Czecklish Orthography & Numerals
Letters
Rž vs. Řř
The digraph ‹Rž,rž› and the letter ‹Ř,ř› have complementary distribution in certain word positions. While both can occur in word-initial and word-medial position, ‹Rž,rž› can never occur word-finally, while ‹Ř,ř› can. This distribution can lead to some minimal pairs.
Ee vs. Éé vs. Ěě
There is some confusion over when ‹Ě,ě› ‹É,é› and ‹E,e› are to be used. As of the last spelling reform, ‹Ě,ě› is to be used exclusively after the alveolar consonants ‹c, d, l, n, r, s, t, z›. Before labials, velars, and glottals, ‹E,e› or ‹É,é› are to be used exclusively.
Uu vs. Úú vs. Ůů
Additionally, some uncertainty exists concerning when ‹U,u› ‹Ú,ú› and ‹Ů,ů› are to be used. Simply, ‹Ů,ů› can only be used word-medially and word finally; ‹Ú,ú› can only appear word-initially and word-medially; and ‹U,u› can be found in any position in a word.
The Czecklish alphabet is based heavily upon the Czech and Polish alphabets. Like both, the Czecklish alphabet makes new characters by using diacritics. Below are descriptions of unique letters that are also used in the Czech or Polish alphabets.
Ěě
The grapheme ‹Ě,ě› is used in the Czecklish alphabet. The letter ‹ě› is a vestige of historical palatalization. The originally palatalizing phoneme /ě/ [ʲɛ] became extinct, changing to [ɛ] or [jɛ], but it is preserved as a grapheme. This letter can never appear in the initial position, and is pronounced according to the preceding consonant.
Palatal consonants are written with ‹ě› before open-mid vowels:
- ‹cě, dě, lě, ně, rě, sě, tě, zě› is written instead of...
- ‹če, ďe, ľe, ňe, ře, še, ťe, že›
Łł
In Czecklish, ‹ł› is used to distinguish historical dark (velarized) ‹l› from clear ‹l›. The Czecklish ‹ł› sounds similar to the English American ‹w› and to the Arabic ‹ll› in “Allah”. ‹l› with stroke originally represented a velarized alveolar lateral approximant [ɫ], a pronunciation which is preserved in the German dialects of Czecklish.
In modern Czecklish, ‹ł› is normally pronounced /w/. Czecklish word-final ‹ł› is pronounced as /v/ or /f/, depending on the voicing of surrounding consonants. The old pronunciation [ɫ] of ‹ł› is still fully understandable but is considered theatrical in most regions.
The shift from [ɫ] to [w] in Czecklish has affected all instances of dark ‹l›, even word-initially or intervocalically. Czecklish ‹ł› often alternates with clear ‹l›, such as the plural forms of adjectives and verbs in the past tense that are associated with masculine personal nouns. Alternation is also common in declension of nouns, e.g. from ergative to locative.
Řř
In Czecklish it is used to denote [r̝], a raised alveolar non-sonorant trill. Its manner of articulation is similar to other alveolar trills but the tongue is raised; it is partially fricative. Its rarity makes it difficult to produce for foreign learners of Czecklish, who may pronounce it as /rʑ/; however, it contrasts with /rʑ/ in minimal pairs. It is usually voiced, [r̝], but it also has a voiceless allophone [r̝̊] occurring in the vicinity of voiceless consonants or at the end of a word.
ẞß
In Czecklish the letter Eszett is called Ešwede (IPA: [ɛɕʷɛdɛ]). Czecklish ‹ß› is used for the labialized alveolo-palatal fricative /ɕʷ/. Ešwede was adopted by Czecklish speakers as a shorthand for ‹šw›. Both ‹ß› and ‹šw› are used to represent /ɕʷ/ between two vowels in certain environments. Ešwede is used after elongated front vowels and /ɑ/, while ‹šw› is used after short front vowels.
Ůů
There are two ways in Czecklish to write long [uː]: ‹ú› or ‹ů›. Historically, long ‹ú› changed into the diphthong ‹ou› [oʊ] . In Middle Czecklish ‹ou› at the beginning of word-roots monophthongized into ‹ú›. Thus, the letter ‹ú› is written at the beginning of words and word-roots only.
Long ‹ó› [oː] changed into the diphthong ‹uo› [ʊo]. The letter ‹o› in the diphthong was sometimes written as a ring above the letter ‹u›: ‹ů›. Later, the pronunciation changed into [uː], but the grapheme ‹ů› has remained.