Slovak orthography

The firstSlovak orthographywas proposed byAnton Bernolák(1762–1813) in hisDissertatio philologico-critica de litteris Slavorum,used in the six-volumeSlovak-Czech-Latin-German-Hungarian Dictionary(1825–1927) and used primarily by Slovak Catholics.

The standard orthography of theSlovak languageis immediately based on the standard developed byĽudovít Štúrin 1844 and reformed byMartin Hattalain 1851 with the agreement of Štúr. The then-current (1840s) form of the central Slovak dialect was chosen as the standard. After Hattala's reform, the standardized orthography remained mostly unchanged.

Alphabet

The Slovak Alpha bet is an extension of the Latin Alpha bet with 46 letters including the fourdiacritics(ˇ(mäkčeň), ´(acute accent), ¨(diaeresis/umlaut), ˆ(circumflex)), which makes it the longest Slavic and European Alpha bet.

Majuscule forms(also calleduppercaseorcapital letters)

A

Á

Ä

B

C

Č

D

Ď

DZ

DŽ

E

É

F

G

H

Ch

I

Í

J

K

L

Ĺ

Ľ

M

N

Ň

O

Ó

Ô

P

Q

R

Ŕ

S

Š

T

Ť

U

Ú

V

W

X

Y

Ý

Z

Ž

Minuscule forms(also calledlowercaseorsmall letters)

a

á

ä

b

c

č

d

ď

dz

dž

e

é

f

g

h

ch

i

í

j

k

l

ĺ

ľ

m

n

ň

o

ó

ô

p

q

r

ŕ

s

š

t

ť

u

ú

v

w

x

y

ý

z

ž

Letter	Letter name	Pronunciation	Usual phonetic values	Morse code
Aa	á	[aː]	[a]	▄ ▄▄▄
Áá	dlhé á	[ˈdl̩ɦeːˈaː]	[aː]	▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Ää	prehlasované á; a s dvoma bodkami; široké e	[ˈpreɦlasɔʋaneːˈaː]; [ˈazˈdʋɔmaˈbɔtkami]; [ˈʂirɔkeːˈe]	[ɛɐ]	▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Bb	bé	[beː]	[b],[p]	▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄
Cc	cé	[tseː]	[ts],[dz]	▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄
Čč	čé	[tʂeː]	[tʂ],[dʐ]	▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄
Dd	dé	[deː]	[d],[t],[ɟ]	▄▄▄ ▄ ▄
Ďď	ďé; mäkké dé	[ɟeː]; [ˈmɛɐkkeːˈdeː]	[ɟ],[c]	▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄
Dzdz	dzé	[dzeː]	[dz],[ts]	▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄
Dždž	džé	[dʐeː]	[dʐ],[tʂ]	▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Ee	é	[eː]	[e]	▄
Éé	dlhé é	[ˈdl̩ɦeːˈeː]	[eː]	▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄
Ff	ef	[ef]	[f],[v]	▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄
Gg	gé	[ɡeː]	[ɡ],[k]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄
Hh	há	[ɦaː]	[ɦ],[x],[ɣ]	▄ ▄ ▄ ▄
Chch	chá	[xaː]	[x],[ɣ]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄
Ii	í	[iː]	[i]	▄ ▄
Íí	dlhé í	[ˈdl̩ɦeːˈiː]	[iː]	▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄
Jj	jé	[jeː]	[j]	▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄
Kk	ká	[kaː]	[k],[ɡ]	▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Ll	el	[el]	[l],[l̩]	▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄
Ĺĺ	dlhé el	[ˈdl̩ɦeːˈel]	[l̩ː]	▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Ľľ	eľ; mäkké el	[eʎ]; [ˈmɛɐkkeːˈel]	[ʎ]	▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄
Mm	em	[em]	[m],[ɱ]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄
Nn	en	[en]	[n]	▄▄▄ ▄
Ňň	eň	[eɲ]	[ɲ]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄
Oo	o	[ɔ]	[ɔ]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄
Óó	ó; dlhé o	[ɔː]; [ˈdl̩ɦeːˈɔ]	[ɔː]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄
Ôô	ô	[ʊɔ]	[ʊɔ]	▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄
Pp	pé	[peː]	[p],[b]	▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄
Qq	kvé	[kʋeː]	[kʋ]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄/ Occurs only in loanwords.
Rr	er	[er]	[r],[r̩]	▄ ▄▄▄ ▄
Ŕŕ	dlhé er	[ˈdl̩ɦeːˈer]	[r̩ː]	▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄
Ss	es	[es]	[s],[z]	▄ ▄ ▄
Šš	eš	[eʂ]	[ʂ],[ʐ]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄
Tt	té	[teː]	[t],[d],[c]	▄▄▄
Ťť	ťé; mäkké té	[ceː]; [ˈmɛɐkkeːˈteː]	[c],[ɟ]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄
Uu	u	[u]	[u],[w]	▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Úú	dlhé ú	[ˈdl̩ɦeːˈuː]	[uː]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Vv	vé	[ʋeː]	[ʋ],[w],[v],[f]	▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Ww	dvojité vé	[ˈdʋɔjiteːˈʋeː]		▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄/ Occurs only in loanwords.
Xx	iks	[iks]	[ks]	▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄/ Occurs only in loanwords.
Yy	ypsilon / i griego	[ˈipsilɔn]	[i]	▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄
Ýý	dlhý ypsilon / dlhý i griego	[ˈdl̩ɦiːˈipsilɔn]	[iː]	▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Zz	zet	[zet]	[z],[s]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄
Žž	žet	[ʐet]	[ʐ],[ʂ]	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄

In IPA transcriptions of Slovak,[tʂ,dʐ,ʂ,ʐ]are often written with ⟨tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ⟩, i.e. as if they were palato-alveolar. The palato-alveolar[tʃ,dʒ,ʃ,ʒ]exist in Slovak, but only as allophones of/tʂ,dʐ,ʂ,ʐ/,which are normallyretroflex,as inPolish.

The following digraphs are not considered to be a part of the Slovak Alpha bet:

• ⟨ia⟩,which stands for therising-opening diphthong[ɪɐ],similar to the/jæ/sequence in English (as inyap/jæp/), rather than the common[ɪɐ]realization of the underlying/ɪr/in the German wordWirt[vɪɐt]'host', which is falling;
• ⟨ie⟩,which stands for the rising-opening diphthong[ɪe],similar to the/jɛ/sequence in English (as inyes/jɛs/);
• ⟨iu⟩,which stands for the rising-backing diphthong[ɪu],similar to the/juː/sequence in English (as inuse/juːz/) (but with a short ending point), never as a falling-backing diphthong as in someWelsh Englishnew[nɪu].

In loanwords, all three can stand for the disyllabic sequences[i.a,i.e,i.u],rather than the rising diphthongs. The starting points of those diphthongs are written with ⟨ɪ⟩, rather than ⟨j⟩ (as in Spanishtierra[ˈtjera]) because[ɪɐ,ɪe,ɪu]count as a long vowel in the rhythmical rule described below, unlike the phonological consonant/j/followed by a short vowel.[ʊɔ]also counts as a long vowel, though there is no *[wɔ]sequence to rival it, as[w]never appears before a vowel within the same word.

Sound–spelling correspondences

The primary principle of Slovak spelling is thephonemicprinciple. The secondary principle is themorphological principle:forms derived from the same stem are written in the same way even if they are pronounced differently. An example of this principle is the assimilation rule (see below). The tertiary principle is theetymological principle,which can be seen in the use ofiafter certain consonants and ofyafter other consonants, although bothiandyare pronounced the same way.

Finally, the rarely appliedgrammatical principleis present when, for example, the basic singular form and plural form of masculine adjectives are written differently with no difference in pronunciation (e.g. pekný = nice – singular versus pekní = nice – plural).

Mostforeign wordsreceive Slovak spelling immediately or after some time. For example, "weekend" is spelledvíkend[ˈʋiːkent],"software" -softvér[ˈsɔftʋeːr],"gay" -gej[ɡej](both not exclusively),and "quality" is spelledkvalita.Personal and geographical names from other languages using Latin Alpha bets keep their original spelling unless a fully Slovak form of the name exists (e.g.Londýn[ˈlɔndiːn]for "London" ).

The letterse, i, í, ie, iatrigger thepalatalrealization of the preceding D, N, T, L with few exceptions when the letters denote the ordinaryalveolarphonetic value. To accelerate writing, a rule has been introduced that the frequent sequences[ɟe],[ce],[ɲe],[ʎe],[ɟi],[ci],[ɲi],[ʎi],[ɟiː],[ciː],[ɲiː],[ʎiː],[ɟɪe],[cɪe],[ɲɪe],[ʎɪe][ɟɪɐ],[cɪɐ],[ɲɪɐ],[ʎɪɐ]are written without a mäkčeň asde, te, ne, le, di, ti, ni, li, dí, tí, ní, lí, die, tie, nie, lie, dia, tia, nia, lia.

Some exceptions are as follows:

1. foreign words (e.g.telefónis pronounced[ˈtelefɔːn])
2. the following words:ten[ten]'that',jeden[ˈjeden]'one',vtedy[ˈftedi]'then',teraz[ˈteras]'now'
3. nominative masculine plural endings of pronouns and adjectives do not turn the preceding d, n, t intopalatal consonants(e.g.tí odvážni mladí muži[tiːˈɔdvaːʐniˈmladiːˈmuʐi],the/those brave young men)
4. in adjectival endings, both the long é and the short e (shortened by the rhythmical rule) do not make the preceding d, n, t palatal, so that bothzelené stromy[ˈzeleneːˈstrɔmi]'green trees' andkrásne stromy[ˈkraːsneˈstrɔmi]'beautiful trees' feature the alveolar[n],rather than the alveolo-palatal[ɲ].
5. However, the adverbkrásne[ˈkraːsɲe](meaning 'beautifully') does feature the alveolo-palatal[ɲ],resulting in aheterophonic homographwithkrásne[ˈkraːsne]'beautiful' (inflected), which features the same alveolar[n]as the uninflected formkrásny[ˈkraːsni],which has an unambiguous spelling. There are some more examples of heterophonic homographs like this.

When a voicedobstruent(b, d, ď, dz, dž, g, h, z, ž) is at the end of the word before a pause, it is pronounced as its voiceless counterpart (p, t, ť, c, č, k, ch, s, š, respectively). For example,pohybis pronounced[ˈpɔɦip]andprípadis pronounced[ˈpriːpat].

When "v" is at the end of the syllable, it is pronounced as labio-velar[w].For example,kov[kɔw](metal),kravský[ˈkrawskiː](cow - adjective), butpovstať[ˈpɔfstac](uprise), because the/v/is morpheme-initial (po-vstať).

The feminine singular instrumental suffix-ouis also pronounced[ɔw],as if it were spelled-ov.

Consonant clusters containing both voiced and voiceless elements are entirely voiced if the last consonant is voiced, or entirely voiceless if the last consonant is voiceless. For example,otázkais pronounced[ˈɔtaːska]andvzchopiť sais pronounced[ˈfsxɔpicsa].This rule applies also over the word boundary. One example is as follows:prísť domov[ˈpriːzɟˈdɔmɔw](to come home) andviac jahôd[ˈʋɪɐdzˈjaɦʊɔt](more strawberries). The voiced counterpart of "ch"/x/is[ɣ],and the unvoiced counterpart of "h"/ɦ/is[x].

One of the most important changes in Slovak orthography in the 20th century was in 1953 whensbegan to be written aszwhere pronounced[z]inprefixes(e.g.smluvaintozmluva[ˈzmluʋa]as well assväzintozväz[zʋɛɐs]). The phonemic principle has been given priority over the etymological principle in this case.

Rhythmical rule

See also:Dissimilation

The rhythmical rule, also known as the rule of "rhythmical shortening", states that a long syllable (that is, a syllable containing á, é, í, ý, ó, ú, ŕ, ĺ, ia, ie, iu, ô) cannot be followed by another long one within the same word. If two long syllables were to occur next to each other, the second one is to be made short. This rule hasmorphophonemicimplications for declension (e.g.žen-ám[ˈʐenaːm]buttráv-am[ˈtraːʋam]) and conjugation (e.g.nos-ím[ˈnɔsiːm]butsúd-im). Several exceptions of this rule exist.It is typical of literary Slovak, and does not appear inCzechor in some Slovak dialects.

Diacritics

Theacutemark (in Slovak "dĺžeň", "prolongation mark" or "lengthener" ) indicates length (e.g. í =[iː]). This mark may appear on any vowel except "ä" (wide "e", široké "e" in Slovak). It may also appear above the consonants "l" and "r", indicating the long syllabic[l̩ː]and[r̩ː]sounds.

Thecircumflex( "vokáň" ) exists only above the letter "o". It turns the o into adiphthong(see above).

Theumlaut( "prehláska", "dve bodky" = two dots) is only used above the letter "a". It indicates an opening diphthong[ɛɐ],similar to GermanHerz[hɛɐts]'heart' (when it is not pronounced[hɛʁts],with a consonantal/r/).

Thecaron(in Slovak "mäkčeň", "palatalization mark" or "softener" ) indicates a change of alveolar fricatives, affricates, and plosives into either retroflex or palatal consonants, in informal Slovak linguistics often called just "palatalization". Eight consonants can bear a mäkčeň. Not all "normal" consonants have a counterpart with mäkčeň:

• In printed texts, the mäkčeň is printed in two forms: (1) č, dž, š, ž, ň and (2) ľ, ď, ť (looking more like an apostrophe), but this is just a convention. In handwritten texts, it always appears in the first form.
• Phonetically, two forms of "palatalization" exist: ľ, ň, ď, ť arepalatal,while č, dž, š, ž areretroflex(which, phonetically speaking, is not "soft" but "hard" ).

Computer encoding

The Slovak Alpha bet is available within theISO/IEC 8859-2"Latin-2" encoding, which generally supports Eastern European languages. All vowels, but none of the specific consonants (that is, no č, ď, ľ, ĺ, ň, ŕ, š, ť, ž) are available within the "Latin-1"encoding, which generally supports only Western European languages.

See also

• Slovak phonology
• Czech orthography
• Slovene Alpha bet
• Orthographia bohemica