Kyrgyz phonology

This article is about the phonology and phonetics of the Kyrgyz language.

Vowels

Kyrgyz vowel phonemes

	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	i	y	ɯ	u
Mid	e	ø	ɤ	o
Open	a	ɶ	ɑ	ɒ

• Notes on vowel quality:
  • Kyrgyz vowel space is different in affixes and stems.
  • In stem vowel space, the main difference between /e/ and /i/ is that the latter is more back. In affix vowel space, they can have the same backness, and differ by height.
• /a/ appears only in borrowings from Persian and is excluded from normal vowel harmony rules. In most dialects, its status as a vowel distinct from /ɑ/ is questionable. There is also a phonetic [a] which appears as a result of regressive assimilation of /ɑ/ before syllables with phonological front vowels, e.g. [ajdøʃ] 'sloping'.
• /i, y, u, e, ø, o/ are sometimes transcribed /ɪ, ʏ, ʊ, ɛ, œ, ɔ/.
• The sequence of any vowel and the consonant /z/ is pronounced as a long vowel with falling pitch.
• In colloquial speech, word-final vowels are dropped when the next word begins with a vowel.
• All vowels but /i/ may be both short and long. Long vowels are the result of historical elisions and contractions. For example, jaa "rain" < *yağ; bee "mare" (cf. Kazakh biye); too "mountain" < *tağ; döölöt "wealth" < Arabic daulat; uluu "great" < *uluğ; elüü "fifty" < *elliğ.

Consonants

Kyrgyz consonant phonemes

		Labial	Dental/ alveolar	Post- alveolar	Dorsal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		(t͡s)	t͡ʃ
	voiced		[d͡z]	d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	s	ʃ	(x)
	voiced	(v)	z	ʒ	[ɣ]
Approximant		w	l		j
Trill		ʙ	r

• /n, l, r/ are alveolar, whereas /t, d, t͡s, s, z/ are dental.
  • the liquid /l/ is velarized [ɫ] in back vowel contexts.
• /ŋ, k, ɡ, x/ are velar, whereas /j/ is palatal.
  • /k, ɡ/ are palatal [c, ɟ] in words with front vowels, and uvular [q, ʁ] in words with back vowels.
    • Word-initial [c] is often voiced [ɟ].
    • In loanwords from Persian and Arabic, palatal [c, ɟ] are always followed by front vowels, whereas velar [k, ɡ] are always followed by back vowels, regardless of the vowel harmony.
    • Word-final and word-initial /k/ is voiced to [ɡ] when it is surrounded by vowels or the consonants /m, n, ŋ, l, r, j/.
• /f, v, t͡s, x/ occur only in foreign borrowings.
• In colloquial speech:
  • /b/ is lenited to [w] after /l, r, j/ or between vowels.
  • /t͡ʃ/ is deaffricated to [ʃ] before voiceless consonants.
  • Intervocalic /s/ can be voiced to [z].
  • Word-final /z/ is often devoiced to [s].

Stress

Recent loanwords often retain their original stress.

Desonorisation and devoicing

In Kyrgyz, suffixes beginning with /n/ show desonorisation of the /n/ to [d] after consonants (including /j/), and devoicing to [t] after voiceless consonants; e.g. the definite accusative suffix -NI patterns like this: кемени ('the boat'), айды ('the month'), торду ('the net'), колду ('the hand'), таңды ('the dawn'), көздү ('the eye'), башты ('the head').

Suffixes beginning with /l/ also show desonorisation and devoicing, though only after consonants of equal or lower sonority than /l/, e.g. the plural suffix -LAr patterns like this: кемелер ('boats'), айлар ('months'), торлор ('nets'), колдор ('hands'), таңдар ('dawns'), көздөр ('eyes'), баштар ('heads'). Other /l/-initial suffixes, such as -LA, a denominal verbal suffix, and -LUU, a denominal adjectival suffix, may surface either with /l/ or /d/ after /r/; e.g. тордо-/торло- ('to net/weave'), түрдүү/түрлүү ('various').

See Kyrgyz language#Case for more examples.

External links

• Kyrgyz phonology