Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave

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917 01 Trnava

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Sekretariát

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
Segmental Aspects

SLOVAK PHONEMIC INVENTORY

The Slovak PI comprises 11 vowels (6 short and 5 long vowels), 4 diphthongs and 27 consonants. In the written form (spelling), they are represented by 46 graphemes of the Slovak alphabet – a ä e i o u y á é í ó ú ý b c č d f g h j k l ĺ m n p q r ŕ s š t v w x z ž ď ľ ň ť ô dz dž ch – 33 consonants including 3 digraphs (dz is pronounced /dz/, dž /ʤ/, ch /x/, while, on the other hand, the grapheme q is pronounced as /kv/, the letter x as /ks/). Besides these consonant phonemes, specific transcription symbols are also used for č /ʧ/, š /ʃ/ and ž /ʒ/.  Some of the vowels a e i o u y á é í ó ú ý ä are combined to form four diphthongs – ia /ĭa/, ie /ĭe/, iu /ĭu/, ô /ŭo/. The exact number of the speech sounds included in the Slovak phonemic inventory is 42, it means that there are fewer phonemes than graphemes because both the letters short i and long y are pronounced as /i/, and both long í and ý also have identical pronunciation /i:/. No difference in pronunciation is made between graphemes the v and w, as both are pronounced /v/.

Classification of Speech Sounds

Otestujte si vaše vedomosti.

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1. PI is an abbreviation for:

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2. Slovak /n/ and /η/ are:

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3. Two segments of a vowel-cluster NOT pronounced within one syllable form:

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4. A diphthong is pronounced as falling if its first component is:

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5. Name all British English centring diphthongs:

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6. Choose the symbols used for the vowels functioning as the second segment in closing diphthongs:

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7. Which group of consonants is (also) called “stops”?

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8. Name the English consonants that could be pronounced with aspiration:

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9. In the post-release phase (when producing plosives) the air escaping through the vocal folds makes an additional puff of air called:

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10. Name all English sibilants: