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Kyrgyz phonology

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This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article is about the phonology and phonetics of the Kyrgyz language.

Vowels

A formant chart showing the stem vowel space of Kyrgyz. From Washington (2007:10).
Kyrgyz vowel phonemes[1]
Front Back
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
Close i y ɯ u
Mid e ø o
Open (a) ɑ
  • 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]
    • All rounded vowels are more back than their unrounded counterparts.[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 or when followed by a front vowel later in the word (regressive assimilation), e.g. /ajdøʃ/ 'sloping' instead of */ɑjdøʃ/. This vowel is excluded from normal vowel harmony rules.[3] Note that in most dialects, its status as a vowel distinct from /ɑ/ is questionable.[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]

Consonants

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]
  • /ŋ, k, ɡ, x/ are velar, whereas /j/ is palatal.[8]
    • /k, ɡ/ are palatal [c, ɟ] in words with front vowels, and velar [k, ɡ] 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.[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]

The consonant phonemes /k, ɡ, ŋ/ have uvular realisations [q, ɢ, ɴ] in back vowel contexts (before back vowels). In front-vowel environments, /ɡ/ is fricativised to [ɣ] between continuants, and in back vowel environments both /k/ and /ɡ/ fricativise to [χ] and [ʁ]. Additionally, the liquid /l/ is velarized [ɫ] in back vowel contexts. Other consonants have slightly different realisations in front- versus back-vowel contexts and when between continuants or not, but these are the clearest examples.

Stress

Recent loanwords often retain their original stress.[11]

Desonorisation and devoicing

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: кемени ('the boat'), айды ('the month'), торду ('the net'), колду ('the hand'), таңды ('the dawn'), көздү ('the eye'), башты ('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: кемелер ('boats'), айлар ('months'), торлор ('nets'), колдор ('hands'), таңдар ('dawns'), көздөр ('eyes'), баштар ('heads'). Other /l/-initial suffixes, such as -LA, a denominal verbal suffix, and -LUU, a denominal adjectival suffix, may surface either with /l/ or /d/ after /r/; e.g. тордо-/торло- ('to net/weave'), түрдүү/түрлүү ('various').

See Kyrgyz language#Case for more examples.

References

  1. ^ Kara (2003), p. 10.
  2. ^ a b c Washington (2007), p. 10.
  3. ^ Washington (2007), p. 11.
  4. ^ Washington (2006b), p. 2.
  5. ^ For example by Washington (2006a)
  6. ^ Washington (2007), p. 12.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Kara (2003), p. 16.
  8. ^ a b c d Kara (2003), p. 11.
  9. ^ a b Kara (2003), p. 14.
  10. ^ Kara (2003), pp. 14, 16.
  11. ^ Washington (2006c), pp. 2–3.

Bibliography

  • Kara, Dávid Somfai (2003), Kyrgyz, Lincom Europa, ISBN 3895868434
  • 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)
  • 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)

Further reading

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