PRONUNCIATION / PHONETICS

  1. International Phonetic Alphabet

letter

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

 

  1. VOWELS

 

a, e, i, o, u, y + ę, ą

 

•        letter ę is pronounced in different ways depending on the following consonant

[em] przed: b, p

sęp [semp]

when at the end of a word it is pronunced [e]

[sie]

•       all vowels are voiced.

 

  1. CONSONANTS

•       hard and soft

twarde:

p

b

f

w

s

z

t

d

k

g

ch / h

m

n

r

l

ł

 

miękkie:

p`

b`

f`

w`

ś

ź

ć

dź

k`

g`

ch `/ h`

m`

ń

r`

 

l

j

 

•       functionally soft: c, dz, cz, dż, sz, ż, rz (in the past they were soft, now they are pronounced as hard consonants, but grammatically they do not behave as such)

* consonants l, j are a separate concept:

-j takes a form of a non-syllabic vowel

 

•       voiced and devoiced

voiced:

b

w

d

z

dz

ż, rz

dż

ź

dź

g

 

m

n

r

l

ł

j

devoiced:

p

f

t

s

c

sz

cz

ś

ć

k

ch / h

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•       assimilations

In Polish there is a phenomenon of consonant voicing assimilation. It means that a group of consonants can be voiced or devoiced depending on the last consonant in the group (the group also includes the first consonant or vowel of the next word).

 

When a voiced consonant is followed by a devoiced consonant both

become devoiced.

ławka [łafka], w czwartek [f czfartek], książka [ksiąszka]

pod stołem [potstołem]

pod dywanem [poddywanem]

 

•       rz in terms of voicing always assimilates with the preceding consonant

grzyby [grzyby]

krzywy [kszywy]

 

  1. ACCENT

In Polish we have a paroxytonic accent, which means that it goes on the next to last syllable.

mama, studentka, sekretarka

 

 

EXCEPTIONS:

•       words of foreign origin ending with –yka, -ika, with proparoxytonic stress – the accent goes on the third to last syllable. This group also consists of words with a different ending which are traditionally stressed in this way.

muzyka, matematyka, fizyka

uniwersytet, reguła, prezydent, Rzeczpospolita

 

•       past tense forms, in case of which endings –śmy, -ście are not seen as parts of the word:

chciałyśmy, robiliśmy, kupowałyście

 

•       conditional mood forms, with endings -bym, -byś, -by, -byśmy, -byście also not treated as parts of a word. In such sase the accent goes on the third or fourth to last syllable (for 2nd and 3rd person plural):

chcieliby, zrobiłyby, kupiłby

chcielibyśmy, zrobiłybyście, kupilibyście

 

•       acronyms which are often stressed on the last syllable (oxytonic accent)

PKP [pekape], MPK [empeka], USA [uesa]