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Polish phonology
The phonological system of the Polish language is similar in many ways to those of other Slavic languages, although there are some characteristic features found in only a few other languages of the family, such as contrasting postalveolar and alveolo-palatal fricatives and affricates. The vowel system is relatively simple, with just six oral monophthongs and arguably two nasals in traditional speech, while the consonant system is much more complex.
The Polish vowel system consists of six oral sounds. Traditionally, it was also said to include two nasal monophthongs, with Polish considered the last Slavic language that had preserved nasal sounds that existed in Proto-Slavic. However, recent sources present for modern Polish a vowel system without nasal vowel phonemes, including only the aforementioned six oral vowels.
The vowels /ɨ/ and /i/ have largely complementary distribution. Either vowel may follow a labial consonant, as in mi ('to me') and my ('we'). Elsewhere, however, /i/ is usually restricted to word-initial position and positions after alveolo-palatal consonants and approximants /l, j/, while /ɨ/ cannot appear in those positions (see § Hard and soft consonants below). Either vowel may follow a velar fricative /x/ but after velar /k, ɡ/ the vowel /ɨ/ is limited to rare loanwords e.g. kynologia /ˌkɨnɔˈlɔɡja/ ('cynology') and gyros /ˈɡɨrɔs/ ('gyro'). Dental, postalveolar consonants and approximants /r, w/ are followed by /ɨ/ in native or assimilated words. However, /i/ appears outside its usual positions in some foreign-derived words, as in chipsy /ˈt͡ʂipsɨ/ ('potato chips') and tir /tir/ ('large lorry', see TIR). The degree of palatalization in these contexts is weak. In some phonological descriptions of Polish that make a phonemic distinction between palatalized and unpalatalized consonants, [ɨ] and [i] may thus be treated as allophones of a single phoneme. In the past, /ɨ/ was closer to [ɪ], which is acoustically more similar to [i][citation needed].
Nasal vowels do not feature uniform nasality over their duration. Phonetically, they consist of an oral vowel followed by a nasal semivowel [w̃] or [j̃] (są is pronounced [sɔw̃], which sounds closer to Portuguese são [sɐ̃w̃] than French sont [sɔ̃] – all three words mean '(they) are'). Therefore, they are phonetically diphthongs. (For nasality following other vowel nuclei, see § Allophony below.)
The nasal phonemes /ɔ̃, ɛ̃/ appear in older phonological descriptions of Polish e.g. Stieber (1966), Rocławski (1976:84), Wierzchowska (1980:51). In more recent descriptions the orthographic nasal vowels ą, ę are analyzed as two phonemes in all contexts e.g. Sawicka (1995), Wiśniewski (2007). Before a fricative and in word-final position (in the case of ą) they are transcribed as an oral vowel /ɔ, ɛ/ followed by a nasal consonant /ɲ, ŋ/ or /j̃, w̃/. Under such an analysis, the list of consonantal phonemes is extended by a velar nasal phoneme /ŋ/ or by two nasal approximants /j̃/, /w̃/.
If analyzed as separate phonemes, nasal vowels do not occur except before a fricative and in word-final position.[citation needed] When the letters ą and ę appear before stops and affricates, they indicate an oral /ɔ/ or /ɛ/ followed by a nasal consonant homorganic with the following consonant. For example, kąt ('angle', 'corner') is /kɔnt/, gęba ('mouth') is /ˈɡɛmba/, pięć ('five') is /pjɛɲt͡ɕ/ and bąk ('bumble bee') is /bɔŋk/, as if they were spelled *kont, *gemba, *pieńć and *bonk. Before /l/ or /w/, nasality is lost altogether, and ą and ę are pronounced as oral /ɔ/ or /ɛ/. The /ɛŋ/ sequence is also denasalized to /ɛ/ in word-final position, as in będę /ˈbɛndɛ/ 'I will be'.
Distinctive vowel length was inherited from late Proto-Slavic, although in Polish only some pretonic long vowels and vowels with the neoacute retained length. Additional vowel lengths were introduced in Proto-Polish (as in other West Slavic languages) as a result of compensatory lengthening when a yer in the next syllable disappeared according to Havlík's law. In Polish this only happened in penultimate syllables (which thus became final syllables) before a voiced consonant (in other Slavic languages where a similar process occurred this could be more general).
The resultant system of vowel lengths was similar to what is today preserved in Czech and to a lesser degree in Slovak, although the distribution of the sounds often differed (for example in Czech the old acute also lengthened vowels). In the emerging modern Polish, however, the long vowels were shortened again but sometimes (depending on dialect) with a change in quality (the vowels tended to become higher). The latter changes came to be incorporated into the standard language only in the case of long o and the long nasal vowel. The vowel shift may thus be presented as follows:
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Polish phonology
The phonological system of the Polish language is similar in many ways to those of other Slavic languages, although there are some characteristic features found in only a few other languages of the family, such as contrasting postalveolar and alveolo-palatal fricatives and affricates. The vowel system is relatively simple, with just six oral monophthongs and arguably two nasals in traditional speech, while the consonant system is much more complex.
The Polish vowel system consists of six oral sounds. Traditionally, it was also said to include two nasal monophthongs, with Polish considered the last Slavic language that had preserved nasal sounds that existed in Proto-Slavic. However, recent sources present for modern Polish a vowel system without nasal vowel phonemes, including only the aforementioned six oral vowels.
The vowels /ɨ/ and /i/ have largely complementary distribution. Either vowel may follow a labial consonant, as in mi ('to me') and my ('we'). Elsewhere, however, /i/ is usually restricted to word-initial position and positions after alveolo-palatal consonants and approximants /l, j/, while /ɨ/ cannot appear in those positions (see § Hard and soft consonants below). Either vowel may follow a velar fricative /x/ but after velar /k, ɡ/ the vowel /ɨ/ is limited to rare loanwords e.g. kynologia /ˌkɨnɔˈlɔɡja/ ('cynology') and gyros /ˈɡɨrɔs/ ('gyro'). Dental, postalveolar consonants and approximants /r, w/ are followed by /ɨ/ in native or assimilated words. However, /i/ appears outside its usual positions in some foreign-derived words, as in chipsy /ˈt͡ʂipsɨ/ ('potato chips') and tir /tir/ ('large lorry', see TIR). The degree of palatalization in these contexts is weak. In some phonological descriptions of Polish that make a phonemic distinction between palatalized and unpalatalized consonants, [ɨ] and [i] may thus be treated as allophones of a single phoneme. In the past, /ɨ/ was closer to [ɪ], which is acoustically more similar to [i][citation needed].
Nasal vowels do not feature uniform nasality over their duration. Phonetically, they consist of an oral vowel followed by a nasal semivowel [w̃] or [j̃] (są is pronounced [sɔw̃], which sounds closer to Portuguese são [sɐ̃w̃] than French sont [sɔ̃] – all three words mean '(they) are'). Therefore, they are phonetically diphthongs. (For nasality following other vowel nuclei, see § Allophony below.)
The nasal phonemes /ɔ̃, ɛ̃/ appear in older phonological descriptions of Polish e.g. Stieber (1966), Rocławski (1976:84), Wierzchowska (1980:51). In more recent descriptions the orthographic nasal vowels ą, ę are analyzed as two phonemes in all contexts e.g. Sawicka (1995), Wiśniewski (2007). Before a fricative and in word-final position (in the case of ą) they are transcribed as an oral vowel /ɔ, ɛ/ followed by a nasal consonant /ɲ, ŋ/ or /j̃, w̃/. Under such an analysis, the list of consonantal phonemes is extended by a velar nasal phoneme /ŋ/ or by two nasal approximants /j̃/, /w̃/.
If analyzed as separate phonemes, nasal vowels do not occur except before a fricative and in word-final position.[citation needed] When the letters ą and ę appear before stops and affricates, they indicate an oral /ɔ/ or /ɛ/ followed by a nasal consonant homorganic with the following consonant. For example, kąt ('angle', 'corner') is /kɔnt/, gęba ('mouth') is /ˈɡɛmba/, pięć ('five') is /pjɛɲt͡ɕ/ and bąk ('bumble bee') is /bɔŋk/, as if they were spelled *kont, *gemba, *pieńć and *bonk. Before /l/ or /w/, nasality is lost altogether, and ą and ę are pronounced as oral /ɔ/ or /ɛ/. The /ɛŋ/ sequence is also denasalized to /ɛ/ in word-final position, as in będę /ˈbɛndɛ/ 'I will be'.
Distinctive vowel length was inherited from late Proto-Slavic, although in Polish only some pretonic long vowels and vowels with the neoacute retained length. Additional vowel lengths were introduced in Proto-Polish (as in other West Slavic languages) as a result of compensatory lengthening when a yer in the next syllable disappeared according to Havlík's law. In Polish this only happened in penultimate syllables (which thus became final syllables) before a voiced consonant (in other Slavic languages where a similar process occurred this could be more general).
The resultant system of vowel lengths was similar to what is today preserved in Czech and to a lesser degree in Slovak, although the distribution of the sounds often differed (for example in Czech the old acute also lengthened vowels). In the emerging modern Polish, however, the long vowels were shortened again but sometimes (depending on dialect) with a change in quality (the vowels tended to become higher). The latter changes came to be incorporated into the standard language only in the case of long o and the long nasal vowel. The vowel shift may thus be presented as follows: