Kyrgyz phonology
This article is about the phonology and phonetics of the Kyrgyz language.
Contents
Vowels
Front | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |
Close | i | y | ɯ | u |
Mid | e | ø | o | |
Open | (a) | ɑ |
- Notes on vowel quality:
- Kyrgyz vowel space is different in affixes and stems. Washington (2007) describes the former as more typical and more condensed.[2]
- All rounded vowels are more back than their unrounded counterparts.[2]
- In stem vowel space, the main difference between /e/ and /i/ is that the latter is more back. In affix vowel space, they can have the same backness, and differ by height.[2]
- /a/ appears only in borrowings from Persian or when followed by a front vowel later in the word (regressive assimilation), e.g. /ajdøʃ/ 'sloping' instead of */ɑjdøʃ/. This vowel is excluded from normal vowel harmony rules.[3] Note that in most dialects, its status as a vowel distinct from /ɑ/ is questionable.[4]
- /i, y, u, e, ø, o/ are sometimes transcribed /ɪ, ʏ, ʊ, ɛ, œ, ɔ/.[5]
- The sequence of any vowel and the consonant /z/ is pronounced as a long vowel with falling pitch.[6]
- In colloquial speech, word-final vowels are dropped when the next word begins with a vowel.[7]
Consonants
Labial | Dental/ alveolar |
Post- alveolar |
Dorsal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||
Affricate | voiceless | (t͡s) | t͡ʃ | ||
voiced | d͡ʒ | ||||
Fricative | voiceless | (f) | s | ʃ | (x) |
voiced | (v) | z | |||
Approximant | l | j | |||
Trill | r |
- /n, l, r/ are alveolar, whereas /t, d, t͡s, s, z/ are dental.[8]
- /ŋ, k, ɡ, x/ are velar, whereas /j/ is palatal.[8]
- /k, ɡ/ are palatal [c, ɟ] in words with front vowels, and velar [k, ɡ] in words with back vowels.[9]
- Word-initial [c] is often voiced [ɟ].[10]
- In loanwords from Persian and Arabic, palatal [c, ɟ] are always followed by front vowels, whereas velar [k, ɡ] are always followed by back vowels, regardless of the vowel harmony.[9]
- Word-final and word-initial /k/ is voiced to [ɡ] when it is surrounded by vowels or the consonants /m, n, ŋ, l, r, j/.[7]
- /k, ɡ/ are palatal [c, ɟ] in words with front vowels, and velar [k, ɡ] in words with back vowels.[9]
- /f, v, t͡s, x/ occur only in foreign borrowings.[8]
- In colloquial speech:
The consonant phonemes /k, ɡ, ŋ/ have uvular realisations [q, ɢ, ɴ] in back vowel contexts (before back vowels). In front-vowel environments, /ɡ/ is fricativised to [ɣ] between continuants, and in back vowel environments both /k/ and /ɡ/ fricativise to [χ] and [ʁ]. Additionally, the liquid /l/ is velarized [ɫ] in back vowel contexts. Other consonants have slightly different realisations in front- versus back-vowel contexts and when between continuants or not, but these are the clearest examples.
Stress
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Desonorisation and devoicing
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. In Kyrgyz, suffixes beginning with /n/ show desonorisation of the /n/ to [d] after consonants (including /j/), and devoicing to [t] after voiceless consonants; e.g. the definite accusative suffix -NI patterns like this: кемени ('the boat'), айды ('the month'), торду ('the net'), колду ('the hand'), таңды ('the dawn'), көздү ('the eye'), башты ('the head').
Suffixes beginning with /l/ also show desonorisation and devoicing, though only after consonants of equal or lower sonority than /l/, e.g. the plural suffix -LAr patterns like this: кемелер ('boats'), айлар ('months'), торлор ('nets'), колдор ('hands'), таңдар ('dawns'), көздөр ('eyes'), баштар ('heads'). Other /l/-initial suffixes, such as -LA, a denominal verbal suffix, and -LUU, a denominal adjectival suffix, may surface either with /l/ or /d/ after /r/; e.g. тордо-/торло- ('to net/weave'), түрдүү/түрлүү ('various').
See Kyrgyz language#Case for more examples.
References
- ↑ Kara (2003), p. 10.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Washington (2007), p. 10.
- ↑ Washington (2007), p. 11.
- ↑ Washington (2006b), p. 2.
- ↑ For example by Washington (2006a)
- ↑ Washington (2007), p. 12.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Kara (2003), p. 16.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Kara (2003), p. 11.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Kara (2003), p. 14.
- ↑ Kara (2003), pp. 14, 16.
- ↑ Washington (2006c), pp. 2–3.
Bibliography
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Further reading
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