ"
 
     def test_final_heh_silent(self):
         assert nikud_to_ipa("סֻכָּה") == "suka"
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def test_core_vowels(self):
 
     def test_hataf(self):
         assert nikud_to_ipa("חֲנֻכָּה") == "xanuka"
-        assert nikud_to_ipa("אֱמֶת") == "emet"
+        assert nikud_to_ipa("אֱמֶת") == "ʔemet"
 
     def test_qamats_qatan_via_lexicon(self):
         # כָּל is the canonical qamats-qatan word: /kol/
@@ -93,5 +93,5 @@ def test_every_real_cluster_has_rule_or_override(self):
 
 class TestPassThrough:
     def test_spaces_and_latin_survive(self):
-        assert nikud_to_ipa("שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם") == "ʃalom alexem"
+        assert nikud_to_ipa("שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם") == "ʃalom ʔalexem"
         assert nikud_to_ipa("abc") == "abc"