Hungarian phonology

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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.

Contents

Consonants

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

Consonant phonemes of Hungarian [1]
Labial Dental [2] Post-
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ
Plosive p b t d c ɟ * k ɡ
Affricate t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ h
Trill r
Approximant l j

Almost every consonant may be geminated, written by doubling a single letter grapheme: bb for [bː], pp for [pː], ss for [ʃː] etc., or by doubling the first letter of a grapheme cluster: ssz for [sː], nny for [ɲː], etc.

The phonemes /d͡z/ and /d͡ʒ/ can appear on the surface as geminates: bridzs[brid͡ʒː] ('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 (/t͡s/, /ʃ/, /z/) or combined in the digraphs cs, sz, zs (/t͡ʃ/, /s/, /ʒ/), while y is used only in the digraphs ty, gy, ly, ny as a palatalization marker to write the sounds /c/, /ɟ/, /j/ (formerly /ʎ/), /ɲ/.

The most distinctive allophones are:

Examples [1]
PhonemeExampleTranslation
/p/pipa/ˈpipɒ/'pipe'
/b/bot/bot/'stick'
/t/toll /tolː/ 'feather'
/d/dob /dob/ 'throw', 'drum'
/k/kép /keːp/ 'picture'
/ɡ/gép /ɡeːp/ 'machine'
/f/fa /fɒ/ 'tree'
/v/vág /vaːɡ/ 'cut'
/s/szó /soː/ 'word'
/z/zöld /zøld/ 'green'
/ʃ/só /ʃoː/ 'salt'
/ʒ/zseb /ʒɛb/ 'pocket'
/j/jó /joː/ 'good'
/h/hó /hoː/ 'snow'
/t͡s/cél /t͡seːl/ 'goal', 'target'
/d͡z/edző /ˈɛd͡zːøː/ 'coach'
/t͡ʃ/csak /t͡ʃɒk/ 'only'
/d͡ʒ/dzsessz /d͡ʒɛsː/ 'jazz'
/l/ló /loː/ 'horse'
/c/tyúk /cuːk/ 'hen'
/ɟ/gyár /ɟaːr/ 'factory'
/r/ró /roː/ 'carve'
/m/ma /mɒ/ 'today'
/n/nem /nɛm/ 'no', 'gender'
/ɲ/nyár /ɲaːr/ 'summer'

Vowels

The vowel phonemes of Hungarian Hungarian vowel chart with rounded short a.svg
The vowel phonemes of Hungarian

Hungarian has seven pairs of corresponding short and long vowels. Their phonetic values do not exactly match up with each other, so e represents /ɛ/ and é represents //; likewise, a represents /ɒ/ while á represents //. [14] For the other pairs, the short vowels are slightly lower and more central, and the long vowels more peripheral:

The sound marked by a is considered to be [ ɒ ] by Tamás Szende [13] and [ ɔ ] by Mária Gósy. [16] Gósy also mentions a different short /a/ that contrasts with both /aː/ and /ɒ/, present in a few words like Svájc ('Switzerland'), svá ('schwa'), advent ('advent'), hardver ('hardware', [17] this usage is considered hyperforeign [ citation needed ] 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 /ɛː/ as well as the long /ɒː/. They are used in the name of the letters E and A, which are pronounced /ɛː/ and /ɒː/, respectively. [9] The adjective fair (as 'equitable') is pronounced in Hungarian with /ɛː/ (it may also be short, though). This sound occurs as an alternative in erre 'this way' (instead of doubling the /r/), just like /ɒː/ in arra 'that way'.

Although not found in Standard Hungarian, some dialects contrast three mid vowels /ɛ/, /eː/, and /e/, with the latter being written ë in some works, but not in the standard orthography. [18] Thus mentek could represent four different words: mëntëk[ˈmentek] ('you all go'), mëntek[ˈmentɛk] ('they went'), mentëk[ˈmɛntek] ('I save'), and mentek[ˈmɛntɛk] ('they are exempt'). In Standard Hungarian, the first three collapse to [ˈmɛntɛk], while the latter one is unknown, having a different form in the literary language (mentesek).

Examples [13]
PhonemeExample
/ɒ/hat /hɒt/ 'six'
(/ɒː/)a /ɒː/ 'the letter A'
(/a/)Svájc/ʃvajt͡s/'Switzerland'
//lát /laːt/ 'see'
/o/ok /ok/ 'cause'
//tó /toː/ 'lake'
/u/fut /fut/ 'run'
//kút /kuːt/ 'well'
/ɛ/lesz /lɛs/ 'will be'
(/ɛː/)e /ɛː/ 'the letter E'
//rész /reːs/ 'part'
/i/visz/vis/'carry'
//víz /viːz/ 'water'
/ø/sör /ʃør/ 'beer'
/øː/bőr /bøːr/ 'skin'
/y/üt /yt/ 'hit'
//tűz /tyːz/ 'fire'

Vowel harmony

A Venn diagram of Hungarian vowel harmony, featuring front rounded vowels, front unrounded vowels ("neutral" vowels), and back vowels. HungarianVowelHarmony.png
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. [19] Excluding recent loanwords, Hungarian words have either only back vowels or front vowels due to these vowel harmony rules. [19]

Hungarian vowel harmony [19]
Front Back
unroundedrounded
Close iyu
Mid ɛøøːo
Open ɒ

While /i/, /iː/, /ɛ/, and /eː/ are all front unrounded vowels, they are considered to be "neutral vowels" in Hungarian vowel harmony. [20] 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. [19]

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 [nɒk] vs. [nɛk]. Stems that contain back vowels affix back vowel suffixes, and stems that contain only front vowels affix front vowel suffixes. [19] 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. [20] 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. [20]

One is able to observe the distinction when looking at the plural affix, either [-ok] (back), [-ɛk] (front unrounded), or [-øk] (front rounded).

Hungarian vowel harmony and suffixation [20]
StemGlossDescription of stemPlural
asztaltableOnly back vowelsasztal-ok
gyerekchildOnly neutral (front) vowels, last vowel unrounded.gyerek-ek
füzetnotebookOnly front vowels, last vowel unrounded.füzet-ek
ismerősacquaintanceOnly front vowels, last vowel rounded.ismerős-ök
papírpaperBack vowel with neutral vowelpapír-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 [i], [iː], or [eː] that take a back vowel suffix instead of the front vowel suffix. [21]

Irregular suffixation [21]
StemGloss"At""From"
hídbridgehíd-nálhíd-tól
célaimcél-nálcél-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 /ɨ/[ clarification needed ], or its long counterpart /ɨː/. It is theorized that while these vowels merged with /i/ or /iː/, less commonly /eː/ or /uː/, the vowel harmony rules sensitive to the backness of the original sound remained in place. [21] 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 /nʲɨl/, Southern Mansi /nʲʌːl/.

Assimilation

The overall characteristics of the consonant assimilation in Hungarian are the following: [22] [23]

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:

VoicedVoicelessUndergoes devoicingUndergoes voicingCauses voicingCauses devoicing
b /b/p /p/dobtam [ˈdoptɒm] 'I threw (it)'pzés [ˈkeːbzeːʃ] 'training, forming'futball [ˈfudbɒlː] 'soccer'központ [ˈkøspont] 'center'
d /d/t /t/adhat [ˈɒthɒt] 's/he can give'tből [ˈheːdbøːl] 'from 7'csapda [ˈt͡ʃɒbdɒ]pénztár [ˈpeːnstaːr] 'cash desk'
dz /d͡z/c /t͡s/edzhet [ˈɛt͡shɛt] 's/he can train'ketrecben [ˈkɛtrɛd͡zbɛn] 'in (a) cage'alapdzadzíki [ˈɒlɒbd͡zɒd͡ziːki] 'standard tzatziki'abcúg! [ˈɒpt͡suːɡ] 'down with him!'
dzs /d͡ʒ/cs /t͡ʃ/bridzstől [ˈbrit͡ʃtøːl] '(because) of bridge [game of cards]'ácsból [ˈaːd͡ʒboːl] 'from (a) carpenter'barackdzsem [ˈbɒrɒd͡zɡd͡ʒɛm] ~ [bɒrɒd͡ʒːɛm] 'apricot jam'távcső [ˈtaːft͡ʃøː] 'telescope'
g /ɡ/k /k/fogtam [ˈfoktɒm] 'I held (it)'zsákból [ˈʒaːɡboːl] 'out of (a) bag'állítgat [ˈaːlːiːdɡɒt] 's/he constantly adjusts'zsebkendő [ˈʒɛpkɛndøː] 'handkerchief'
gy /ɟ/ty /c/ágytól [ˈaːctoːl] 'from (a) bed'pintyből [ˈpiɲɟbøːl] 'from (a) finch'gépgyár [ˈɡeːbɟaːr] 'machine factory'lábtyű [ˈlaːpcyː] 'socks with sleeves for the toes'
v /v/f /f/szívtam [ˈsiːftɒm] 'I smoked/sucked (it)'széfben [ˈseːvbɛn] 'in (a) safe' * lábfej [ˈlaːpfɛj] 'part of the foot below the ankle'
z /z/sz /s/ztől [ˈmeːstøːl] 'from honey'szből [ˈmeːzbøːl] 'out of lime'alapzat [ˈɒlɒbzɒt] 'base(ment)'rabszolga [ˈrɒpsolɡɒ] 'slave'
zs /ʒ/s /ʃ/zstól [ˈruːʃtoːl] 'from lipstick'hasba [ˈhɒʒbɒ] 'in(to) (the) stomach'köldökzsinór [ˈkøldøɡʒinoːr] 'umbilical cord'különbség [ˈkylømpʃeːɡ] ~ [ˈkylømʃeːɡ] 'difference'
h /h/adhat [ˈɒthɒt] 's/he can give'

Nasal place assimilation

Nasals assimilate to the place of articulation of the following consonant (even across word boundaries): [25]

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/d/ ~ gy/ɟ/, l/l/ ~ ly/j/, n/n/ ~ ny/ɲ/, t/t/ ~ ty/c/.

Degemination

Long consonants become short when preceded or followed by another consonant, e.g. folttal[foltɒl] 'by/with (a) patch'[ clarification needed ], varrtam[vɒrtɒm] 'I sewed'.

Intercluster elision

The middle alveolar[ clarification needed ] stops may be omitted in clusters with more than two consonants, depending on speed and articulation of speech: azt hiszem[ɒs‿hisɛm] ~ [ɒst‿hisɛm] 'I presume/guess', mindnyájan[miɲːaːjɒn] 'one and all', különbség[kylømpʃeːɡ] ~ [kylømʃeːɡ] 'difference'. In morpheme onsets like str-[ʃtr], middle stops tends to be more stable in educated speech, falanxstratégia[fɒlɒnʃtrɒteːɡiɒ] ~ [fɒlɒŋkʃtrɒteːɡiɒ] ~ [fɒlɒŋksʃtrɒteːɡiɒ] 'strategy based on phalanxes'.

Elision of [l]

/l/ 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 diphthongization[ example needed ] (e.g. volt[voːt] 'was', polgár[ˈpoːɡaːr] '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:

Stress

The stress is on the first syllable of the word. The articles a, az, egy, and the particle is are usually unstressed. [28]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Szende (1994 :91)
  2. Laminal dental, apart from the sibilants, which are laminal denti-alveolar.
  3. 1 2 Gósy (2004 :74)
  4. "Szende". Archived from the original on 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  5. "Gósy Mária".
  6. Gósy (2004 :136)
  7. Siptár & Törkenczy (2007 :205)
  8. Gósy (2004 :77, 130)
  9. 1 2 Szende (1994 :93)
  10. Balázs Sinkovics, Gyula Zsigri: A H-ra vonatkozó megszorítások történeti változásai in A nyelvtörténeti kutatások újabb eredményei vol. 4, JATE Press, 2005
  11. Gósy (2004 :77, 161)
  12. Gósy (2004 :161)
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Szende (1994 :92)
  14. Short a is slightly rounded [ ɒ ] in the standard language, though some dialects exhibit an unrounded version closer to [ ɑ ] (Vago (1980 :1)).
  15. Kráľ (1988 :92)
  16. Gósy (2004 :62, 67–70)
  17. Gósy (2004 :66–67)
  18. Vago (1980 :1)
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 Rounds (2001 :10)
  20. 1 2 3 4 Rounds (2001 :11)
  21. 1 2 3 Vago (1976 :244)
  22. Miklós Törkenczy: Practical Hungarian Grammar. A compact guide to the basics of Hungarian Grammar. Corvina, 2002. pp. 9–12. ISBN   963-13-5131-9
  23. A magyar helyesírás szabályai. 11.kiadás, 12. lenyomat. Akadémiai Kiadó, 1984–2000. pp. 26–30. ISBN   963-05-7735-6
  24. 1 2 3 Vago (1980 :35)
  25. Vago (1980 :33, 36)
  26. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-08-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  27. Vago (1980 :36)
  28. Rounds (2009 :8)

Bibliography