Latgalian phonology

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Latgalian language is a Latvian language dialect.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes of Latgalian [1]
Front Central Back
short long shortlongshortlong
Close i i ī( ɨ ) y u u ū
Mid ɛ e( ɛː ) ē ɔ o( ɔː ) ō
Open æ e æː ē a a ā
Diphthongs  

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Latgalian [5]
Labial [lower-alpha 1] Dental/
Alveolar
Postalveolar/
Palatal
Velar
hardsofthardsofthardsoft [lower-alpha 2] hardsoft
Nasal m n
Stop voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ ɡʲ
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡sʲ t͡ʃ ( t͡ɕ )
voiced d͡z d͡zʲ d͡ʒ ( d͡ʑ )
Fricative voiceless( f ) [lower-alpha 3] s ʃ ( ɕ )( x ) [lower-alpha 4]
voiced v [lower-alpha 5] [lower-alpha 5] z ʒ ( ʑ )
Approximant l ɪ̯() [lower-alpha 6] ʊ̯ [lower-alpha 7] () [lower-alpha 7] [lower-alpha 6]
Trill r ()
  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 ortografejatransl.orthography. In other loanwords, it is replaced by /p/, as in kopejstransl.coffee. [7]
  4. /x/ occurs only in some loanwords, such as tehnologejatransl.technology. In other loanwords, it is replaced by /k/, as in kokejstransl.hockey. [7]
  5. 1 2 /v, vʲ/ are traditionally classified as approximants [ʋ, ʋʲ] which phonetically may be fricatives [v, vʲ]. [7]
  6. 1 2 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 ) 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. 1 2 /ʊ̯, u̯/ are labial-velar. [9]

Accent

Stress

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

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 [rɛ̀ɪ̯tʲ] 'swallow' and [rɛ̂ɪ̯t] 'tomorrow', both written reit. [9]

Contents

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]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 3 Nau (2011), p. 12.
  8. Brejdak (2006), p. 198-199.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Nau (2011), p. 13.

Bibliography