Slovak phonology

This article is about thephonology and phonetics of the Slovak language.

Sample
Contents 0:00

Vowels An excerpt of Slovak poem 'Mor ho'

Monophthongs by Samo Chalupka (1812–1883).
Phonetic realization The speaker is a 21-year-old
woman from Bratislava.
Other notes
Diphthongs
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Consonants
Stress
Official transcriptions
Sample
Phonemic transcription
Phonetic transcription
Orthographic version
See also
References
Bibliography
Further reading

Vowels

Monophthongs

Slovak monophthong phonemes[1][2]

Front Back
short long short long
Close i iː u uː
Mid ɛ ɛː ɔ (ɔː)
Open (æ) a aː

Phonetic realization

The close and mid vowels are typically peripheral, but they can at Ranges of the standard Slovak
times be somewhat centralized. [3] monophthongs, from Pavlík (2004:95)
/i, iː, u, uː/ are typically near-close[i ̞, i ̞ː, u̞ , u̞ ː], but sometimes they
can be close [i, iː, u, uː] instead.[4]
/ɛ, ɛː, ɔ, ɔː/ are typically mid [ɛ̝, ɛ̝ː, ɔ̝ , ɔ̝ ː]. /ɛ, ɛː/ are slightly higher than/ɔ, ɔː/ - this can be transcribed in narrow
transcription as [e̞, e̞ː] vs. [ɔ̝ , ɔ̝ ː]. At times, /ɛ, ɛː/ can be as close as close-mid[e, eː] and /ɔ, ɔː/ as open as open-
mid [ɔ, ɔː].[5]
 Speakers often fail at attempts to pronounce/æ/, pronouncing a vowel that is phonetically too close to either/ɛ/ or
/a/.[6]
/a, aː/ are typically open central[ä, äː], but at times they can be somewhat fronted[a̠ , a̠ ː], retracted [ɑ̟ , ɑ̟ ː] or raised
[ɐ, ɐː].[5]
Under Hungarian influence, some speakers realize/ɛː, ɔː/ as close-mid [eː, oː] and /a/ as open back rounded[ɒ].
The close-mid realizations of/ɛː, ɔː/ occur also in southern dialects spoken near the riverIpeľ.[7]

Other notes

Vowel length is not phonemic in Eastern dialects,[1] which have only five vowel phonemes /i, ( u, ɛ, ɔ, a/, some
speakers also have /æ/).
In Western dialects, vowels that are short dueto the rhythmical rule are often realized as long, and thus violating the
rule.[8]
/y, yː, œ, œː, ɔː/ occur only in loanwords.[1][9] Just as other mid vowels,/œ, œː/ are phonetically true-mid[œ̝,
œ̝ː].[10] Among these vowels, only/ɔː/ is consistently realized in the correct manner , whereas the occurrence of the
front rounded vowels /y, yː, œ, œː/ has been reported only byKráľ (1988), who states that the front rounded vowels
appear only in the high register and medium register . However, in the medium register, /y, yː/ and /œ, œː/ are often
either too back, which results in realizations that are phonetically too close to, respectively , /u, uː/ and /ɔ, ɔː/, or too
weakly rounded, yielding vowels that are phonetically too close to, respectively , /i, iː/ and /ɛ, ɛː/.[11]
/uː, ɛː/ do not occur after soft consonants, where they are replaced by the corresponding diphthongs /ɪ̯u, ɪ̯ɛ/. The
same is generally true for/aː/ (/ɪ̯a/ after soft consonants), but the sequence/jaː/ may occur in some cases.[12]
Long /ɛː/ occurs only in loanwords, one native word dcéra)
( and in adjective endings.[13]
/æ/ can only be short, and occurs only after/m, p, b, v/.[1][6] There is not a full agreement about its status in the
standard language:

Kráľ (1988) states that the correct pronunciation of/æ/ is an important part of the high register, but in medium
and low registers, /æ/ merges with /ɛ/, or, in some cases, with /a/.[6]
Short (2002) states that only about 5% of speakers have/æ/ as a distinct phoneme, and that even when it is
[14]
used in formal contexts, it is most often a dialect feature.
Hanulíková & Hamann (2010)state that the use of /æ/ is becoming rare, and that it often merges with/ɛ/.[1]

Diphthongs

Slovak diphthong phonemes[2][8]

Ending point
Front Central Back
Unrounded ɪ̯ɛ ɪ̯a ɪ̯u
Rounded ʊ̯ ɔ

[8][15]
All of the diphthongs are rising, i.e. their second elements have more prominence.
The phonetic quality of Slovak diphthongs is as follows:

/ɪ̯ɛ/ is typically a glide from/i/ to /ɛ/ ([ȋ ̞ɛ̝]).[16]

/ɪ̯a/ is typically a glide from the position below/i/ to /æ/ ([ȇ̝æ̠]).[17]
/ɪ̯u/ is typically a glide from/i/ to the position more front than/u/ ([ȋ ̞ʊ]).[16]
/ʊ̯ ɔ/ is typically a glide from/u/ to the position above /ɔ/ ([ȗ̞o̞]).[16]
There are many more phonetic diphthongs, such as[aʊ̯ ] in Miroslav [ˈmirɔslaʊ̯ ] and [ɔʊ̯ ] in Prešov [ˈprɛʃɔʊ̯ ].
Phonemically, these are interpreted as sequences of /v/ preceded by a vowel. This[ʊ̯ ] is phonetically [ȗ̞] and it is
very similar to the first element of/ʊ̯ ɔ/.[18][19]

Consonants
 Slovak consonant phonemes[19]
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ
voiceless p t c k
Plosive
voiced b d ɟ ɡ
voiceless ts tʃ
Affricate
voiced dz dʒ
voiceless f s ʃ x
Continuant
voiced v z ʒ j ɦ
plain l ʎ
Lateral
geminated lː
Tap r
Trill rː

Voiceless stops and affricates are unaspirated.

Voiced stops and affricates are fully voiced.
/n/ is apical alveolar [n̺ ].[20]
/t, d, t͡s, d͡z, s, z, ɲ, c, ɟ/ are laminal [t̻, d̻ , ts̻͡ ,̻ d̻ ͡z̻, s̻, z̻, ɲ̻, c̻, ɟ].̻ [21]

/t, d/ are alveolar [t, d] or denti-alveolar [t ̪, d̪ ].[22][23]

/t͡s, d͡z, s, z/ are alveolar [t͡s, d͡z, s, z].[24][25]

Word-initial /d͡z/ occurs only in two words:dzekať and dziny.[19]

/c, ɟ, ɲ/ are alveolo-palatal [c̟ç, ɟʝ̟ , ɲ̟].[26][27][28][29]

As indicated in the transcription,/c, ɟ/ are weakly affricated.[30]

/ɲ/ can also be dento-alveolo-palatal.[28]
/ʎ/ is palatalized laminal denti-alveolar[l ̪ʲ],[31] palatalized laminal alveolar[l ̻ʲ][19][31][32] or palatal [ʎ].[19][31][32] The
palatal realization is the least common one.[19][32]

[l̺ʲ].
Pavlík (2004) describes an additional realization, namely a weakly palatalized apical alveolar approximant
According to this scholar, the palatal realization [ʎ] is actually alveolo-palatal[ʎ̟ ].[18]

The /ʎ–l/ contrast is neutralized before front vowels, where only/l/ occurs. This neutralization is taken further in
western dialects, in which/ʎ/ merges with /l/ in all environments.[19]
/l, r/ are apical alveolar [l ̺, r ̺].[33]

/l/ is either neutral [l] or velarized [ɫ].[30]

Short /r/ is most often a tap [ɾ].[19]
Postalveolar /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ are often pronounced hard, i.e. as laminal retroflex (flat postalveolar)[t͡ʂ, d͡ʐ, ʂ, ʐ],[19] as in
Russian and Polish.

/d͡ʒ/ occurs mainly in loanwords.[19]

/v/ is realized as:

Voiced fricative [v] in onsets before voiced obstruents;[19]

Voiceless fricative [f] in onsets before voiceless obstruents;[34]
Variably as an approximant[ʋ] or a glide [ʊ̯ ] in coda;[19]
Approximant [ʋ] in all other cases.[19]
[35] Between close front vowels, it can be realized as a fricative
/j/ is an approximant, either palatal or alveolo-palatal.
[ʝ], whereas between open central vowels, it can be a quite lax approximant [j˕].[36]
Some additional notes includes the following (transcriptions in IP
A unless otherwise stated):
 /r, l/ can be syllabic: /r̩, l ̩/. When they are long (indicated in the spelling with the acute accent:ŕ and ĺ), they are
always syllabic, e.g. vlk (wolf), prst (finger), štvrť (quarter), krk (neck), bisyllabic vĺča—vĺ-ča (wolfling), vŕba—vŕ-ba
(willow-tree), etc.
/m/ has the allophone [ɱ] in front of the labiodental fricatives/f/ and /v/.
/n/ in front of (post)alveolar fricatives has a postalveolar allophone[n̠ ].
/n/ can be [ŋ] in front of the velar plosives/k/ and /ɡ/.

Stress
In the standard language, the stress is always on the first syllable of a word (or on the preceding preposition, see below). This is not
the case in certain dialects. Eastern dialects have penultimate stress (as in Polish), which at times makes them difficult to understand
for speakers of standard Slovak. Some of the north-central dialects have a weak stress on the first syllable, which becomes stronger
and moves to the penultimate in certain cases. Monosyllabic conjunctions, monosyllabic short personal pronouns and auxiliary verb
forms of the verb byť (to be) are usually unstressed.

Prepositions form a single prosodic unit with the following word, unless the word is long (four syllables or more) or the preposition
stands at the beginning of a sentence.

Official transcriptions
Slovak linguists do not usually use IPA for phonetic transcription of their own language or others, but have their own system based
on the Slovak alphabet. Many English language textbooks make use of this alternative transcription system. In the following table,
pronunciation of each grapheme is given in this system as well as in the IP
A.
grapheme IPA transcr. example
a /a/ a mama ('mother')
á /aː/ á láska ('love')
ä /æ/ a, e, ä mäso ('meat, flesh')
b /b/ b brat ('brother')
c /t͡s/ c cukor ('sugar')
č /t͡ʃ/ č čaj ('tea')
d /d/ d dom ('house')
ď /ɟ/ ď ďakovať ('to thank')
dz /d͡z/ ʒ bryndza ('sheep cheese')
dž /d͡ʒ/ ǯ džem ('jam')
e /ɛ/ e meno ('name')
é /ɛː/ é bazén ('pool')
f /f/ f farba ('colour')
g /ɡ/ g egreš ('gooseberry')
h /ɦ/ h hlava ('head')
ch /x/ x chlieb ('bread')
i /i/ i pivo ('beer')
í /iː/ í gombík ('button')
j /j/ j jahoda ('strawberry')
k /k/ k kniha ('book')
l /l/, /l̩/ l plot ('fence')
ĺ /l̩ː/ ĺ mĺkvy ('prone to silence') [ˈml̩ːkʋi]
ľ /ʎ/ ľ moľa ('clothes moth') [ˈmɔʎa]
m /m/ m pomoc ('n. help')
n /n/ n nos ('nose')
ň /ɲ/ ň studňa ('n. well')
o /ɔ/ o kostol ('church')
ó /ɔː/ ó balón ('balloon')
ô /ʊ̯ ɔ/ ŭo kôň ('horse') [ˈkʊ̯ ɔɲ]
p /p/ p lopta ('ball')
q /kv/ kv
r /r/, /r̩/ r more ('sea')
ŕ /r̩ː/ ŕ vŕba ('willow tree')
s /s/ s strom ('tree')
š /ʃ/ š myš ('mouse')
t /t/ t stolička ('chair')
ť /c/ ť ťava ('camel')
u /u/ u ruka ('arm')
ú /uː/ ú dúha ('rainbow')
 v /v/ v veža ('tower')
w v whiskey ('whiskey')
x /ks/ ks xylofón ('xylophone')
y /i/ i syr ('cheese')
ý /iː/ í rým ('rhyme')
z /z/ z koza ('goat')
ž /ʒ/ ž žaba ('frog')

Sample
The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun. The transcription is based on a recording of a 28-
year-old female speaker of standard Slovak fromBratislava.[37]

Phonemic transcription
/ˈras sa ˈsɛvɛraːk a ˈsl̩nkɔ ˈɦaːdali | ˈktɔ z ɲix jɛ ˈsilɲɛjʃiː/

Phonetic transcription
[ˈras sa ˈsɛʋɛraːk a ˈsl̩ŋkɔ ˈɦaːdali | ˈktɔ z ɲiɣ jɛ ˈsilɲɛjʃiː][38]

Orthographic version
[39]
Raz sa severák a slnko hádali, kto z nich je silnejší.

See also
Slovak orthography

References
1. Hanulíková & Hamann (2010), p. 375.
2. Kráľ (1988), p. 51.
3. Pavlík (2004), pp. 93–95.
4. Pavlík (2004), pp. 93, 95.
5. Pavlík (2004), pp. 94–95.
6. Kráľ (1988), p. 55.
7. Kráľ (1988), pp. 54, 92.
8. Hanulíková & Hamann (2010), p. 376.
9. Kráľ (1988), pp. 64–65.
10. Kráľ (1988), p. 64.
11. Kráľ (1988), pp. 57, 64–65, 103.
12. Short (2002), pp. 534–535.
13. Short (2002), p. 535.
14. Short (2002), p. 534.
15. Pavlík (2004), p. 95.
16. Pavlík (2004), pp. 96–97.
17. Pavlík (2004), pp. 95, 97.
18. Pavlík (2004), p. 105.
19. Hanulíková & Hamann (2010), p. 374.
20. Kráľ (1988:73). The author describes/n/ as apical alveolar, but the corresponding image shows a laminal denti-
alveolar pronunciation (which he does not discuss).
21. Kráľ (1988), pp. 72, 74–75, 80–82.
22. Kráľ (1988), p. 72.
23. Pavlík (2004), pp. 98–99.
24. Kráľ (1988), pp. 74–75.
25. Pavlík (2004), pp. 103–104.
26. Dvončová, Jenča & Kráľ (1969:?), cited in Hanulíková & Hamann (2010:374)
27. Pauliny (1979), p. 112.
28. Kráľ (1988), pp. 81–82.
29. Recasens (2013), pp. 11, 13.
30. Kráľ (1988), p. 80.
31. Kráľ (1988), p. 82.
32. Dvončová, Jenča & Kráľ (1969), pp. 94–95.
33. Kráľ (1988), pp. 78–79.
34. Hanulíková & Hamann (2010), pp. 374, 376.
35. Recasens (2013), p. 15.
36. Pavlík (2004), p. 106.
37. Hanulíková & Hamann (2010), p. 373.
38. Based on the transcription inHanulíková & Hamann (2010:377). Some symbols were changed to keep the article
consistent - see the section above.
39. Hanulíková & Hamann (2010), p. 377.

Bibliography
Dvončová, Jana; Jenča, Gejza; Kráľ, Ábel (1969),
Atlas slovenských hlások, Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo
Slovenskej akadémie vied
Hanulíková, Adriana; Hamann, Silke (2010),"Slovak"
(PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic
Association, 40 (3): 373–378,
doi:10.1017/S0025100310000162
Kráľ, Ábel (1988), Pravidlá slovenskej výslovnosti,
Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické nakladateľstvo
Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula;
Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009), "7.3.15 Slowakisch",
Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York:
Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6
Pauliny, Eugen (1979), Slovenská fonológia,
Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické nakladateľstvo
Pavlík, Radoslav (2004),"Slovenské hlásky a
medzinárodná fonetická abeceda"(PDF),
Jazykovedný časopis, 55: 87–109
Recasens, Daniel (2013),"On the articulatory
classification of (alveolo)palatal consonants"(PDF),
Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43
(1): 1–22, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000199
Rubach, Jerzy (1993),The Lexical Phonology of
Slovak, Oxford University Press,ISBN 978-
0198240006
Short, David (2002), "Slovak",in Comrie, Bernard;
Corbett, Greville G., The Slavonic Languages, London
and New York: Routledge, pp. 533–592,
ISBN 9780415280785

Further reading
Bujalka, Anton; Baláž, Peter; Rýzková, Anna (1996),
Slovenský jazyk I. Zvuková stránka jazyka. Náuka o
slovnej zásobe, Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského
Ďurovič, Ľubomír (1975), "Konsonantický systém
slovenčiny", International Journal of Slavic Linguistics
and Poetics, 19: 7–29
Hála, Bohuslav (1929),Základy spisovné výslovnosti
slovenské a srovnání s výslovností českou, Prague:
Universita Karlova
Isačenko, Alexandr Vasilievič (1968), Spektrografická
analýza slovenských hlások, Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo
Slovenskej akadémie vied
 Pauliny, Eugen (1963), Fonologický vývin slovenčiny,
Bratislava: Vydavateľstvo Slovenskej akadémie vied
Pauliny, Eugen; Ru̇ žička, Jozef; Štolc, Jozef (1968),
Slovenská gramatika, Slovenské pedagogické
nakladateľstvo
Rendár, Ľubomír (2006), "Dištinkcia mäkkehoľ", in
Olšiak, Marcel, Varia XIV: Zborník materiálov zo XIV.
kolokvia mládych jazykovedcov(PDF), Bratislava:
Slovenská jazykovedná spoločnosť pri SA V a Katedra
slovenského jazyka FF UKF v Nitre., pp. 51–59,
ISBN 80-89037-04-6
Rendár, Ľubomír (2008), "Hlasový začiatok v
spravodajstve", in Kralčák, Ľubomír, Hovorená podoba
jazyka v médiách (PDF), Nitra: Univerzita Konštantína
Filozofa v Nitre, pp. 184–191,ISBN 978-80-8094-293-
9 reč, 46: 279–290
Rendár, Ľubomír (2009), "Fonácia a hlasovézačiatky",
in Ološtiak, Martin; Ivanová, Martina; Gianitsová-
Ološtiaková, Lucia, Varia XVIII: zborník plných
príspevkov z XVIII. kolokvia mladých jazykovedcov
(Prešov–Kokošovce-Sigord 3.–5. 12. 2008).(PDF),
Prešov: Prešovská univerzita v Prešove, pp. 613–625
Rubach, Jerzy (1995), "Representations and the
organization of rules in Slavic phonology",in
Goldsmith, John A., The handbook of phonological
theory (1st ed.), Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 848–866,
ISBN 978-0631180623
Sabol, Ján (1961), "O výslovnosti spoluhlásky v",
Slovenská reč, 6: 342–348
Tabačeková, Edita (1981),"Fonetická realizácia
labiodentál v spisovnej slovenčine"(PDF), Slovenská
Zygis, Marzena (2003),"Phonetic and Phonological
Aspects of Slavic Sibilant Fricatives"(PDF), ZAS
Papers in Linguistics, 3: 175–213

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slovak_phonology&oldid=858788968

"

This page was last edited on 9 September 2018, at 16:29(UTC).

Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of theWikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.