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Latgalian phonology

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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⟩ ⟨ī⟩ (ɨ) ⟨y⟩ u ⟨u⟩ ⟨ū⟩
Mid ɛ ⟨e⟩ (ɛː) ⟨ē⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩ (ɔː) ⟨ō⟩
Open æ ⟨e⟩ æː ⟨ē⟩ a ⟨a⟩ ⟨ā⟩
Diphthongs  
  • [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

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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 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)[c] s ʃ (ɕ) (x)[d]
voiced v[e] [e] z ʒ (ʑ)
Approximant l ɪ̯ ()[f] ʊ̯[g] ()[g][f]
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 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 ⟨⟩) 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)