Latgalian phonology
Latgalian language is considered a Latvian language dialect by the Latvian government, others argue that it is an independent language.
Vowels
[edit]| 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 ⟨e⟩ | æː ⟨ē⟩ | a ⟨a⟩ | aː ⟨ā⟩ | ||
| Diphthongs | iɛ uɔ | |||||
- [ɨ] occurs in complementary distribution with [i], so that 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]
- Apart from [iɛ] and [uɔ], there are also vowel+glide sequences [ɛɪ̯, æɪ̯, aɪ̯, iu̯, ɨu̯, au̯], which are very common. Rarer sequences include [uɪ̯], [ɔɪ̯] and [ɔu̯], with the last one occurring only in onomatopoeias and loanwords. Phonemically, they are all sequences of two phonemes, rather than proper diphthongs. In some dialects, [iu̯] and [ɨu̯] fall together as [ɛu̯]. [au̯] can also merge with [ɔu̯] as [ɔu̯].[4]
Consonants
[edit]| Labial[a] | Dental/ Alveolar |
Postalveolar/ Palatal |
Velar | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hard | soft | hard | soft | hard | soft[b] | 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 | (t͡ɕ) | ||||
| voiced | d͡z | d͡zʲ | d͡ʒ | (d͡ʑ) | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | (f)[c] | s | sʲ | ʃ | (ɕ) | (x)[d] | ||
| voiced | v[e] | vʲ[e] | z | zʲ | ʒ | (ʑ) | |||
| Approximant | l | lʲ | ɪ̯ | (i̯)[f] | ʊ̯[g] | (u̯)[g][f] | |||
| Trill | r | (rʲ) | |||||||
- ^ /m, mʲ, p, pʲ, b, bʲ/ are bilabial, whereas /f, v, vʲ/ are labiodental.
- ^ The alveolo-palatals occur only in some non-standard dialects, with the fricatives /ɕ, ʑ/ being more common than the affricates /t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ/.[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.[7]
- ^ /x/ occurs only in some loanwords, such as tehnologeja transl. technology. In other loanwords, it is replaced by /k/, as in kokejs transl. hockey.[7]
- ^ a b /v, vʲ/ are traditionally classified as approximants [ʋ, ʋʲ] which phonetically may be fricatives [v, vʲ].[7]
- ^ a b For the approximants /ɪ̯/ and /ʊ̯/ the contrast between their hard and soft versions is phonetically realized as a contrast between retraction and advancement. The "soft" counterparts of /ɪ̯/ and /ʊ̯/ are /i̯/ and /u̯/.[8][9] Brejdak (2006, p. 198-199) considers those to have phonemic status and argues that the contrast between them and the plain /ɪ̯/ and /ʊ̯/ corresponds to the soft/hard contrast. However, Nau (2011, p. 13) considers the phonemic status of /u̯/ and especially /i̯/ (which he transcribes with a non-IPA symbol ⟨jʲ⟩) as questionable. If the difference is considered to be allophonic, the resulting single palatal approximant can be transcribed with ⟨j⟩ and the corresponding labio-velar with ⟨w⟩. In this article, the difference is assumed to be phonemic.
- ^ a b /ʊ̯, u̯/ are labial-velar.[9]
Accent
[edit]Stress
[edit]The stress is most often on the first syllable.[9]
Tonal accents
[edit]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 [rɛ̀ɪ̯tʲ] 'swallow' and [rɛ̂ɪ̯t] 'tomorrow', both written reit.[9]
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.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Nau (2011), p. 9.
- ^ Nau (2011), pp. 9–10.
- ^ Nau (2011), p. 10.
- ^ Nau (2011), pp. 9–11.
- ^ Nau (2011), pp. 11–13.
- ^ Nau (2011), p. 11.
- ^ a b c Nau (2011), p. 12.
- ^ Brejdak (2006), p. 198-199.
- ^ a b c d e Nau (2011), p. 13.
Bibliography
[edit]- 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)