This article is about the phonology of the Latgalian language.
Vowels
Monophthongs
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
short | long | short | long | short | long | |
Close | i ⟨i⟩ | iː ⟨ī⟩ | (ɨ) ⟨y⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ | uː ⟨ū⟩ | |
Mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ | (ɛː) ⟨ē⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ | (ɔː) ⟨ō⟩ | ||
Open | æ | æː | a ⟨a⟩ | aː ⟨ā⟩ |
- Phonologically, /ɨ/ is a back counterpart of /i/. As they occur in complementary distribution, they can be regarded as allophones of a single /i/ phoneme.[2]
- Long /ɛː, ɔː/ are rare and occur only in interjections. The phonological long counterparts of the short /ɛ, ɔ/ are the diphthongs /iɛ, uɔ/.[1]
- There are very few minimal pairs for the /ɛ–æ/ opposition. In some dialects, [æ] is simply an allophone of /ɛ/.[3]
- /a, aː/ are phonetically central [ä, äː].[1]
Diphthongs
Ending point | ||
---|---|---|
Front | Back | |
Close | iɛ (ui) | iu ɨu uɔ |
Mid | ɛi (ɔi) | (ɔu) |
Open | æi ai | au |
- In contrast to other diphthongs, /iɛ, uɔ/ are monophonemic.[2]
- /ui, ɔi/ occur only in some words.[3]
- /iu, ɨu, ɛi, æi, ai, au/ are very common.[5]
- /ɔu/ occurs only in onomatopoeias and loanwords.[6]
Consonants
Labial[a] | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hard | soft | hard | soft | hard | soft[b] | hard | soft | hard | soft | ||
Nasal | m | mʲ | n | nʲ | |||||||
Stop | voiceless | p | pʲ | t | tʲ | k | kʲ | ||||
voiced | b | bʲ | d | dʲ | ɡ | ɡʲ | |||||
Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡sʲ | t͡ʃ | (t͡ʃʲ) | ||||||
voiced | d͡z | d͡zʲ | d͡ʒ | (d͡ʒʲ) | |||||||
Fricative | voiceless | (f)[c] | s | sʲ | ʃ | (ʃʲ) | (x)[d] | ||||
voiced | v[e] | vʲ[e] | z | zʲ | ʒ | (ʒʲ) | |||||
Approximant | l | lʲ | j | (jʲ)[f] | w[g] | (wʲ)[g][f] | |||||
Trill | r | (rʲ) |
- ^ /m, mʲ, p, pʲ, b, bʲ/ are bilabial, whereas /f, v, vʲ/ are labiodental.
- ^ The soft postalveolar consonants occur only in some non-standard dialects, with the fricatives /ʃʲ, ʒʲ/ being more common than the affricates /t͡ʃʲ, d͡ʒʲ/.[6]
- ^ /f/ occurs only in some loanwords, such as ortografeja transl. orthography. In other loanwords, it is replaced by /p/, as in kopejs transl. coffee.[8]
- ^ /x/ occurs only in some loanwords, such as tehnologeja transl. technology. In other loanwords, it is replaced by /k/, as in kokejs transl. hockey.[8]
- ^ a b /v, vʲ/ are traditionally classified as approximants [ʋ, ʋʲ] which phonetically may be fricatives [v, vʲ].[8]
- ^ a b For the approximants /j/ and /w/ the contrast between hard and soft is phonetically realized as a contrast between retraction and advancement. With /jʲ/ being realized as [j˖] and /wʲ/ being realized as [w˖].[9][10] Brejdak (2006, p. 198-199) gives the two as phonemeic and argues that the contrast is corresponds to the hard / soft contrast. However Nau (2011, p. 13) gives the phonemic status of /wʲ/ and especially /jʲ/ as questionable.
- ^ a b /w, wʲ/ are labial-velar.[10]
Accent
Stress
The stress is most often on the first syllable.[10]
Tonal accents
There are two phonemic tonal accents in Latgalian, which appear only on long syllables, i.e. those with a long vowel, a diphthong, or a sequence of a short vowel and a sonorant. These are falling (also called level) and broken (also called sharp). However, there are only a handful of minimal (or near-minimal) pairs, such as [rɛ̀itʲ] 'swallow' and [rɛ̂it] 'tomorrow', both written reit.[10]
Phonetically, both of the tonal accents are falling; the falling accent is realized as an even decrease in intensity and pitch, whereas the broken accent is realized as a sudden decrease in intensity and pitch.[10]
References
- ^ a b c Nau (2011), p. 9.
- ^ a b Nau (2011), pp. 9–10.
- ^ a b Nau (2011), p. 10.
- ^ Nau (2011), pp. 9–11.
- ^ Nau (2011), pp. 10–11.
- ^ a b c d Nau (2011), p. 11.
- ^ Nau (2011), pp. 11–13.
- ^ a b c Nau (2011), p. 12.
- ^ Brejdak (2006), p. 198-199.
- ^ a b c d e Nau (2011), p. 13.
Bibliography
- Nau, Nicole (2011), A short grammar of Latgalian, Munich: Lincom Europa, ISBN 978-3-86288-055-3
- Brejdak, Anton (2006), латгальский язык [Latgalian language] (in Russian)