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Latgalian phonology

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Latgalian language is a Latvian language dialect.

Vowels

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Vowel phonemes of Latgalian[1]
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

Consonants

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Consonant phonemes of Latgalian[5]
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)
  1. ^ /m, mʲ, p, pʲ, b, bʲ/ are bilabial, whereas /f, v, vʲ/ are labiodental.
  2. ^ The alveolo-palatals occur only in some non-standard dialects, with the fricatives /ɕ, ʑ/ being more common than the affricates /t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ/.[6]
  3. ^ /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]
  4. ^ /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]
  5. ^ a b /v, vʲ/ are traditionally classified as approximants [ʋ, ʋʲ] which phonetically may be fricatives [v, vʲ].[7]
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b /ʊ̯, u̯/ are labial-velar.[9]

Accent

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Stress

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The stress is most often on the first syllable.[9]

Tonal accents

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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

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  1. ^ a b c Nau (2011), p. 9.
  2. ^ Nau (2011), pp. 9–10.
  3. ^ Nau (2011), p. 10.
  4. ^ Nau (2011), pp. 9–11.
  5. ^ Nau (2011), pp. 11–13.
  6. ^ Nau (2011), p. 11.
  7. ^ a b c Nau (2011), p. 12.
  8. ^ Brejdak (2006), p. 198-199.
  9. ^ a b c d e Nau (2011), p. 13.

Bibliography

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  • 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)