Help:IPA/Latvian

Mostly based on {{citation

|last=Nau

|first=Nicole

|title=Latvian

|year=1998

|pages=66

|publisher=Lincom Europa

|isbn=3-89586-228-2

}}

| style="vertical-align:top;" |

|}

At the time of its inception, a conscious decision was made that Latvian orthography would not show gemination/lengthening of consonants because it was unnecessary to do so. Nevertheless, single obstruent consonants (as opposed to consonant clusters) between two short vowels are always long: Atis would be ⟨attis⟩ and aka would be ⟨akka⟩ or {{IPA|[ˈatːis]}} and {{IPA|[ˈakːa]}}.{{cite book |last=Kortmann |first=Bernd |date=2011 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of Europe |url=https://books.google.lv/books?id=Dt_Eg2ehL8kC&pg=PA5&dq=consonant+length+latvian&hl=en&sa=X&ei=F1SQUuv4F8v34QSZ5ICYCw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=consonant%20length%20latvian&f=false |location= |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=3110220253 |accessdate={{date}} |quote= Consonant quantity is well-developed in Latvian as a result of Fennic substratum influence. Sonorants show distinctive quantity mainly in loanwords, cf. manna {{IPA|[manːa]}} 'manna' vs. mana {{IPA|[mana]}} (nom.sg.fem. of 1st ps. sg possesive pronoun). Non-distinctive quantitative variation in obstruents occurs in native words: immediately post-tonic voicless obstruents are automatically lengthened between short vowels, cf. lapa {{IPA|[lapːa]}} 'leaf' vs. lāpa {{IPA|[laːpa]}} 'torch,' lapā {{IPA|[lapaː]}} 'leaf (loc.sg.)'. In Lithuanian there is no consonantal quantity and on the morphemic boundary geminates are shortened. |page=5}} In transcribing Latvian in IPA, however, consonant length is usually not indicated. Sonorants, however, are indicated in orthography: in mamma, panna, allaž, ķerra the long sonorants should probably be indicated in both phonetic and phonemic [less precise] transcriptions: {{IPA|[mamːa]}}, {{IPA|[panːa]}}, {{IPA|[alːaʒ]}}, {{IPA|[cærːa]}}.

Standard Latvian has three tones called, by convention, the level (stiepts), broken (lauzts) and falling (krītošs,) indicated by a tilde (~), circumflex (^) or grave (`) accents, respectively.{{cite book|title=Valsts valoda - Курс лекций латышского языка|first1=Olga|last1=Masļanska|first2=Aina|last2=Rubīna|location=Rīga|year=1992|page=11|quote=В латышском языке имеется слоговая интонация, которая может быть протяжной (~), прерывистой (^) и нисходящей (\). В некоторых случаях интонация имеет смыслоразличительное значение, например: за~ле ("зал"), за^ле ("трава"), za\les ("лекарство")}}

Different tones are distinguished if the stressed syllable (the first syllable, in most all cases) has either a long vowel or a diphthong. Short vowels and unstressed syllables do not take on different tones.{{cite book |last=Kortmann |first=Bernd |date=2011 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of Europe |url=https://books.google.lv/books?id=Dt_Eg2ehL8kC&pg=PA5 |location= |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=3110220253 |accessdate={{date}} |quote= Both Latvian and Lithuanian are pitch languages. In Lithuanian, stressed long vocalic segments (long vowels, diphthongs, and sequences of vowel plus sonorant) show a distinctive opposition of rising and falling pitch, cf. kar̃tų 'time:gen.pl' vs. kártų 'hang:irr.3'. In standard Latvian (and some of the dialects), long vocalic sequences (of the same type as in Lithuanian) distinguish three varieties of pitch: 'even', 'falling', and 'broken' ('broken pitch' being a falling pitch with superadded glottalisation). They are fully differentiated in stressed syllables only: unstressed syllables have an opposition of glottalised and non-glottalised long vocalic segments. Segments with 'even' pitch are ultra long. Neither Lithuanian nor Latvian mark pitch in their standard orthography.|page=6}}

In Riga, the Latvian falling and broken tones have been syncretized: its users differentiate only between the level and broken tones and perceive the falling tone as broken.

Tone is usually omitted transcribing Latvian in IPA.{{fix|text=why?|date=June 2017}}{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} English Wiktionary's Latvian entries, however, uses a notation of macron, circumflex or grave accent if necessary (the tilde is already reserved for indicating nasal vowels in IPA so it is replaced it with a macron.)

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