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Kyrgyz phonology

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This article containsphonetic transcriptionsin theInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA).For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.For the distinction between[ ],/ /and ⟨⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article is about thephonologyandphoneticsof theKyrgyz language.

Vowels

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Aformantchart showing the stem vowel space of Kyrgyz. FromWashington (2007:10).
Kyrgyz vowel phonemes[1]
Front Back
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
Close i y ɯ u
Open e,(a) ø ɑ o
  • Notes on vowel quality:
    • Kyrgyz vowel space is different in affixes and stems.Washington (2007)describes the former as more typical and more condensed.[2]
    • In stem vowel space, the main difference between/e/and/i/is that the latter is more back. In affix vowel space, they can have the same backness, and differ by height.[2]
  • /a/appears only in borrowings from Persian and is excluded from normal vowel harmony rules. In most dialects, its status as a vowel distinct from/ɑ/is questionable. There is also a phonetic[a]which appears as a result of regressive assimilation of/ɑ/before syllables with phonological front vowels, e.g. "àydöş"[ajdøʃ]'sloping'.[3][4]
  • /i,y,u,e,ø,o/are sometimes transcribed/ɪ,ʏ,ʊ,ɛ,œ,ɔ/.[5]
  • The sequence of any vowel and the consonant/z/is pronounced as a long vowel with falling pitch.[6]
  • In colloquial speech, word-final vowels are dropped when the next word begins with a vowel.[7]
  • All vowels but/i/may be both short and long. Long vowels are the result of historical elisions (e.g.compensatory lengthening) and contractions. For example,já"rain" < *yağ;bé"mare" (cf. Kazakhbiye);too"mountain" < *tağ;dőlöt"wealth" < Arabicdaulat;ulú"great" < *uluğ;elű"fifty" < *eļļiğ.

Consonants

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Kyrgyz consonant phonemes[8]
Labial Dental/
alveolar 		Post-
alveolar 		Dorsal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
Affricate voiceless (t͡s) t͡ʃ
voiced d͡ʒ
Fricative voiceless (f) s ʃ (x)
voiced (v) z
Approximant l j
Trill r
  • /n,l,r/are alveolar, whereas/t,d,t͡s,s,z/are dental.[8]
    • the liquid/l/is velarized[ɫ]in back vowel contexts.
  • /ŋ,k,ɡ,x/are velar, whereas/j/is palatal.[8]
    • /k,ɡ/are palatal[c,ɟ]in words with front vowels, and uvular[q,ʁ]in words with back vowels.[9]
      • Word-initial[c]is often voiced[ɟ].[10]
      • In loanwords from Persian and Arabic, palatal[c,ɟ]are always followed by front vowels, whereas velar[k,ɡ]are always followed by back vowels, regardless of the vowel harmony.[9]
      • Word-final and word-initial/k/is voiced to[ɡ]when it is surrounded by vowels or the consonants/m,n,ŋ,l,r,j/.[7]
  • /f,v,t͡s,x/occur only in foreign borrowings, mostly fromIndo-EuropeanandSemitic.[8]
  • In colloquial speech:
    • /b/is lenited to[w]after/l,r,j/or between vowels.[7]
    • /t͡ʃ/is deaffricated to[ʃ]before voiceless consonants.[7]
    • Intervocalic/s/can be voiced to[z].[7]
    • Word-final/z/is often devoiced to[s].[7]

Stress

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Stress is usually always put on the last vowel except for loanwords. Recent loanwords often retain their original stress.[11]

Desonorisation and devoicing

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In Kyrgyz, suffixes beginning with/n/show desonorisation of the/n/to[d]after consonants (including/j/), and devoicing to[t]after voiceless consonants; e.g. the definite accusative suffix -NI patterns like this:ķemeņi('the boat'),aydı('the month'),tordu('the net'),koldu('the hand'),tañdı('the dawn'),ķözdü('the eye'),baştı('the head').

Suffixes beginning with/l/also show desonorisation and devoicing, though only after consonants of equal or lower sonority than/l/,e.g. the plural suffix -LAr patterns like this:ķemeļer('boats'),aylar('months'),torlor('nets'),koldor('hands'),tañdar('dawns'),ķözdör('eyes'),baştar('heads'). Other/l/-initial suffixes, such as -LA, a denominal verbal suffix, and -LÚ, a denominal adjectival suffix, may surface either with/l/or/d/after/r/;e.g.тордо-/торло-('to net/weave'),түрдүү/түрлүү('various').

SeeKyrgyz language#Casefor more examples.

References

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  1. ^Kara (2003),p. 10.
  2. ^abWashington (2007),p. 10.
  3. ^Washington (2006b),p. 2.
  4. ^Washington (2007),p. 11.
  5. ^For example byWashington (2006a)
  6. ^Washington (2007),p. 12.
  7. ^abcdefKara (2003),p. 16.
  8. ^abcdKara (2003),p. 11.
  9. ^abKara (2003),p. 14.
  10. ^Kara (2003),pp. 14, 16.
  11. ^Washington (2006c),pp. 2–3.

Bibliography

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  • Kara, Dávid Somfai (2003),Kyrgyz,Lincom Europa,ISBN3895868434
  • Washington, Jonathan North (2006a),An Investigation of Kyrgyz Rounding Harmony(PDF)
  • Washington, Jonathan North (2006b),Root Vowels and Affix Vowels: Height Effects in Kyrgyz Vowel Harmony(PDF),archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2007-01-13,retrieved2015-04-06
  • Washington, Jonathan North (2006c),Where Turkic stress falls: Challenging final-stress analyses in Kazakh and Kyrgyz(PDF)
  • Washington, Jonathan North (2007),Phonetic and Phonological Problems in Kyrgyz: A Fulbrighter's plans for gathering data in the field(PDF),archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2016-01-13,retrieved2015-04-06

Further reading

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