Carpathian language: Difference between revisions

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! [[w:Trill consonant|Trill]]

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| r

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~~| r~~

| rʲ†

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Phonetic details:

*Western Carpathian [ʂ] and [ʐ], written "š" and "ž", correspond to Eastern Carpathian [s] and [z]. The Eastern variety still has these sounds in words written with "š" and "ž", while occasionally denoting the former with "ś" and "ź", used in both Western and Eastern varieties historically. Instead of retroflex, they may have a postalveolar articulation [ʃ] and [ʒ]. In many Eastern dialects these sounds merge with [ɕ] and [ʑ], neutralising as postalveolar fricatives.

*There is no complete agreement about the phonetic nature of /ɦ/. According to some linguists, it can be voiceless [h] at least word-initially, while according to others, it is always voiced [ɦ]. In dialects it may disappear completely, which is common before /w/, after /r/ or between vowels. It disappeared after /l/ even in the standard — ''gèlhandis'' → Western ''gelandis'' “acorn” (the former spelling is allowed in the Eastern variety). In some dialects combinations "hw", "rh" and "lh" may be pronounced as [ʍ], [r̥] and [l̥], for example [wɛ̀.l̥is] ''welhis'' “ghost”.

*/w/ is most commonly bilabial [β̞] in the Eastern Carpathian and labiodental [ʋ] in Western Carpathian (although bilabial or labiovelar pronunciation is possible in both varieties). If /w/ occurs after /h/, the voiceless articulation [ʍ] is also possible in some varieties.

*/r/ is sometimes realized as a single tap [ɾ], particularly in fast speech. Its palatalised counterpart [rʲ] is obsolete in most dialects, where it either became [r] or broke into [rj], the former being a more common outcome. [rʲ] is still preserved in some remote Eastern dialects and is still the recommended pronunciation — ''giriā'' [gi.ˈrʲɑ̂ː], usually pronounced [gi.ˈrɑ̂ː] instead.

*The consonants [t͡ʂ], [d͡ʐ] and [f], written "č" "dž" and "f" respectively, are not native to Carpathian. Some Western dialects, mostly those spoken in Poland and Eastern Slovakia have [t͡s] and [d͡z].

*The consonants [t͡ʂ], [d͡ʐ] and [f], written "č" "dž" and "f" respectively, are not native to Carpathian and only appear in borrowings – ''čarka'' [t͡ʂɑr̀.kɑ] “dessert cup”, ''čekolada'' [t͡ʂɛ.ko.lɑ̀.dɑ] “chocolate”, ''džungliā'' [d͡ʐùng.ʎɑː] “jungle” (often pronounced [d͡ʐùn.gɑ.ʎɑː] because of the difficult consonant cluster), ''faika'' [fɑɪ̀.kɑ] “smoking pipe, cigarette” (often pronounced [ʍɑɪ̀.kɑ]). Some Western dialects, mostly those spoken in Poland and Eastern Slovakia have [t͡s] and [d͡z], in other dialects they are marginal phonemes: ''cerkwa'' [ˈt͡sɛr̀.kwɑ] “Orthodox church” (usually pronounced [sɛr̀.kwɑ]).

*The velar fricative /x/ may be present in dialects, but not in the standard. It is not a native Carpathian phoneme and is usually replaced in writing (and pronunciation) by either "h" (''humēlias'' “hop” from Slavic ''*xъmelь''.) or "k" (''kristijanas'' “Christian”).

===Vowels===

Standard Western Carpathian has five short and five long monophthongs. Eastern Carpathian has four short monophthongs, lacking [o], and five long monophthongs. Carpathian dialects have [y] and [e] as separate phonemes, sometimes both long and short, but they are not a part of the standard language, for example: Eastern ''sǖtùs'' [ˈsyː.tʊ̀s] “loyal” (the standard spelling would be ''śiltus'' from PIE ''*ḱl̥tós'', but the word is not used in the standard language).

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

! rowspan="2" |

! colspan="2" | [[w:Front vowel|Front]]

! colspan="2" | [[w:Back vowel|Back]]

|- class=small

! short

! long

! short

! long

|-

! align="left" | [[w:Close vowel|Close]]

| align="center" | i

| align="center" | iː

| align="center" | u

| align="center" | uː

|-

! align="left" | [[w:Mid vowel|Mid]]

| align="center" | ɛ

| align="center" | ɛː

| align="center" | o

| align="center" | oː

|-

! align="left" | [[Open vowel|Open]]

|

| align="center" | ɑ

| align="center" | ɑː

|-

! align="left" | [[Diphthong]]s

| colspan="4" align="center" | eɪ, ɑɪ, ɑʊ

|}

The standard language has three diphthongs, both short and long, depending on the pitch accent. Short diphthongs are falling, long diphthongs are rising. The fourth diphthong [uɪ] is common in dialects, but is not found in the standard. The diphthong "ai" is typically fronted to [aɪ], while "au" rounded to [ɒʊ], especially if the syllable receives rising pitch.

The short high vowels are typically slightly more centralised, than their long counterparts, in some dialects all the way to [ɪ] and [ʊ]. Both short and long /ɛ/ are open-mid, not true mid, often coming closer to near-open [æ], especially if long and with rising intonation. The vowel [oː] is typically true mid, while its short counterpart in Western Carpathian can be either true mid [o] or open-mid [ɔ]. The vowel "a" is back /ɑ/, often slightly rounded in lowland dialects, south to the main Carpathian mountain range.

===Pitch accent===

Standard Carpathian and most of the Carpathian dialects, have mobile pitch accent. There are three types of tones:

*Rising, acute or tone-1 — rising tone if followed by another syllable, or a brief rise followed by a long fall, if followed by a pause: ''dílgas'' [ˈdíl.gɑ̄s] “long (masculine)” if followed by another word, or [ˈdíl.gɑ̀s] if followed by a pause; ''rankā́'' [ˈrɑ̂ŋ.kɑ̀ː] “hand” if followed by a pause; The syllable preceding stressed syllable receives an [[w:Upstep|upstep]] , when the stressed syllable is followed by pause.

*Level, circumflex or tone-2 — mid tone, steady throughout the syllable: ''tā̂ra'' [ˈtɑ̄ː.rɑ̄] “language” if followed by another word, or [ˈtɑ̄ː.rɑ̀] if followed by a pause. The stressed syllable receives a [[w:Downstep|downstep]], if the preceeding word has rising pitch.

*Falling or tone-3 – short falling or low tone: ''ràgas'' [ˈrɑ̀.gɑ̄s] “horn”. The stressed syllable receives a [[w:Downstep|dowstep]] if the preceeding word has either tone-1 or tone-2.

Tones 1 and 2 are only possible for long syllables – those containing either a long monophthong, a diphthong, or a short vowel followed by a sonorant in a closed syllable. Short stressed syllables receive tone-3 by default. Unstressed syllables harmonise with the stressed syllable, they do not receive a distinct tone on their own, but keep the pitch height of the stressed syllable.

[[Category:Languages]]

Carpathian language: Difference between revisions

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