Latgalian language is a Latvian language dialect.
Front | Central | Back | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
short | long | short | long | short | long | |
Close | i ⟨i⟩ | iː ⟨ī⟩ | (ɨ) ⟨y⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ | uː ⟨ū⟩ | |
Mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ | (ɛː) ⟨ē⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ | (ɔː) ⟨ō⟩ | ||
Open | æ ⟨e⟩ | æː ⟨ē⟩ | a ⟨a⟩ | aː ⟨ā⟩ | ||
Diphthongs | iɛ uɔ |
Labial[a] | Dental/ Alveolar |
Postalveolar/ Palatal |
Velar | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
hard | soft | hard | soft | hard | soft[b] | hard | soft | ||
Nasal | m | mʲ | n | nʲ | |||||
Stop | voiceless | p | pʲ | t | tʲ | k | kʲ | ||
voiced | b | bʲ | d | dʲ | ɡ | ɡʲ | |||
Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡sʲ | t͡ʃ | (t͡ɕ) | ||||
voiced | d͡z | d͡zʲ | d͡ʒ | (d͡ʑ) | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | (f)[c] | s | sʲ | ʃ | (ɕ) | (x)[d] | ||
voiced | v[e] | vʲ[e] | z | zʲ | ʒ | (ʑ) | |||
Approximant | l | lʲ | ɪ̯ | (i̯)[f] | ʊ̯[g] | (u̯)[g][f] | |||
Trill | r | (rʲ) |
The stress is most often on the first syllable.[9]
There are two phonemic tonal accents in Latgalian, which appear only on long syllables, i.e. those with a long vowel, a diphthong, or a sequence of a short vowel and a sonorant. These are falling (also called level) and broken (also called sharp). However, there are only a handful of minimal (or near-minimal) pairs, such as [rɛ̀ɪ̯tʲ] 'swallow' and [rɛ̂ɪ̯t] 'tomorrow', both written reit.[9]
Phonetically, both of the tonal accents are falling; the falling accent is realized as an even decrease in intensity and pitch, whereas the broken accent is realized as a sudden decrease in intensity and pitch.[9]