Hungarian phonology

From Vero - Wikipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Self reference Template:More citations needed Template:IPA notice Template:Hungarian language

The phonology of the Hungarian language is notable for its process of vowel harmony, the frequent occurrence of geminate consonants and the presence of otherwise uncommon palatal stops.

Consonants

This is the standard Hungarian consonantal system, using symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Szende|1994|p=91">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Labial Dental<ref>Laminal dental, apart from the sibilants, which are laminal denti-alveolar.</ref> Post-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Plosive Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlinkTemplate:Ref Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Affricate Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Fricative Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Trill Template:IPAlink
Approximant Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
  • Template:Note It is debated whether the palatal consonant pair consists of stops or affricates.<ref name="gosy">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> They are considered affricates or stops, depending on register, by Tamás Szende,<ref name="Harvcoltxt|Szende|1994|p=91"/> head of the department of General Linguistics at PPKE,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and stops by Mária Gósy,<ref name="gosy"/> research professor, head of the Department of Phonetics at ELTE.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The reason for the different analyses is that the relative duration of the friction of Template:IPAslink (as compared to the duration of its closure) is longer than those of the stops, but shorter than those of the affricates. Template:IPA has the stop-like nature of having a full duration no longer than those of other (voiceless) stops such as Template:IPA but, considering the average closure time in relation to the friction time of the consonants, its duration structure is somewhat closer to those of the affricates.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Almost every consonant may be geminated, represented in writing by doubling a single letter grapheme: Template:Angbr for Template:IPA, Template:Angbr for Template:IPA, Template:Angbr for Template:IPA etc., or by doubling the first letter of a digraph: Template:Angbr for Template:IPA, Template:Angbr for Template:IPA, etc.

The phonemes Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink can occur in spoken language as geminates: bridzs Template:IPA ('bridge'). (For the list of examples and exceptions, see Hungarian dz and dzs.)

Hungarian orthography, unlike that of the surrounding Slavic languages, does not use háčky or any other consonant diacritics. Instead, the letters c, s, z are used alone (Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink) or combined in the digraphs cs, sz, zs (Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink), while y is used only in the digraphs ty, gy, ly, ny as a palatalization marker to write the sounds Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink (formerly Template:IPAslink), Template:IPAslink.

The most distinctive allophones are:

Szende|1994|p=91"/>
Phoneme Example Translation
Template:IPAslink pipa Template:IPA 'pipe'
Template:IPAslink bot Template:IPA 'stick'
Template:IPAslink toll Template:Audio-IPA 'feather'
Template:IPAslink dob Template:Audio-IPA 'throw', 'drum'
Template:IPAslink kép Template:Audio-IPA 'picture'
Template:IPAslink gép Template:Audio-IPA 'machine'
Template:IPAslink fa Template:Audio-IPA 'tree'
Template:IPAslink vág Template:Audio-IPA 'cut'
Template:IPAslink szó Template:Audio-IPA 'word'
Template:IPAslink zöld Template:Audio-IPA 'green'
Template:IPAslink só Template:Audio-IPA 'salt'
Template:IPAslink zseb Template:Audio-IPA 'pocket'
Template:IPAslink jó Template:Audio-IPA 'good'
Template:IPAslink hó Template:Audio-IPA 'snow'
Template:IPAslink cél Template:Audio-IPA 'goal', 'target'
Template:IPAslink edző Template:Audio-IPA 'coach'
Template:IPAslink csak Template:Audio-IPA 'only'
Template:IPAslink dzsessz Template:Audio-IPA 'jazz'
Template:IPAslink ló Template:Audio-IPA 'horse'
Template:IPAslink tyúk Template:Audio-IPA 'hen'
Template:IPAslink gyár Template:Audio-IPA 'factory'
Template:IPAslink ró Template:Audio-IPA 'carve'
Template:IPAslink ma Template:Audio-IPA 'today'
Template:IPAslink nem Template:Audio-IPA 'no', 'gender'
Template:IPAslink nyár Template:Audio-IPA 'summer'

Vowels

The vowel phonemes of Hungarian<ref name="szende92">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Hungarian has seven pairs of corresponding short and long vowels. Their phonetic values do not exactly match up with each other, so Template:Angbr represents Template:IPAslink and Template:Angbr represents Template:IPAslink; likewise, Template:Angbr represents Template:IPAslink while Template:Angbr represents Template:IPAslink.<ref>Short a is slightly rounded Template:IPAblink in the standard language, though some dialects exhibit an unrounded version closer to Template:IPAblink (Template:Harvcoltxt).</ref> For the other pairs, the short vowels are slightly lower and more central, and the long vowels more peripheral:

The sound marked by Template:Angbr is considered to be Template:IPAblink by Tamás Szende<ref name="szende92"/> and Template:IPAblink by Mária Gósy.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Gósy also mentions a different short Template:IPAslink that contrasts with both Template:IPA and Template:IPA, present in a few words like Svájc ('Switzerland'), svá ('schwa'), advent ('advent'), hardver ('hardware',<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> this usage is considered hyperforeignTemplate:Cn or simply dated), and halló (used when answering the phone; contrasting with haló 'dying', and háló 'web').

There are two more marginal sounds, namely the long Template:IPAslink as well as the long Template:IPAslink. They are used in the name of the letters E and A, which are pronounced Template:IPA and Template:IPA, respectively.<ref name="szende93"/> The adjective fair (as 'equitable') is pronounced in Hungarian with Template:IPA (it may also be short, though). This sound occurs as an alternative in erre 'this way' (instead of doubling the /r/), just like Template:IPA in arra 'that way'.

e-ë distinction

The letter e marks two different historical vowels, colloquially called "open e" (nyílt e) and "closed e" (zárt e). The orthography and standard pronunciation do not differentiate between the two, but many dialects do, with various pronunciations for the two vowels such as Template:IPA or Template:IPA for "open e" and Template:IPA or Template:IPA for "closed e". In text that wishes to highlight which of the two vowels is used in which place, the letter e is used for "open e" only, while "closed e" is marked with ë.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> There are minimal pairs that are distinguished only by the two e vowels. For example, mentek could represent four different words: mëntëk ('you all go'), mëntek ('they went'), mentëk ('I save'), and mentek ('they are exempt'). In Standard Hungarian, the first three collapse to Template:IPA, while the latter one is unknown, having a different form in the literary language (mentesek).

e-ë distinction by region<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Region e ë Example: ember ("person, human")
Northeastern,
Mezőség,
Budapest
(standard language) 		Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink /ɛmbɛr/
Western
(e.g. Veszprém, Zala, Vas) 		Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink /æmbɛr/
Along the Danube,
Tiszántúl 		Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink /ɛmber/
Southern
(ë replaced with ö) 		Template:IPAslink Template:IPAslink /ɛmbør/

Vowel examples

Examples<ref name="szende92"/>
Phoneme Example
Template:IPAslink hat Template:Audio-IPA 'six'
(Template:IPAslink) a Template:Audio-IPA 'the letter A'
(Template:IPAslink) Svájc Template:IPA 'Switzerland'
Template:IPAslink lát Template:Audio-IPA 'see'
Template:IPAslink ok Template:Audio-IPA 'cause'
Template:IPAslink tó Template:Audio-IPA 'lake'
Template:IPAslink fut Template:Audio-IPA 'run'
Template:IPAslink kút Template:Audio-IPA 'well'
Template:IPAslink lesz Template:Audio-IPA 'will be'
(Template:IPAslink) e Template:Audio-IPA 'the letter E'
Template:IPAslink rész Template:Audio-IPA 'part'
Template:IPAslink visz Template:IPA 'carry'
Template:IPAslink víz Template:Audio-IPA 'water'
Template:IPAslink sör Template:Audio-IPA 'beer'
Template:IPAslink bőr Template:Audio-IPA 'skin'
Template:IPAslink üt Template:Audio-IPA 'hit'
Template:IPAslink tűz Template:Audio-IPA 'fire'

Vowel harmony

A Venn diagram of Hungarian vowel harmony, featuring front rounded vowels, front unrounded vowels ("neutral" vowels), and back vowels.

As in Finnish, Turkish, and Mongolian, vowel harmony plays an important part in determining the distribution of vowels in a word. Hungarian vowel harmony classifies the vowels according to front vs. back assonance and rounded vs unrounded for the front vowels.<ref name="Rounds 2001 10">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Excluding recent loanwords, Hungarian words have either only back vowels or front vowels due to these vowel harmony rules.<ref name="Rounds 2001 10"/>

Hungarian vowel harmony<ref name="Rounds 2001 10"/>
Front Back
unrounded rounded
Close Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Mid Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA Template:IPA
Open Template:IPA Template:IPA

While Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA, and Template:IPA are all front unrounded vowels, they are considered to be "neutral vowels" in Hungarian vowel harmony.<ref name="Rounds 2001 11">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Therefore, if a word contains back vowels, neutral vowels may appear alongside them. However, if only neutral vowels appear in a stem, the stem is treated as though it is of front vowel assonance and all suffixes must contain front vowels.<ref name="Rounds 2001 10"/>

Vowel harmony in Hungarian is most notable when observing suffixation. Vowel harmony must be maintained throughout the entire word, meaning that most suffixes have variants. For example, the dative case marker Template:IPA vs. Template:IPA. Stems that contain back vowels affix back vowel suffixes, and stems that contain only front vowels affix front vowel suffixes.<ref name="Rounds 2001 10"/> However, the front vowel stems distinguish rounded vs. unroundedness based on the last vowel in the stem. If the last vowel is front and rounded, it takes a suffix with a front rounded vowel; otherwise it follows the standard rules.<ref name="Rounds 2001 11"/> While suffixes for most words have front/back vowel variants, there are not many that have rounded/unrounded variants, indicating that this is a rarer occurrence.<ref name="Rounds 2001 11"/>

One is able to observe the distinction when looking at the plural affix, either Template:IPA (back), Template:IPA (front unrounded), or Template:IPA (front rounded).

Hungarian vowel harmony and suffixation<ref name="Rounds 2001 11"/>
Stem Gloss Description of stem Plural
asztal table Only back vowels asztal-ok
gyerek child Only neutral (front) vowels, last vowel unrounded. gyerek-ek
füzet notebook Only front vowels, last vowel unrounded. füzet-ek
ismerős acquaintance Only front vowels, last vowel rounded. ismerős-ök
papír paper Back vowel with neutral vowel papír-ok

As can be seen above, the neutral vowels are able to be in both front and back vowel assonance words with no consequence.

However, there are about fifty monosyllabic roots that only contain Template:IPA, Template:IPA, or Template:IPA that take a back vowel suffix instead of the front vowel suffix.<ref name="Vago 1976 244">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Irregular suffixation<ref name="Vago 1976 244"/>
Stem Gloss "At" "From"
híd bridge híd-nál híd-tól
cél aim cél-nál cél-tól

These exceptions to the rule are hypothesized to have originated from roots originally having contained a phoneme no longer present in modern Hungarian, the unrounded back vowel Template:IPAslinkTemplate:Clarify, or its long counterpart Template:IPA. It is theorized that while these vowels merged with Template:IPA or Template:IPA, less commonly Template:IPA or Template:IPA, the vowel harmony rules sensitive to the backness of the original sound remained in place.<ref name="Vago 1976 244"/> The theory finds support from etymology: related words in other languages generally have back vowels, often specifically unrounded back vowels. For example, nyíl 'arrow' (plural nyíl-ak) corresponds to Komi ньыл Template:IPA, Southern Mansi Template:IPA.

Assimilation

The overall characteristics of the consonant assimilation in Hungarian are the following:<ref name="PHG">Miklós Törkenczy: Practical Hungarian Grammar. A compact guide to the basics of Hungarian Grammar. Corvina, 2002. pp. 9–12. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="AkH11">A magyar helyesírás szabályai. 11.kiadás, 12. lenyomat. Akadémiai Kiadó, 1984–2000. pp. 26–30. Template:ISBN</ref>

  • Assimilation types are typically regressive, that is the last element of the cluster determines the change.
  • In most cases, it works across word boundaries if the sequence of words form an "accentual unity", that is there is no phonetic break between them (and they bear a common phrase stress). Typical accentual units are:
    • attributes and qualified nouns, e.g. hideg tél Template:IPA ('cold winter');
    • adverbs and qualified attributes, e.g. nagyon káros Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA ('very harmful');
    • verbs and their complements, e.g. nagyot dob Template:IPA ('s/he throws long toss'), vesz belőle Template:IPA ('take some [of it]').
  • There are obligatory, optional and stigmatized types of assimilation.
  • The palatal affricates behave like stops in assimilation processes. Therefore, in this section, they will be treated as stops, including their IPA notations Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink.

Voice assimilation

In a cluster of consonants ending in an obstruent, all obstruents change their voicing according to the last one of the sequence. The affected obstruents are the following:

  • In obstruent clusters, retrograde voicing assimilation occurs, even across word boundaries:<ref name="Vago 1980 35">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
Voiced Voiceless Undergoes devoicing Undergoes voicing Causes voicing Causes devoicing
b Template:IPAslink p Template:IPAslink dobtam Template:IPA 'I threw (it)' képzés Template:IPA 'training, forming' futball Template:IPA 'soccer' központ Template:IPA 'center'
d Template:IPAslink t Template:IPAslink adhat Template:IPA 's/he can give' hétből Template:IPA 'from 7' csapda Template:IPA pénztár Template:IPA 'cash desk'
dz Template:IPAslink c Template:IPAslink edzhet Template:IPA 's/he can train' ketrecben Template:IPA 'in (a) cage' alapdzadzíki Template:IPA 'standard tzatziki' abcúg! Template:IPA 'down with him!'
dzs Template:IPAslink cs Template:IPAslink bridzstől Template:IPA '(because) of bridge [game of cards]' ácsból Template:IPA 'from (a) carpenter' barackdzsem Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA 'apricot jam' távcső Template:IPA 'telescope'
g Template:IPAslink k Template:IPAslink fogtam Template:IPA 'I held (it)' zsákból Template:IPA 'out of (a) bag' állítgat Template:IPA 's/he constantly adjusts' zsebkendő Template:IPA 'handkerchief'
gy Template:IPAslink ty Template:IPAslink ágytól Template:IPA 'from (a) bed' pintyből Template:IPA 'from (a) finch' gépgyár Template:IPA 'machine factory' lábtyű Template:IPA 'socks with sleeves for the toes'
v Template:IPAslink f Template:IPAslink szívtam Template:IPA 'I smoked/sucked (it)' széfben Template:IPA 'in (a) safe' Template:Ref lábfej Template:IPA 'part of the foot below the ankle'
z Template:IPAslink sz Template:IPAslink méztől Template:IPA 'from honey' mészből Template:IPA 'out of lime' alapzat Template:IPA 'base(ment)' rabszolga Template:IPA 'slave'
zs Template:IPAslink s Template:IPAslink rúzstól Template:IPA 'from lipstick' hasba Template:IPA 'in(to) (the) stomach' köldökzsinór Template:IPA 'umbilical cord' különbség Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA 'difference'
Template:N/a h Template:IPAslink Template:N/a Template:N/a Template:N/a adhat Template:IPA 's/he can give'
  • Template:Ref Template:IPAslink is unusual in that it undergoes devoicing, but does not cause voicing,<ref name="Vago 1980 35"/> e.g. hatvan ('sixty') is pronounced Template:IPA not Template:IPA. Voicing before Template:IPA occurs only in south-western dialects, though it is stigmatized.Template:Citation needed
  • Conversely, Template:IPAslink causes devoicing, but never undergoes voicing in consonant clusters.<ref name="Vago 1980 35"/> e.g. dohból Template:IPA 'from (the) musty smell'.
  • Other than a few foreign words, morpheme-initial Template:IPAslink does not occur (even its phonemic state is highly debated), therefore it is hard to find a real example when it induces voicing (even alapdzadzíki is forced and not used colloquially). However, the regressive voice assimilation before Template:IPA does occur even in nonsense sound sequences.

Nasal place assimilation

Nasals assimilate to the place of articulation of the following consonant (even across word boundaries):<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Sibilant assimilation

Palatal assimilation

Combination of a "palatalizable" consonant and a following palatal consonant results in a palatal geminate. Palatalizable consonants are palatal ones and their non-palatal counterparts: d Template:IPAslink ~ gy Template:IPAslink, l Template:IPAslink ~ ly Template:IPAslink, n Template:IPAslink ~ ny Template:IPAslink, t Template:IPAslink ~ ty Template:IPAslink.

  • Full palatal assimilation occurs when the ending palatal consonant is j Template:IPAslink: nagyja Template:IPA 'most of it', adja Template:IPA 's/he gives it'; tolja Template:IPA 's/he pushes it'; unja Template:IPA 's/he is bored with it', hányja Template:IPA 's/he throws it'; látja Template:IPA 's/he sees it', atyja Template:IPA 'his/her father'. The cluster lyj Template:IPA is a simple orthographic variant of jj Template:IPA: folyjon Template:IPA 'let it flow'.
  • Partial assimilation takes place if an alveolar stop (d, t) is followed by a palatal gy Template:IPAslink, ty Template:IPAslink: hadgyakorlat Template:IPA 'army exercises', nemzetgyűlés Template:IPA 'national assembly'; vadtyúk Template:IPA 'wild chicken', hat tyúk Template:IPA 'six hens'.
  • Some sources<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> report that alveolar stops change into their palatal counterparts before ny Template:IPAslink: lúdnyak Template:IPA 'neck of a goose', átnyúlik Template:IPA 'it extends over'. The majority of the sources do not mention this kind of assimilation.
  • When the first consonant is nasal, the partial palatal assimilation is a form of the nasal place assimilation (see above).
  • The full palatal assimilation is an obligatory feature in standard Hungarian: its omission is stigmatized and it is considered as a hypercorrection of an undereducated person. Partial palatal assimilation is optional in articulated speech.

Degemination

Long consonants become short when preceded or followed by another consonant, e.g. folttal Template:IPA 'by/with (a) patch'Template:Clarify, varrtam Template:IPA 'I sewed'.

Intercluster elision

The middle alveolarTemplate:Clarify stops may be omitted in clusters with more than two consonants, depending on speed and articulation of speech: azt hiszem Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA ~Template:IPA I presume/guess', mindnyájan Template:IPA 'one and all', különbség Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA 'difference'. In morpheme onsets like str- Template:IPA, middle stops tends to be more stable in educated speech, falanxstratégia Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA 'strategy based on phalanxes'.

Elision of Template:IPA

Template:IPA also tends to be omitted between a preceding vowel and an adjacent stop or affricate in rapid speech, causing the lengthening of the vowel or diphthongizationTemplate:Example needed (e.g. volt Template:IPA 'was', polgár Template:IPA 'citizen'). This is quite common in dialectal speech, but considered non-standard in the official language.

Hiatus

Standard Hungarian prefers hiatus between adjacent vowels. However some optional dissolving features can be observed:

  • An optional weak glide Template:IPA may be pronounced within a word (or a compound element) between two adjacent vowels if one of them is i Template:IPA, e.g. fiaiéi Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA ('the ones of his/her sons'). This, however, is rarely transcribed.
  • Adjacent identical short vowels other than a and e may be pronounced as the corresponding long vowel, e.g. zoológia Template:IPA ~ Template:IPA ('zoology').
  • Adjacent double i is always pronounced as single short Template:IPA in the word endings, e.g. Hawaii Template:IPA. This reduction is reflected in the current orthography when the adjective-forming suffix -i is added to a noun ending in i. In this case suffix -i is omitted also in writing. e.g. Lenti (a placename) + -i → lenti 'of Lenti'.

Stress

The stress is on the first syllable of the word. The articles a, az, egy, and the particle is are usually unstressed.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

References

Template:Reflist

Bibliography

Template:Refbegin

Template:Refend

Template:Language phonologies Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Hungarian_phonology&oldid=622071"