Belarusian phonology
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The phonological system of the modern Belarusian language consists of 45 (54) phonemes: 6 vowels and 39 (48) consonants.[1]
Some of the Belarusian consonants may form complemental pairs, differing only in palatalisation (called hard vs soft consonants). In some of such pairs, the place of articulation is additionally changed (see distinctive features below). Some of the consonants are always palatalised, and some are always unpalatalised. The phonetic transcription of Belarusian denotes the palatalised ("soft") consonants with the symbol <ʲ>.
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[edit] Distinctive features
As an East Slavic language, Belarusian differs from closely related languages in a number of ways:[2]
- Akannye (Belarusian: аканне) – the pronunciation of unstressed /o/ and /a/ as clear open front unrounded vowel [a]. Unlike Russian akanye, [a] also appears after /j/. However, there is no emphasised separation after the /j/ in the pronunciation of the iotified /ja/, /jo/, /je/ and /ji/.[3]
- Dzyekanye (Belarusian: дзеканне) – the pronunciation of Old East Slavic /dʲ/ as a soft affricate [dzʲ].
- Tsyekannye (Belarusian: цеканне) – the pronunciation of Old East Slavic /tʲ/ as a soft affricate [tsʲ].
- Strong palatalization of /sʲ/ and /zʲ/.[4]
- Postalveolar consonants are all hard (laminal retroflex) while Russian and Ukrainian have both hard and soft postalveolars.
- /rʲ/ has hardened and merged with /r/.
- Both [j] and [w] are considered semi-vowels or glides. Also reflected in the formal names of these phonemes: respectively, "non-syllabic I" and "non-syllabic U" (Belarusian: нескладовы).[5]
[edit] Vowels
| Belarusian script | IPA | Description | Belarusian example |
|---|---|---|---|
| i | /i/ | close front unrounded | лiст ('leaf') |
| э | /ɛ/ | open-mid front unrounded | гэты ('this one') |
| ы | [ɨ] | close central unrounded | мыш ('mouse') |
| a | /a/ | open central unrounded | кат ('executioner') |
| у | /u/ | close back rounded | шум ('noise') |
| о | /ɔ/ | open-mid back rounded | кот ('cat') |
As with Russian, [ɨ] is not a separate phoneme, but an allophone of /i/ occurring after non-palatalized consonants.[6]
[edit] Consonants
The consonant of Belarussian are as follows:[7]
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Velar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hard | soft | hard | soft | soft | hard | ||
| Nasal | m | mʲ | n̪ | n̪ʲ | |||
| Plosive | p b | pʲ bʲ | t̪ d̪ | kʲ ɡʲ | k ɡ | ||
| Affricate | t̪s̪ d̪z̪ | t̪s̪ʲ d̪z̪ʲ | tʃ dʒ | ||||
| Fricative | f v | fʲ vʲ | s z | sʲ zʲ | ʃ ʒ | xʲ ɣʲ | x ɣ |
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Approximant | l̪ | l̪ʲ | j | (w) | |||
The rare phonemes /ɡ/ and /ɡʲ/ are present only in several borrowed words, e.g. ганак [ˈɡanak], however, other borrowed words may still have the fricative pronunciation геаграфія [ɣʲeaˈɣrafʲija] ('geography').
As a syllable coda, /v/ is pronounced [w] ([u̯], forming diphthongs) and is spelled <ў>.[8] There are also alternations between /l/ and this post-vocalic /v/; though restricted to the past tense of verbs,[9] [w] may derive etymologically from /l/ as with воўк [vɔwk] ('wolf'), which comes from Proto-Slavic *vьlkъ.
The geminated variations are transcribed as followed: падарожжа [padaˈroʒʒa], ззяць [zʲzʲatsʲ], стагоддзе [staˈɣodzʲdzʲe], каханне [kaˈxanʲnʲe], рассячы [rasʲˈsʲatʃɨ], ліхалецце [lʲixaˈlʲetsʲtsʲe], сярэднявечча [sʲarɛdnʲaˈvʲetʃtʃa].
[edit] Notes
- ^ Usually, the number of 39 is quoted, excluding the 9 geminated versions of consonants as "mere variations". Sometimes, rare consonants are also excluded, thus bringing the quoted number of consonants further down. The number of 48 comprises all consonant sounds (variations and rare consonants included) that may have a phonological (i.e. contrastive) meaning in the modern Belarusian language
- ^ Sussex & Cubberly (2006:53)
- ^ Padluzhny (1989:53)
- ^ "Stronger than in Russian, weaker than in Polish", per Беларуская мова...
- ^ Padluzhny (1989:54)
- ^ Mayo (2002:890)
- ^ Mayo (2002:891)
- ^ S. Young (2006) "Belorussian". In the Encyclopedia of language and linguistics, 2nd ed.
- ^ Mayo (2002:899)
[edit] Sources
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Belarusian pronunciation |
- Беларуская граматыка. У 2-х ч. / АН БССР, Ін-т мовазнаўства імя Я. Коласа; [Рэд. М. В. Бірыла, П. П. Шуба]. – Мн. : Навука і тэхніка, 1985.
- Беларуская мова: Вучэб. дапам. / Э. Д. Блінава, Н. В. Гаўрош, М. Ц. Кавалёва і інш.; Пад рэд. М. С. Яўневіча. — Мн. : Выш. школа, 1991. ISBN 5-339-00539-9.
- Mayo, Peter (2002), "Belorussian", in Comrie, Bernard; Corbett, G. G., The Slavonic Languages, London: Routledge, pp. 887–946, ISBN 0415280788
- Padluzhny, Ped (1989.), Фанетыка беларускай літатурнай мовы / І. Р. Бурлыка, Л. Ц. Выгонная, Г. В. Лосік, А. І. Падлужны; Рэд. А. І. Падлужны. — Мн.:Навука і тэхніка,, pp. 335, ISBN 5-343-00292-7
- Sussex, Roland; Cubberly, Paul (2006), The Slavic Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521223156
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