- Belarusian phonology
The phonological system of the modern
Belarusian language consists of 45 (54)phoneme s: 6vowel s and 39 (48)consonant s [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. Number of 48 comprises "all" consonant sounds, variations and rare included, which may have a "phonological" meaning in the modern Belarusian language] .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 <IPA|ʲ>.Distinctive features
As an East Slavic language, Belarusian differs from closely related languages in a number of ways: [Harvcoltxt|Sussex & Cubberly|2006|p=53]
* Akannye ( _be. аканне) – the pronunciation of unstressed IPA|/o/ and IPA|/a/ as clearopen front unrounded vowel IPA| [a] . Unlike Russianakanye , IPA| [a] also appears after IPA|/j/. However, there is no emphasised separation after the IPA|/j/ in the pronunciation of the iotified IPA|/ja/, IPA|/jo/, IPA|/je/ and IPA|/ji/ [Padluzhny, p.53.] .
* Dzyekanye ( _be. дзеканне) – the pronunciation ofOld East Slavic IPA|/dʲ/ as a soft affricate IPA| [ʣʲ] .
* Tsyekannye ( _be. цеканне) – the pronunciation of Old East Slavic IPA|/tʲ/ as a soft affricate IPA| [ʦʲ] .
* Strong palatalization of IPA|/sʲ/ and IPA|/zʲ/. ["Stronger than in Russian, weaker than in Polish", per "Беларуская мова..."]
*Postalveolar consonant s are all "hard" (laminal retroflex) while Russian and Ukrainian have both hard and soft postalveolars.
* has hardened and merged with IPA|/r/.
* After vowels IPA|/u/ transforms tosemivowel IPA| [u̯] , e.g. воўк IPA| [vɔu̯k] ('wolf').
* Both IPA| [j] and IPA| [w] are considered semi-vowels or glides. Also reflected in the formal names of these phonemes: respectively, "non-syllabic I" and "non-syllabic U" ( _be. нескладовы) [Padluzhny, p.54.] .Vowels
It is considered by some, that the sound IPA|/ɨ/ is not a separate phoneme, but an allophone of IPA|/i/ occurring after non-palatalized consonants.cite book |chapter=Belorussian |first=Peter |last=Mayo |pages=887–946 |title=The Slavonic Languages |editor=B. Comrie and G. G. Corbett (eds.) |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |id=ISBN 0415280788 |chapterurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=uRF9Yiso1OIC&pg=PA887]
Consonants
The consonant of Belarussian are as follows:
The rare phoneme IPA|/g/ is present only in several borrowed words, e.g. ганак IPA| [ˈganak] , however, геаграфія IPA| [ʝea'ɣrafʲija] ('geography').
The geminated variations are transcribed as followed:падарожжа IPA| [padaˈroʐʐa] , ззяць IPA| [zʲzʲatsʲ] , стагоддзе IPA| [staˈɣodzʲdzʲe] , каханне IPA| [kaˈxanʲnʲe] , рассячы IPA| [rasʲˈsʲatʂɨ] , ліхалецце IPA| [lʲixaˈlʲetsʲtsʲe] , сярэднявечча IPA| [sʲarɛdnʲaˈvʲetʂtʂa] .
Notes
Sources
* 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.
*citation
last =Sussex
first= Roland
last2 =Cubberly
first2= Paul
year= 2006
title= The Slavic Languages
place= Cambridge
publisher= Cambridge University Press
isbn=0521223156
* (Padluzhny) Фанетыка беларускай літатурнай мовы / І. Р. Бурлыка, Л. Ц. Выгонная, Г. В. Лосік, А. І. Падлужны; Рэд. А. І. Падлужны. — Мн.:Навука і тэхніка, 1989. — 335 с. ISBN 5-343-00292-7.
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