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Latgalian phonology

{{Short description|Phonology of the Latgalian language}}

{{IPA notice}}

Latgalian language is considered a Latvian language dialect by the Latvian government, others{{who?|date=February 2025}} argue that it is an independent language.

Vowels

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ Vowel phonemes of Latgalian{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=9}}

! rowspan="2" |

! colspan="2" | Front

! colspan="2" | Central

! colspan="2" | Back

class="small"

! short

! long

! short

! long

! short

! long

Close

| {{IPA link|i}} {{angle bracket|i}}

| {{IPA link|iː}} {{angle bracket|ī}}

| ({{IPA link|ɨ}}) {{angle bracket|y}}

|

| {{IPA link|u}} {{angle bracket|u}}

| {{IPA link|uː}} {{angle bracket|ū}}

Mid

| {{IPA link|ɛ}} {{angle bracket|e}}

| ({{IPA link|ɛː}}) {{angle bracket|ē}}

| colspan="2" |

| {{IPA link|ɔ}} {{angle bracket|o}}

| ({{IPA link|ɔː}}) {{angle bracket|ō}}

Open

| {{IPA link|æ}} {{angle bracket|e}}

| {{IPA link|æː}} {{angle bracket|ē}}

| {{IPA link|ä|a}} {{angle bracket|a}}

| {{IPA link|ä|aː}} {{angle bracket|ā}}

| colspan="2" |

Diphthongs

| colspan="6" | {{IPA|iɛ   uɔ}}

  • {{IPAblink|ɨ}} occurs in complementary distribution with {{IPAblink|i}}, so that they can be regarded as allophones of a single {{IPA|/i/}} phoneme.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|pp=9–10}}
  • Long {{IPA|/ɛː, ɔː/}} are rare and occur only in interjections. The phonological long counterparts of the short {{IPA|/ɛ, ɔ/}} are the diphthongs {{IPA|/iɛ, uɔ/}}.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=9}}
  • There are very few minimal pairs for the {{IPA|/ɛ–æ/}} opposition. In some dialects, {{IPAblink|æ}} is simply an allophone of {{IPA|/ɛ/}}.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=10}}
  • {{IPA|/a, aː/}} are phonetically central {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ä}}, {{IPAplink|äː}}]}}.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=9}}
  • Apart from {{IPA|[iɛ]}} and {{IPA|[uɔ]}}, there are also vowel+glide sequences {{IPA|[ɛɪ̯, æɪ̯, aɪ̯, iu̯, ɨu̯, au̯]}}, which are very common. Rarer sequences include {{IPA|[uɪ̯]}}, {{IPA|[ɔɪ̯]}} and {{IPA|[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, {{IPA|[iu̯]}} and {{IPA|[ɨu̯]}} fall together as {{IPA|[ɛu̯]}}. {{IPA|[au̯]}} can also merge with {{IPA|[ɔu̯]}} as {{IPA|[ɔu̯]}}.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|pp=9–11}}

Consonants

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

|+ Consonant phonemes of Latgalian{{sfnp|Nau|2011|pp=11–13}}

rowspan="2" colspan="2" |

! colspan="2" | Labial{{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=labial|{{IPA|/m, mʲ, p, pʲ, b, bʲ/}} are bilabial, whereas {{IPA|/f, v, vʲ/}} are labiodental.}}

! colspan="2" | Dental/
Alveolar

! colspan="2" | Postalveolar/
Palatal

! colspan="2" | Velar

style="font-size: small;"

! hard

! soft

! hard

! soft

! hard

! soft{{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=postalveolar|The alveolo-palatals occur only in some non-standard dialects, with the fricatives {{IPA|/ɕ, ʑ/}} being more common than the affricates {{IPA|/t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ/}}.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=11}}}}

! hard

! soft

colspan="2" | Nasal

| {{IPA link|m}}

| {{IPA|mʲ}}

| {{IPA link|n̪|n}}

| {{IPA|nʲ}}

| colspan="2" |

| colspan="2" |

rowspan="2" | Stop

! {{small|voiceless}}

| {{IPA link|p}}

| {{IPA|pʲ}}

| {{IPA link|t̪|t}}

| {{IPA|tʲ}}

| colspan="2" |

| {{IPA link|k}}

| {{IPA|kʲ}}

{{small|voiced}}

| {{IPA link|b}}

| {{IPA|bʲ}}

| {{IPA link|d̪|d}}

| {{IPA|dʲ}}

| colspan="2" |

| {{IPA link|ɡ}}

| {{IPA|ɡʲ}}

rowspan="2" | Affricate

! {{small|voiceless}}

| colspan="2" |

| {{IPA link|t̪͡s̪|t͡s}}

| {{IPA|t͡sʲ}}

| {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}

| ({{IPA link|t͡ɕ}})

| colspan="2" |

{{small|voiced}}

| colspan="2" |

| {{IPA link|d̪͡z̪|d͡z}}

| {{IPA|d͡zʲ}}

| {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}

| ({{IPA link|d͡ʑ}})

| colspan="2" |

rowspan="2" | Fricative

! {{small|voiceless}}

| ({{IPA link|f}}){{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=f|{{IPA|/f/}} occurs only in some loanwords, such as {{lang|ltg|ortografeja}} {{trans|orthography}}. In other loanwords, it is replaced by {{IPA|/p/}}, as in {{lang|ltg|kopejs}} {{trans|coffee}}.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=12}}}}

|

| {{IPA link|s̪|s}} || {{IPA|sʲ}}

| {{IPA link|ʃ}}

| ({{IPA link|ɕ}})

| ({{IPA link|x}}){{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=x|{{IPA|/x/}} occurs only in some loanwords, such as {{lang|ltg|tehnologeja}} {{trans|technology}}. In other loanwords, it is replaced by {{IPA|/k/}}, as in {{lang|ltg|kokejs}} {{trans|hockey}}.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=12}}}}

|

{{small|voiced}}

| rowspan="2" | {{IPA link|v}}{{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=v|{{IPA|/v, vʲ/}} are traditionally classified as approximants {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|ʋ}}, ʋʲ]}} which phonetically may be fricatives {{IPA|[{{IPAplink|v}}, vʲ]}}.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=12}}}}

| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|vʲ}}{{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=v}}

| {{IPA link|z̪|z}}

| {{IPA|zʲ}}

| {{IPA link|ʒ}}

| ({{IPA link|ʑ}})

| colspan="2" |

colspan="2" | Approximant

| {{IPA link|l̪|l}}

| {{IPA|lʲ}}

| {{IPA|ɪ̯}}

| ({{IPA|i̯}}){{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=weird|For the approximants {{IPA|/ɪ̯/}} and {{IPA|/ʊ̯/}} the contrast between their hard and soft versions is phonetically realized as a contrast between retraction and advancement. The "soft" counterparts of {{IPA|/ɪ̯/}} and {{IPA|/ʊ̯/}} are {{IPA|/i̯/}} and {{IPA|/u̯/}}.{{sfnp|Brejdak|2006|p=198-199}}{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=13}} {{harvtxt|Brejdak|2006|p=198-199}} considers those to have phonemic status and argues that the contrast between them and the plain {{IPA|/ɪ̯/}} and {{IPA|/ʊ̯/}} corresponds to the soft/hard contrast. However, {{harvtxt|Nau|2011|p=13}} considers the phonemic status of {{IPA|/u̯/}} and especially {{IPA|/i̯/}} (which he transcribes with a non-IPA symbol {{angbr IPA|jʲ}}) as questionable. If the difference is considered to be allophonic, the resulting single palatal approximant can be transcribed with {{angbr IPA|j}} and the corresponding labio-velar with {{angbr IPA|w}}. In this article, the difference is assumed to be phonemic.}}

| {{IPA|ʊ̯}}{{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=w|{{IPA|/ʊ̯, u̯/}} are labial-velar.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=13}}}}

| ({{IPA|u̯}}){{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=w}}{{efn|group=consonant inventory|name=weird}}

colspan="2" | Trill

| colspan="2" |

| {{IPA link|r}}

| ({{IPA|rʲ}})

| colspan="2" |

| colspan="2" |

{{notelist|group=consonant inventory}}

Accent

=Stress=

The stress is most often on the first syllable.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=13}}

=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 {{IPA|[rɛ̀ɪ̯tʲ]}} 'swallow' and {{IPA|[rɛ̂ɪ̯t]}} 'tomorrow', both written reit.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=13}}

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.{{sfnp|Nau|2011|p=13}}

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

Bibliography

{{Refbegin}}

  • {{Citation

|last=Nau

|first=Nicole

|title=A short grammar of Latgalian

|year=2011

|place=Munich

|publisher=Lincom Europa

|isbn=978-3-86288-055-3

}}

  • {{citation

|last=Brejdak

|first=Anton

|year=2006

|title=латгальский язык

|trans-title=Latgalian language

|lang=ru

}}

{{Refend}}

{{Language phonologies}}

Category:East Baltic languages

Category:Baltic phonologies